It took 2 weeks to reach the Amazon from Tilbury, after stops in Rotterdam, Porto, Madeira and Cape Verde.
The day before reaching the Amazon, we had a crossing the line ceremony on the ship, although at
that time we were still north of the Equator. The “Crossing the line” ceremony is an old tradition which had been observed for decades. It is followed by all merchant navy ships, cruises and all types of vessels ships. This ceremony is performed when seafarers cross the line of equator for the first time. I've actually crossed it many times by land, in Indonesia (Sumatra). But this was the first time by sea.
On 22 Feb we crossed the Equator at 6.31 am. This was in the Amazon delta.
An hour later we stopped in the river at the Fazendinha River pilot station which is past Macapa. Several people got on, presumably our pilots, plus all the immigration and health people for all the formalities. Everyone has to have Yellow Fever certificates to enter Brazil. Pilot boats came and went to our ship.We were at the pilot station for more than 4 hr.
The swimming pools and jacuzzis on the ship were empty for the entire time we were in the Amazon and until 2 days after we left as we are not allowed to discharge into or take water from the Amazon. We couldn't take water from the Amazon as the ship filters couldn't cope with all the particles in the water. We were also asked to reduce our usage of water. The temperature was high every day, generally in the mid 30s C. But it was the humidity that was awful. My camera used to suffer every time I took it from the air con cabin into the outside.
Memorable features of the Amazon - the sheer size of the river, the thick brown water, the heat and the really high humidity, and the insects and moths that came aboard every night.
I'd look at the river and it would strike me just how wide the Amazon is. But then I'd look at the map of where we were, and would then realise that we were only on one "leg" of the Amazon and there would be another one of a similar size the other side of the island. What I assumed were the river banks on either side were in fact just islands.
The Amazon River is the largest river by discharge volume in the world, and generally accepted as the longest. The headwaters are in Peru. The Amazon has 20% of the global riverine discharge to the ocean. The Amazon basin is the largest drainage basin in the world, with an area of approximately 7,050,000 sq km.
The Meeting of the Waters at Manaus is where the Rio Negro and the Solimoes River meet and this is called the Amazon. The Solimoes comes from Peru. Manaus is the largest city on the Amazon. There are no bridges across the Amazon, as there are no roads that need linking. There is a bridge over the Negro. The Negro water is warm and dark colour, the Solimoes is cooler and muddy and brown.
The Amazon is high Nov till Jan.
It’s still not definite if the Amazon or Nile is longer. Recent data put the Amazon at 6992 km and the Nile at 6853 km. The Amazon source is now set as Nevado Mismi.
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See the next blog on my Amazon cruise - Santarem, The Amazon.
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