Category: Amazon 202#

April 20, 2023, Thursday: Last blog for this trip! Going home early tomorrow morning.

Late morning we anchored off of NCL’s private island, Great Stirrup Cay. It was like being at a beautiful beach resort. We were the only ship at the island, so our 490 passengers had plenty of room. NCL’s ships are 2,000 to about 4,500 passengers. We had no trouble finding a shady spot. We didn’t take our phones, so no pictures.

We attempted to go in the water, but Dave and I are wimps. After sticking our toes in, we decided it was too cold. We signed up for doing wave runners, and that was interesting. We had never been on jet skis before. It was a guided tour, so the idea was to follow the guy in the lead. I had trouble doing that because I felt it was hard to control. So I was not keeping up. One of the other tour guys came up and told me to follow him, which I did (Dave was behind me). So I followed him for a few minutes, but not at full throttle. So we stop and he tells me we have to go fast through this next area because the water is shallow and if you don’t go fast, you might get stuck. So, off we went, and now I was at full throttle! All of the sudden, the jet ski was much easier to control! I didn’t realize that it would be easier if I went faster! Initially, I was just too cautious. I really enjoyed the ride. At one point we caught up with the others, and they took our picture with a huge starfish, they had just plucked out of the water. I have not tried to go to their website to see the pictures yet, that will have to wait until we get home. I don’t think Dave is interested in riding a jet ski again, he was kind of been there done that. But now that I figured out how to drive one, I would definitely do it again.

The rest of the evening was packing, going to dinner, and listening to Tom play in the lounge.

We have really enjoyed this cruise and we are not looking forward to going home tomorrow…part of the reason is we are still living in our master bedroom. Hopefully we will get the house finished soon.

April 19, 2023, Wednesday: Today is our 38th anniversary, and it is a sea day. After 4 port days in a row, we did not set an alarm, and we slept late. We did not do much. We did do some packing, actually we did most of the packing.

We listened to two lecturers: The first was “The Disappearance of Donald Crowhurst” and the second was “ The Life and Times of an Experimental Test Pilot”.

Donald Crowhurst was in a race to circumvent the earth on a yacht, but was lying about his true position. The truth, and the loneliness got to him, and apparently he committed suicide.

My brother would have enjoyed the second lecture as it was all about this man’s flying experiences, including being in Viet Nam. This talk went on for about 1.5 hours, but this person obviously had a fabulous career with the military and flying. This talk was by a passenger, Kenny Grubs. 

We got some of our packing done and I am sorry our cruise is coming to an end. It has been fabulous.

Before dinner, we could not find a bar with music, but we went to Galileo lounge and had a drink.

Then to dinner. This evening, for our anniversary, we went to Prime 7. Dave had his usual, a seafood platter and I had my favorite, surf and turf. After dinner we had a serenade by the wait staff and they presented us with a chocolate dessert.

Tomorrow we will be at a Bahamas island.

April 18, 2023, Tuesday: Today we were in San Juan, Puerto Rico. We had to go thru customs. It seems easier to get back in the USA from Mexico into Texas or Arizona that reentering on a luxury cruise ship. Anyway, they let us in. We were docked next to a Carnival ship and Dave asked why the Carnival ship didn’t have to go through immigration and the port official said it was because their cruise started and ends in the USA…duh? Our cruise is round trip from Miami.  I guess it was because we visited Brazil.

The ship next to us, the Carnival Ship Mardi Gras makes our ship look like one of their tenders. So, some fun comparisons: Mardi Gras holds 6,630 passengers and has 1,745 crew. So 1 crew member for every 3.8 passengers. Navigator holds 490 passengers and has 345 crew. So 1  crew member for every 1.4 passengers. Mardi Gras is 1,130 feet long and 137 feet wide,  and Navigator is 490 feet long and 345 feet wide. The picture illustrates the difference in size!

Our stop in San Juan is brief, as all aboard is 12:30PM. We have been to San Juan before, but booked a “tour of San Juan” as it seems to visit different things than we did the last time. There are 18 people on a 25 passenger bus, so there is some extra room. Our guide is very good, and speaks English that we can understand. He is young, but knows a lot about the history of San Juan. He tells us that Columbus was here in 1493, and the first European settlements were in 1506-1508. For fortification, a wall was built around the city that was 70 feet high and 20 feet wide. He says 70% of the wall still exists. Puerto Ricans became US Citizens in 1917. The three main economic resources, in order, are Pharmaceuticals, Rum and Tourism. Regular gasoline is about $3.60/gallon.

Our first stop was the capitol building which cost $3,000,000 to build in 1929. A lot of the marble came from Alabama and Georgia.

