Tuesday – Piranha Fishing in Santarem

Both Tracey and I had been given escort duties; we were going fishing for piranha, on Lake Maica!

This is a great excursion for several reasons. Firstly; it takes in some of the most beautiful river sights around Santarem, and, secondly, it usually features lots of wildlife.

There were about 6 boats going out on the tour; I was escorting one boat, Tracey was on another, Linda-the-Jewellery was on another… and so on. Each boat had been allocated 34 passengers, and we, as tour escorts, were charged with the job of counting heads, making sure everyone was okay and ensuring nobody fell over the side.

Our first stop was at the ‘Meeting of the Waters’; the point where the Topajos and Amazon Rivers meet, and run alongside each other for several miles, creating a discernible line (one river brown – the other, dark blue-grey). For some reason this location seems to attract large numbers of dolphins, and today was no exception, much to the delight of the passengers.

From here, the boats headed out, towards an area known as Lake Maica. In the wet season, when the river is at its highest, it would indeed look like an inland lake. Today, it resembled a miriad of interconnected waterways. At a steady pace, the journey was lovely and peaceful. We passed lots of little homesteads on stilts, with boats (much-needed source material for paintings).

It was to be a journey full of surprises; we saw sloths (three were spotted in total), and Iguana (two spotted), in the trees – quite good going, I would say! At our appointed destination, the boat tied up to the riverbank and nylon fishing lines with small pieces of bait (chicken, I think) were handed out. For the next half hour or so, everyone dangled their lines over the side of the boat hoping for a bite. In total, 6 piranha were caught on our boat; Tracey’s boat caught 4, and Linda’s boat caught 5, so I reckon that makes ours the winner (although both Tracey and Linda contest this in light of the fact that 4 of our 6 were caught by members of the little crew… I still think we win…).

All-in-all, it was a fun trip out. The weather stayed fine for us until the very end, when the rain came tippling down, just as we arrived back at the quayside.

We reboarded the Marco Polo for lunch and then went out for a short walk for the rest of the afternoon, as far as the fish market, situated on the promenade. It was sooooo hot that we found a small bar and sat drinking cold beer (even Tracey, despite not being a beer-drinker) until it was time to return back to the ship for sailaway, and a marvellous sunset.