Monday – The First Day on The River
This morning, we arrived at the mouth of the great river. Tracey was up first, off bug-hunting, while I tried to catch up on some sleep, then, after a good breakfast, we headed out on deck to reacquaint ourselves with the Amazon. We were anchored in the middle of the great inlet, just off Macapa, waiting for the pilot to come on board, accompanied by the Brazilian Immigration officials – I reckon they must draw straws for the gig.
Three grey dolphins were playing in the water just at the back end of the ship, and a few moths were to be found around and about, although not quite in such large numbers as we’ve seen on previous visits (we’d only just arrived , though, so it’s highly likely we’ll be seeing many more in the days ahead).
My classes are now on hold until we head back towards the sea. Pretty much every day over the next week is going to be a port stop, so there isn’t time to squeeze sessions in – coupled with the fact that the Immigration officials have taken over the Conference Room until we get to Manaus. This has meant it’s been an ideal opportunity for me to catch up on some other work, alternating with time spent out on deck watching the forest drift by.
The first day on the river is always particularly exciting. There’s the thrill of seeing the trees down each bank, punctuated by small houses and boats, and the sky is constantly changing. The river itself looks like freshly-brewed, milky tea, unbroken but for the occasional piece of driftwood or small island.
After lunch, we attended the third of Louise Bonner’s Amazon lectures, then I finished off what I’d started earlier and headed back up to the open deck. By late afternoon, the forest had changed; the sun, being much lower in the sky, was casting a much warmer light on the banks, and a long time was simply spent looking at the banks through binoculars. As the afternoon drew to a close, the front deck became busy with folks wielding their cameras, in anticipation of a dramatic sunset. They weren’t disappointed.
Now we’re on the river, the outside lights are dimmed for the evening, to deter huge masses of unwelcome visitors; it doesn’t stop them coming though… we finished our evening off with a pleasant saunter around the deck, pausing at the pointy end to look at the stars and listen to the Amazonian sounds of the night. It doesn’t come any better than this…
