Sue & Jim - Prinsendam 2010 Grand Voyage - South America and Antarctica

Busy Sea Day and Belem, Brazil


Yesterday just happened to be one of those sea days where there were many things I wanted to do. I started at 9:00 for the final session of our book club - we read ‘Letters from Paraguay’ this time. The book was interesting in that it took place in the general area we are visiting albeit in the late 1800’s.

After book club, I returned to the cabin for a quick drink of coffee before heading to a lecture on the upcoming port of Belem, then Trivia… then lunch and then a presentation by the Captain on the history of cruising. He says that not only is his profession cruise ships, but it is also his hobby. I did find bits of time to lie down flat to give my back a rest, but by the time we finished dinner I was ready to hit the bed and read. So far I haven’t had any problem finding books to read in Prinsendam’s library - it’s fairly large.



Belem, Brazil

We woke up this morning and looked out the window to find the brown water of the Amazon. Yup… no more blue sea - it’s truly brown. We were going very slowly as it is very shallow - so shallow that we need to anchor about 20 miles downstream from Belem and the transfers are being done via local ferries and then a long (45 minute) bus ride that has no air conditioning. I decided that I’m too much of a wuss for that kind of heat and the fact that both the buses and the ferries are running kind of a random schedule so there could be a very long wait for a return. It’s currently just after lunch and Jim still says he might just ride the ferry across to the dock and then return… I’ll let you know. I’m enjoying just watching the activity on the water; there are many little boats ranging from local ferries to small rowboats. The close-by village of Icaraza looks like it would be interesting to explore; very green (duh!) with many businesses and houses. I just watched a huge cloud build and then sweep across the river dropping rain and within 10 minutes clear out again. You can see Belem in the distance and it is another very modern city with many skyscraper (or at least very tall) buildings.

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Well, I got interrupted as I was writing above. It’s now late afternoon and people are returning. Those that just rode the ferry over to the little town said it was wonderful, many little local bars/cafes right on the edge of the water and a great local market. The few that have returned already from the long trip into Belem aren’t quite as thrilled with their day. It looks like I missed a really great port - I seem to do that on every long cruise. Oh well, we have a few more to go, but time is getting short.