The Mighty Amazon

The Amazon is on record as the 2nd longest river in the world, but some say that it is actually the longest river in the world when you take into account all the tributaries. It is certainly the largest river in the world and accounts for more than 20 percent of the Earth's fresh water, which it carries from high up in the Andes Mountains to the Atlantic Ocean. Along the way, it picks up rich soil that flows into dozens of streams and small rivers. The Amazon Basin has two freshwater systems, the igapó (blackwater) and the varzea (whitewater). The varzea contains a large amount of minerals that fertilize land and help trees and other vegetation grow.

The Amazon River, according to many accounts, was named by Spanish explorer Fransisco de Orellana in 1541. The Amazon River basin is about 4,195 miles long, covering about 2,720,000 square miles in area, including its 15,000 tributaries and subtributaries (four of which are in excess of 1,000 miles long). It is the largest river basin in the world.

The source of the Amazon is the lake, Lauricocha, in the Peruvian Andes. The river is known as the Maranon in its upper course in the Andes. The length of the Amazon is measured from the source of the Ucayali river, which joins with the Maranon to eventually form the Amazon.

The Pacific Princess on the Great Amazon River.

Northern Brazil is drained by the Rio Negro, which joins the Amazon to give it full strength before flowing into the Atlantic. The flow of the river has an average velocity of 1.5 miles per hour, which increases greatly at flood times. The powerful discharge at the mouth of the Amazon measures about eight trillion gallons a day, 60 times that of the Nile and eleven times that of the Mississippi. The annual average discharge is 6,350,000 cubic feet per second ("cusecs") into the Atlantic, rising to over 7,000,000 cusecs during a flood. The mouth of the Amazon is more than 250 miles wide.

Most of the Brazilian part of the river exceeds 150 feet in depth, although some parts near the mouth have recorded depths of as much as 300 feet. The width of the river ranges from one mile to 35 miles.

The Amazon Rainforest is thought to be the oldest tropical forest area in the world, perhaps as much as 100 million years old.

John and I like to relax on deck 5 of the Pacific Princess. We didn't have a balcony on this cruise, deck 5 was perfect for us to have our own grand scale balcony, we spent a lot of time on this deck outside on the lounge chairs reading and gazing at the Amazon River.

April 7 - Arrival to Santarem, Amazon , Brazil

John and I wake up this morning early, it's the first time we are up before we get into port. It's a beautiful morning, we are in the Rain Forest of the Amazon and so we see dark clouds and wonder if it will rain on us today. Santarem is our first stop on the Amazon River. We spent one full night and one day on the Amazon already. We will visit Santarem today, then the small village of Boca Da Valeria and finally Manaus during our four days on the river.

Santarem was first settled because it is located between two major Amazon River cities, Belem and Manaus, and the fact that it is located at the junction between the Amazon and one of it's principal tributaries, the Rio Tapajos.

In 1958, Santarem became rich overnight, when a rich, long vein of gold was discovered near Itaibuba, a small town 60 miles up the Rio Tapajos. This lead to Santarem becoming a supply post and the opening of a road to Cuiaba in 1969 linking the area for the first time to the rest of Brazil.

Santarem River Cruise

This will be our boat for the Santarem River Cruise tour offered by the Ship. Santarem is our first opportunity to get out on the Amazon River on a smaller boat and we are excited.

We will go to an area where the clear green Tapajos river meets the muddy brown Amazon River.

John.


The Amazon, after 10 days of cruising from Fort Lauderdale, we are really pleased to finally be experiencing the Great Amazon.

The Water Buffalo on the Tapajos

We were told that this deck for the water buffalo is always open and they can come and go as they please.

We got to see water buffalo, but take a look at the scenic background. It was seriously pretty in this area of the Amazon. I was quite happy that we took this Santarem River Cruise which took us to the Tapajos river and Maica Lake.


Water Buffalo are actually not native to the Amazon.

The occasionally flooded Amazon

In the Amazon Basin, flooding often occurs between June and October.

The forest areas are described by amount of flooding that occurs: not flooded, occasionally flooded, or regularly flooded.

Our arrival to the Amazon was in April during the occasionally flooded Amazon season. Some of the local inhabitants move to dry land, while fish, reptiles, and other aquatic animals migrate into these newly flooded habitats to feed and reproduce, then they return to the main channels when the floodwaters recede.

Amazon beauty

I don't think pictures can capture the beauty of this part of the Amazon basin, the wide open spaces and the feeling that you are in such a remote area of the world. The vistas in this area were really pretty, with what looked like mountainous regions in the distance and jungle then all around.

John fishes for Piranha below

John actually caught two Piranha fish. The one in the photo below and another one 3 times as big. The big one got away and that's not a fish story. As you can see he is fishing with a fishing line attached to a stick. When he caught the big one, the fishing line started to cut into his fingers and he had to drop the line a bit, that is when the big one got away. It was already out of the water, but since he had to pull it up two decks, the weight of it, and John's slight drop of the line, gave it the opportunity to get away. This was a catch and release one below. Had he reeled in the big one, the ship crew would have cooked it and let us all taste it.....maybe next time.

Other tour boats fishing for Piranha

Below fellow tourist like us. Our boat was similar to this one, only ours had an open deck on the back which allowed us 360 degree views.

Living in the Flooded Amazon. Our guide told us that families have homes on the river and they also have a home with other family on dry land, so they can move back and forth based on the seasons.

As we leave our small river and head back to Santarem, we pass a local fisherman in his boat. Next we see the busy city of Santarem and the area of new housing below.

Satellite TV on the Amazon

Santarem living