Across the street from the capitol is their war memorial and the names of all the men who died in the wars. There are 9 statues of US Presidents who visited Cuba…the last recent ones were Eisenhower, Kennedy, Gerald Ford and Obama. Interesting fact about Gerald Ford per our guide – he is the only person who served as Vice President (for one week) and President but was not elected to either office.

After visiting the Capitol, we visited one of their many forts, San Cristobal Fort. We walked up to the top level, where there were great views, and we could even see “Castillo San Felipe del Morro (El Morro)”, which is the fort we visited previously. San Cristobal was built after attacks by England in 1598 and Holland in 1625. One of the main features of this fortress was a water storage system. They collected rainwater and were able to store over 800,000 gallons in cisterns under the fort.

After our fort visit, our guide took us to one of the beaches. Tourism picked up in the 1950’s and many hotels were built. Not sure of the year, but Vanderbilt built a 100 room mansion on the beach. Our guide said Gloria Vanderbilt lived there the longest. It is now the “Vanderbilt Hotel”.

Our guide drove us back to Old San Juan, near where our ship was docked and gave us the opportunity to get off the bus in old town or he would drive us back to the ship. Dave and I got off the bus and wandered a bit. We found a statue to Christopher Columbus.

Dave remembered this old town area from our last visit. We got “can can” pork chops then, and some mofango. We kinda looked for the restaurant, but we agreed we just weren’t hungry. But, it was warm and we saw a place to buy a couple of expensive frozen drinks – but not as expensive as our beer in St. Barts – $20 for both, and they were very big. We ended up throwing more than 1/2 the frozen concoction into the trash….they were just too big. It started getting overcast and we felt a few drops of rain, so we went back to the ship. 

In the afternoon, we attended a lecture on Alexander Selkirk, the real Robinson Crusoe.  Alexander Selkirk was a real person marooned on an island for 4 years and 4 months. It is on his story that Robinson Crusoe is based. The speaker, James Grant-Peterkin has been very good and we have enjoyed all of his lectures.

We went to tea this afternoon and it was pie day. I had key lime, but Dave got one of his favorites- pecan. Dave has gotten to where he likes the little tea sandwiches. They are just enough to carry us over to a late dinner.

We had a “before dinner show” – Crew Capers – these folks are talented! We really enjoyed their show.

Then to dinner at Compass Rose. Dave had Beef Wellington and I had a lobster! Delicious!

After dinner we went to the production show, Tuxedo. Again, the dancers and singers did an excellent job. We passed on listening to Tom on the piano tonight. Tomorrow is a sea day, and we don’t plan on setting an alarm!

April 17, 2023, Monday: Today we are at anchor near Gustavia, St. Barthelemy, but called St. Barts or St. Barth. So we will need to take tenders to get to the town. 

Per Regents “Passages”: St. Barts was originally inhabited by Arawak Indians; they were followed by the Caribbeans, who greeted Christopher Columbus when he arrived in 1493. He named the island for his brother, Bartolomeo. The French made initial unsuccessful attempts to settle it until some determined Huguenots from Normandy persevered. In 1784, France traded the island to Sweden and named after Swedish King Gustafson III. The Swedish king proclaimed Gustavia a duty free harbor and Gustavia was booming until 1830’s. The importance of being a free port declined and the inhabitants were living in poverty. In 1878, France offered to take the island back from Sweden. In the 1960’s, tourists found Gustavia and it has become a popular stop for private luxury yachts. Some streets still have Swedish names, but the town is very French, and French is the primary language, and Euros the primary currency. 

It is hilly, and the island is about 8 square miles. It is very high end with all the designer stores.The big ships do not stop here because the infrastructure doesn’t support the mega ships. This is our first time in St. Barts and we have scheduled a semi submersible submarine tour. It is yellow!

It is only a one hour tour, and while the passengers are cramped sitting below deck, the captain is above the water. The windows were pretty clear and initially visibility was good, but deteriorated during the course of our journey. We saw lots of fish, and I know one species were Sgt. Majors.

The fish were close to a coral reef, which was the first point of interest.

We also saw turtles on the bottom and stingrays. There was a (human) diver we spotted in the coral reef, too!

The next point of interest were coral gardens where they are trying to expand the coral reefs. Our guide said coral is very slow growing, one millimeter per month. These corals growing in the coral garden are about 30 years old.

Our last point of interest was a sunken ship. This boat, was a shrimping boat named Marignan and was sunk in a hurricane in 1995.

The visibility was clouding up, so we all went topside and were served a (very small) rum punch. We did enjoy the submarine ride.

After returning to shore, Dave and I set out to explore the island. Everything is really expensive…we did not see any native crafts like on the other islands. But I did see a dress very similar to the one I bought, but I could not find the price to see whether I got a good deal or not.

