08 December 2010; Santarem, Brazil.

The river was good to us during the night. The current was not too strong and with the timely departure from Macapá we managed to nicely stay on schedule. For the first time in three years I arrived on time in Santarem. What was even better, I was early. So I did not have to rush in but could gently float to the dock, helped by the wind that was lightly pushing on the starboard side. Due to the low level of the Amazon, the pier level was quite high compared to the ship and we had to rig up the gangway on the highest break door. And then we happily sat there for the remainder of the day. Also here Mother Nature was kind to us, it did not rain until 1830 when most of the guests were back already. Then the rain really pored down, the level in the swimming pool and the Jacuzzi’s rose more than 3 inches during the one hour’s downpour. Luckily it had diminished to a light drizzle by the time that we were departing and I got through the maneuver with one umbrella. Not always are open bridge wings conducive to enjoy work at all times.

Tour dispatch Santarem Style.

Santarem has a comparable dock to the one as shown on the photo of Santana yesterday. The town is much more lively then Macapá. It is a district town thus it attracts people from the outlying areas for business, shopping and relaxation. There is a boulevard with restaurants and even a small fair park with a mini ferries wheel. While it was raining cats and dogs, they were still shooting fire works from that area. A mind boggling thing as none of the rockets ever made it off the ground. It all was rained down flat.

I do not know what is more facinating here, the teeth of the Piranha or the nails of the tourguide.

We are mainly in Santarem for the tours and one of them goes to the town itself. The other tours go to the Tapajos National Forest and to Lake Maica for Piranha fishing. (The lake is only a lake at very low Amazon level. As soon as the river rises the water spills over the bank and the boats can sail in.) Main reason for going is the piranha. Apart from its savage reputation it is also a normal fish and can be caught as such. The tour operator has come up this year with a faster way of dispatching this tour. A pontoon was brought alongside and the tour boats used that as a landing, so the guests could just cross over from the ship. Much easier then the normal long and hot trek around the dock to the landing stage. Upon return, the pontoon was used again for a quick re-embarkation.

Santarem is located just off the Amazon on the river Tapajos. Normally we have a “wedding of the waters” here as well but the Tapajos is not flowing strong enough yet to match the Amazon and so the wedding was not a sharp line but a large area of intermingling blobs of brown and black water. The tour operator, being very astute took the guests to a little side arm of the Amazon which met the Rio Tapajos somewhere else. Here the wedding was more balanced and the guests still could take the long longed for photos. According to the ships agent, things will be normal near Manaus, where the Solimoes and the Rio Negro meet to merge into the Amazon.

So we left in the end of that torrential downpour and set sail for our next port of call the metropolis of Boca de Valeria. A very tiny Indian village but with a church, a pub and a school. My official arrival time is 0800. hrs., but I will be there shortly after0600 to give the chief officer the chance to mount an expedition to the shore to see what needs to be done with the landing stage.

Santarem tourboat. The faster it sails the better your air conditioning.

The water is still very low, so we cannot run the tenders in the village as we did in March of this year. Therefore the locals install a floating platform for the ships tenders. Normally it takes a bit of carpenter and upholsterer work from our side to make it fit for use thus an early arrival tomorrow.

We are not expecting any rain but according to the pilot, it should be mostly overcast. We will see, I just hope it will stay dry, otherwise all the guests will have to slosh through the mud to get to the town.

Note: All photos by roving reporter Lesley Schoonderbeek.