Day 09 - 11/28 - Up the Amazon to Santarem

Early in the morning around 4am we established a hovering position off the city of Macapa for the immigration and other officials plus 2 river pilots. We hovered in that position until after 11am when the Captain came on the PA system and announced that we would be heading back towards the ocean and then take a different route around an island and rejoin the river route to Santarem which is some 150 miles upstream.

During the morning we attended the Interdenominational discussion group, Ian's coffee chat with the HR director, and Ian's presentation about the remaining Brazilian ports. My wife attended the Brazilian exercise class around the aft pool plus samba lessons, and a craft class. As for me much of the day was spent walking around the outside decks and up in the Crow's nest watching the scenery go by at around 10 knots.

It's interesting to be doing a river cruise on a ship that we are used to plying the oceans around the world. There not much rocking or pitching motion, and the ripples of the muddy brown water slip silently along the ship's hull. On the ocean we are used to waves spilling off the hull in a fervent white spray sometimes causing the launch of flying fish. It's also amazing to see the sheer volume of brown water that is moving towards the ocean at around 3 miles per hour.  

Ian presented a World Stage slide show on America's Cup as the only afternoon lecture activity. I resisted taking a nap and read much of my current Tom Clancy novel Code of Honor. It's a chilling spy tale, and it feels like a cruise to be able to catch up on my reading. 

The main dining room served a Thanksgiving meal so we elected to eat there and were able to make the 7:30 entertainment featuring Martin Beaumont, the very funny comedian. Ian also announced that we would be docking instead of tendering tomorrow at Santarem. This will greatly facilitate getting off of the ship in a timely manner.  

After the evening entertainment, we enjoyed a string quartet perform Mozart material. It was packed and very good.

Before retuning to our room for the night, we walked around the promenade deck and counted and photographed many large bugs. All of the air inlets are shrouded in baby blue taped on air filters.  

Tomorrow in Santarem, we're taking a jungle tour in search of flora and fauna. Stay tuned.

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