Pink dolphins on parade

We were up early to meet our tour guide at the port terminal at 8:00. You cannot simply walk to the port terminal; you need to take a shuttle, meaning there’s a bit of delay built in. We met our driver on time and piled into his van. We picked up one other couple on the way – they were from Cairns, Australia, but he was originally from Brazil and they were visiting family. We proceeded to the dock to get on the speedboat that would take us up the Rio Negro.

We had a good boat ride, going with the wind as our guide Dennis pointed out, meaning little spray and good speed. We stopped at a small village to pick up a couple more folks and walk around a bit. I spotted a Red-capped Cardinal, a lifer, while we were here (always be birding!). We also had a good view at some Yellow-rumped Caciques and their nests. Leaving here it was a short ride to the dock where we’d see the river dolphins. Once there we put on the required life jackets and got in the water. The man who lives there has been working with river dolphins for twenty-five years and the local dolphins know when it’s time to come over. He feeds them fish – a practice which I’m not generally a fan of, but I did truly get the sense that these folks cared about the well-being of the animals. The dolphins came right by us and DJ was thrilled to be so close, so this tour, which was his birthday present, was a real success.

We spent probably 20 minutes in the water, then toweled off and got back in the boat. We went downriver a bit to an indigenous village where the people have been living in largely the same style for hundreds of years. We saw (and participated in!) several dances and then got to sample some of the local foods, including cashews and Brazil nuts. The Brazil nuts were from trees growing right there in the village and we were warned to not walk under them. The nuts grow in a pod that resembles a small coconut and is heavy and hard. When the fall they can do some damage if they hit you.

As we headed back to the boat we were lucky enough to spot a pair of howler monkeys in the trees. Dennis told us that while squirrel monkeys are not uncommon, the howlers were much rarer here.

After this it was time to return to Manaus so we could make our 2:30 all-aboard time. Ideally we’d also make it back before 2:00 to grab lunch in the Terrace Café. The ride back proved to be a bit arduous, as we were now facing the wind and those of us on the port side of the boat were getting a pretty good soaking. That included Thomas and myself; Liz was on the other side and DJ was smart enough to get up in the front where he was safely above the water. We made slow progress, pushing against the wind, but finally docked at the tourist port. We weren’t more than 100 yards from Insignia, but we had to walk through the tourist port building, get in a van and ride to the other port terminal. From there we had to take the shuttle back down to our docking point. All this rigamarole pushed us dangerously close to our 2:00 cutoff, so we rushed in and took the elevator (we’ve been assiduously avoiding the elevators to get more exercise) up to deck 9 and squeezed in just as the lunch buffet was closing down.

After lunch we watched our departure from Manaus and stayed outside to see the meeting of the waters, where the black Rio Negro meets the brown Amazon. Luckily the sun was out enough to provide good lighting and the view was excellent. I was also treated to a flyover of four stunning Red-and-green Macaws.

Before dinner there was a get together for all the around the world passengers. Cruise director Carson kicked it off with a shoutout to the boys, acknowledging the rarity of young people doing these cruises. We talked with a number of people, all of whom were very complimentary of the boys and curious about how we were managing schooling.

All in all it was a terrific day.Read more