Amazon Cruise, Jan. 2012


We left on December 29 for our cruise. After a very long night of traveling we arrived in Manaus, Brazil the next day.

Manaus, Brazil is the largest city in that area of Amazonia. It is on the Rio Negro river which is home to the pink dolphin. There are no major roads leading in or out of Manaus, so all travel is done on the river or in the air. The Rio Negro flows into the Rio Solimones which is then called the Amazon. The Rio Negro is black and the Rio Solimones is brown. After the two rivers join, it takes approximately twenty miles for the rivers to blend. A distinct line can be seen where they meet. We visited the giant water lilies at January Ecological Park and had a delicious lunch of local fish on a floating restaurant. Pictures

After a night of New Year’s festivities we arrived in Parintins, Brazil (pronounce pair of jeans). It is most famous for Boi-Bumba folklore festival. The festival is a competition of dancing in colorful costumes to see what group can dance better. The city is divided into a red zone and a blue zone. No one that lives in the blue zone will have anything to do with red zone occupants and visa versa. It is the only place on earth where the Coco-Cola signs are blue and white. Pictures

Still on the Amazon Santarem was our next port of call. We stayed on board ship and enjoyed the quiet.

The next day, right after breakfast we went ashore and toured the small fishing village of Boca De Valeria. Population 75 year round. Many children greeted us with thieir jungle pets. Sloth’s seemed most popular. There were colorful birds, a Cayman and a Capybara. You could take their picture for a dollar. There are no frills in this part of Brazil. The people look poor by our standards, but they live off the land and river and have enough to eat and shelter over their heads. Pictures

We entered the Atlantic Ocean after spending two more days on the Amazon on our way to Devils’ Island. On our way to the Atlantic Ocean at the mouth of the Amazon River we crossed the Equator, which always sparks silly behavior by the crew. You start out a pollywog if you have never crossed the equator and then you become a shellback. Pictures

Devils’ Island was once a French penal colony and has since been taken over by the foliage of the islands. Devil’s Island consists of three islands. The movie Papillon was made about this penal colony. Most notable was Alfred Dreyfus. Heat and humidity rule here. We were lucky because only half of the stops allow the ships to tender in to shore because of rough seas. Pictures

We were then on our way to Scarborough, Tobago. A pretty place. We took a tour which included a visit to Fort George, what was left of it, and to Arno’s Water Wheel that was used to power machinery that crushed sugar cane. Pictures

We were cruising the Caribbean and stopped at St Lucia where we toured the island and saw a volcano that you could drive into, a botanic garden with a waterfall, several small fishing villages and ended up with lunch in a mountainside resort. Pictures

On St Marten we decided to go to Orient Beach, a clothing optional beach. Bob went parasailing and we had a great lunch. The remaining days of our cruise was spent at sea until we reached Ft Lauderdale.



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