From Santarem to Boca is not that far only about 220 miles up river. Not much speed required, although the river has a few shallow spots in them where we slow down to about 10 knots to avoid squat. For the rest it is easy going and I had a quiet seven hours standby (six hours normal, plus and one hour back with time difference) on the bridge from midnight to arrival. I kept the average speed higher than needed for the official schedule as I wanted to arrive at sunrise. The sun was rising at 05.32 and I dropped the hook at 06.00 hrs. Boca de Valeria (see also the archives from autumn 2007 and March 2010) does not have a dock or a port; you just deal with it according to the height of the water. That means that an “advance landing party” is needed. Spearheaded by the chief officer in charge of an extensive maintenance team. The locals always put out a sort of platform for the tenders if the waters are low but the result is seldom five star or HAL guest acceptable. Thus carpenters with wood, upholsters with carpet and sailors with rope went ashore to do what was needed. Even the locksmith came along……just in case of…..

PRDM Landing Carpet AF04001-061 Pattern/photo of HAL staircase landing carpet. Now also on display in selected houses in Boca de Valeria. Photo courtesy of HAL Interior dept.

Thus by 07.30 all was in order and we could start our tender operation. The pink dolphins were out but they did not jump very much. These are normal dolphins but due to the bauxite in the river water, there skins have a pink colored hue and it makes them look like “flying pigs” when they jump. No flying pigs this time, although there were numerous sightings for the guests to enjoy. By the end of the call, we always leave the carpet behind as it is gratefully accepted by the locals. No doubt some of the wooden huts must have a greatly enhanced interior with new five star Dutch Desso carpet on the floor. This time the Chief Officer used some odd sizes left from a staircase project. Our main atrium staircase has a bit of an odd lay out and that leaves odd pieces as left over’s that do not really fit anywhere else.

Boca is only a short stop as it is a small village, but we stop long enough to give the guests a glimpse of Indian living and the chance to buy some local craft work. By 14.00 hrs the Prinsendam was on the way again. As the current was still quite weak, I could run up river on three engines and that pleased the Chief Engineer, who is currently very worried about his fuel budget, as I had to use so much engine power while going against the strong adverse current between St. Lucia-Devil’s island and the Amazon Bar. This afternoon sailing is also the most scenic part of the cruise, as the river banks vary from dense rain forest to wide meadows, full of cows. Frisian cows are very common here, giving proof that also Dutch cows can adapt themselves to any climate.

The other highlights here, although not visible, are the deepest part of the river and the narrowest –navigable- part. Today we measured 347 feet on the echo sounder under the keel and that is not bad going for a river, even if the river is 3,600 feet wide here. The narrowest part is a gulley that we have to sail through of only 500 feet wide, while on the surface the river is over 7,000 feet wide. The Prinsendam is about 90 feet wide and that means we have 5 times the ship width to play with. So the pilot and the entire bridge team are very focused in this area to stay on the dotted line while going through.

Just after midnight tonight we will be exchanging pilots and then aim for a 10 am. docking tomorrow in Manaus. We are docking on the Broadway Pier and all should be in order. The docking issue that we had in March is still stuck in the court process somewhere and thus things are in stasis until the judge will rule one way or the other.