Last night the chief officer and I started our 6 on 6 off standbys on the bridge; to have an extra pair of eyes present when sailing in these confined waters. Until the pilot boards, the navigators are conning the ship up the river but for the whole cruise up to Manaus and back again, the chief or I will be present. A lot of extra work, but I like to be the captain of the ship Prinsendam and not of the Hotel Prinsendam. The river can be full of trees and unlit boats, the mud banks are always close, thus each extra pair of eyes is an asset. It is 170 miles from the bar to the pilot station at Macapá and that meant that once over the Bar, we could go a bit slower, all depending on how much the adverse current was going to be. That was the unknown factor as the local information that comes to us before we go upriver only indicates high and low water and not the strength of the Amazon flow. So I made sure that I had a bit of power up my sleeve in case the Amazon was going to spring a surprise on me. It did but the other way around than expected. There was much less river current than I would ever have betted on. Basically the current was so weak that the North Atlantic tidal movement overpowered it all. Good for us. That meant the Prinsendam would be on time at the pilot station without any worries at all.

Every ship that wants to go up the river has to stop at Macapá to pick up the pilot and to get cleared by the Brazilian authorities. That clearance includes a Safety inspection, health inspection and immigration formalities. Depending on the size and complexity of the ship it can take several hours. For cruise ships that means a delay at anchor for up to 5 hours. Still it has to be done and even then immigration officials will sail with us to Manaus for further clearance. Holland America came up with the idea to combine the necessity with the useful and explored the option if we could not dock the ship somewhere, so the guests could at least go ashore and see something, while the ship was being processed. It turned out that just behind Macapá is the deepwater cargo port of Santana and if no cargo ship is occupying the berth, cruise ships are more than welcome. So that is what we were heading for today. By 04.03 we sailed past the city of Macapá and over the equator and continued in the Southern hemisphere. We will cross the equator a few more times as the Amazon meanders across it several times. By 05.00 the pilot hopped onboard and we slowly sailed into an Amazon side arm, created by a large island around which the Amazon flows on both sides.

Macapa web The dock at Santana/Macapa.

We were told not to dock before sunrise but when I asked the pilot about the logic behind this, he did not really know. We both assumed that it had something to do with the cargo ships going there. Thus we went straight in and were happily docked by 06.30, just when the sun started to rise. Apart from Manaus, there are not really any docks on the river that are cruise friendly, as cruise tourism here is still in its infancy. Thus the guests had to walk through the ore terminal or take the shuttle bus. For me the dock was good enough. Strong bollards, strong fenders; and a team of linesmen that did not complain but worked fast and efficiently.

Macapá is not the sexiest place in the world to visit. But that is not what this cruise is about. This is an expedition to discover the Amazon and all that goes with it. For T-shirts you can take a cruise to St. Thomas. Macapá is one of those few cities that are located exactly on the equator and only that already makes it worthwhile to go ashore and visit the place.

Macapa equator monumen web The Macapa Equator Monument.

By 1500 we pulled out again and I had to swing the ship around and sail back where we had come from. This side arm where the port was located was not deep enough to exit the other side. By 4 pm. we were on the river proper and sailing upriver on our way to our next port of call Santarem. If the current is not too strong I should be docked on time, which will be noon time.

The weather map is not showing too much rain in the area’s that we are currently sailing in. The torrential rains are mainly falling high up river near the Peruvian border.