The Amazing Amazon Voyage 2008!This blog is for friends and family interested in this three-week+ voyage, which will take us through the Caribbean and then down the Amazon River to Manaus, Brazil. A little commentary and a few pictures will enable you to follow along. Enjoy!
We left on 16 December for Miami, boarded the MV Explorer for what they call an Enrichment Voyage (average age of the passengers ... 76 years!!); they're a traveled and well-read lot, interested in everything, and surprisingly lively and opinionated. From Miami to Nassau, then southward. The first real stop was the gorgeous, nearly-private French island of St. Bart's (250 miles to the east of Puerto Rico, within spitting range of St. Maartin), where Janna and I had some real coffee, and a taxi tour around the island (each stop produced gasps of "Gosh! That's beautiful!"). The first picture shows Jimmy Buffet's yacht....
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After more gorgeous scenery we stopped for a wonderful lunch on the pier overlooking the more-gasp-provoking yachts that sit arrogantly in the harbor..JPG)
Rudolf Nureyev wisely built himself a house on the beach; when will it be our turn?!.JPG)
Barbados: George Washington Slept Here! True (at 19, the only place he ever went out of the US, trailing his ailing brother) -- this is he house he lived in for a few months.
We also visited Sunbury Plantation, a 300-year-old sugar plantation that has been preserved/restored; lovely place.
On to the Amazon, the mouth of which is 200 miles wide.
We sailed down to Manáus, 1000 miles from the Caribbean (two days), spending Christmas day on the river (shockingly, Santa found us) (Word has it he's really the captain of the Explorer).
Manáus, a city of 2 million people, is the only city in the world that cannot be reached by land (air or ship only). And, stunningly, it hosts one of the great 19th-century opera houses in the world.
Rubber money, at the turn of the 20th century, had Manáus competing with Paris for opulence and grandeur. This is the Palacio de Río Negro.
The splendor has since been lost, but it's a bustling metropolis full of friendly people, good food, and a lively atmosphere. Manáus: largest city in the world that cannot be reached by road, located a few hundred miles south of the Equator (yes, it's hot). Here's a view of the Explorer docked in Manáus.
December 27: Today I went out to a local hotel to have their Saturday feijoada, the national Brazilian dish consisting of rice, black beans, and a zillion meats (pig ears included) in deep thick sauce -- absolutely delicious!
As a bonus, the hotel has a mini-zoo with parrots, monkeys and other exotic creatures.
Tonight we leave upriver toward Santarem, a town of about 300,000 inhabitants on the banks of the Amazon.We took an excursion that included the market (fish and bananas), with local streetside diners.
Gorgeous hammocks everywhere (the locals travel up and down the Amazon on boats, hooking up their hammocks for the long trips).
From there we headed out to the resort area, Alter do Chão, with sandy Caribbean-like beaches.
January 3: Happy New Year to all! We're currently pulling out of Dominica, after having visited Trinidad and on the way to St. Kitts. Lovely places, inviting and friendly people, interesting challenges. I'll include a few random pix that you might enjoy. First, two views of Trinidad (the first from the Hyatt Hotel), then the volcanic island of Dominica (where they filmed "Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest." I did a "challenge course" (ie, terrifying survival course!).
January 4: St. Kitts. We had a very rough time tendering back to the MV Explorer from Dominica yesterday because of weirdly rough tides, but everyone finally got on board safely and and we sailed to St. Kitts, arriving at 7:00 this morning (Sunday). Janna and I took a gentle train ride tour around the circumference of the island (168 square miles; population 40,000), looking at the abandoned sugar cane fields, the old plantations, and the breathtakingly beautiful surrounding waters.
Today was a very laid-back day in Frederiksted, St. Croix (good free iPhone coverage! Go ATT!) (have I used the word "gorgeous" above? Is this getting boring?!). Anyway, here's a pix of the MV Explorer at dock.