We did a lot of walking and saw an Anglican Church. The foundation was laid in 1853. The pine pews are original, and the small decorative bell tower still has its original shingled roof. It is the only church in St. Barts that has services in English.

Across from the church was a huge anchor from the 18th century with “Liverpool Wood London” stamped on it. It was discovered on 1980 between St. Barts and St. Thomas.

We walked uphill to Fort Carl.

Fort Carl was built in 1789 to protect the town of Gustavia against attacks from the south. In the late 1800’s it progressively fell into a state of abandon. There is little left of the original fort, but if you can tough out the walk up, there are beautiful views from the top. We could see the beautiful turquoise water at Shell Beach below, where we would walk next. Unfortunately, we could see a lot of sargassum seaweed on Shell Beach, too. We’ve heard the sargassum seaweed is heading to Florida, too.

We walked down to Shell Beach, which has a lot of shells – many coquinas, so not terribly uncomfortable to walk on. If you kept walking, it eventually becomes a sand beach. I had to put my toes in the water and Dave was enjoying the view of two female sunbathers….one was topless and the other had a thong bathing suit that totally exposed her buttocks and the front was just very small triangles covering her private parts. I hope she didn’t pay much for that bathing suit because there sure wasn’t much material! 

After leaving Shell Beach, we walked along the west side of the harbor to a statue garden in front of Hôtel de la Collectivité.  These statues were whimsical and most had deeper meaning than I could determine. One was an ostrich as a biplane:

A rabbit on a pogo stick:

While there were several more, my favorite was a triceratops archaeologist, uncovering a Flintstones vehicle on a dig:

We were pretty hot and tired by this point and started walking back to out meeting spot to catch a tender back to the ship. We decided to stop and have one (expensive) beer at Bar De L’Oubli before boarding the ship where we could get free beers. 2 pint glasses = 26€ including tip. But the beer was cold, we got to sit down for awhile, so it was all good.

Getting back to the ship, we got a quick bite of lunch at the pool grill.

This evening was an Abba disco party on the pool deck. The in-house singers and dancers sang the Abba songs and led the dancing.

After the pool deck party, we showered and went to dinner at Compass Rose. I had a filet mignon and Dave had Lobster. Dave said he is becoming a lobster fan after this trip as he has been enjoying the lobster.

After dinner, we went to hear Tom in the Galileo Lounge.

Tomorrow we are in San Juan and the whole ship has to go through immigration-I’m thinking it is because it is first US (possession) port after Brazil. We are only in San Juan from 7:00AM until 12:30PM, so this will be interesting….but we are expecting a pain.

April 16, 2023, Sunday: today we are in Roseau, Dominica. Our guide said there are 70,000 inhabitants, the main language is English, and over 90% are Catholic. 

We have been here before with my brother and sister-in-law, Ray and Celeste. We did river tubing on that trip with them, which I thoroughly enjoyed. But Dave is not a water person, so we chose “Dominica Panoramic Drive by Open Safari” as our shore excursion. There were two buses, but only one tour guide (!), so she was on our bus for 1/2 of the time and on the other bus the other 1/2. We drove to Scott’s Head which is a peninsula on the south end of the Island.

The story our guide told was that the French and British fought over the island, but both lived on the island. The French came up with a plan to take over the island. They conspired with the island next door, Martinique, which was controlled by the French. The French then invited the British to a party, and while everyone was partying, the French signaled their co-conspirators from Martinique who came to the island. They captured the British Colonel George Scott, and cut off his head. Thus, the name, Scott’s Head.

At this point of the island is where the Atlantic Ocean meets the Caribbean Sea. The Atlantic is very rough because of trade winds, and today at least, the Caribbean Sea was calm.

Our guide pointed out various trees and plants – most we were familiar with: coconut, sea grapes, pigmy palms, etc., and one I had not heard of, an Indian Almond. She said they pick the fruit, smash it and eat the insides.

Our next stop was Bubble Beach.

There is a vendor here that maintains the beach and sells rum drinks and food.

The beach is unique because there are bubbles, caused by volcanic activity!

The sand near the water is very hot. I tried to go in the water, but could not deal with the hot sand on my bare feet to get to the water. They did scoop up some water so we could touch it and see how warm it was. It was warm, but not as hot as the sand! I think our guide said there are 17 volcanos on the island, but only two are active. 

Opposite Bubble Beach is the Soufriere Catholic Church of St. Mark, which was the first Catholic Church built on the island by 4 catholic priests, who are now buried in the church. We had a look inside as services were over.

Getting back on the bus we were given a cup of cut up Island fruits to enjoy: mango, papaya, melon and pineapple. 

Then we were driven to Morne Bruce Garrison which was on a hill overlooking the bay where our ship was docked. While under British control in 1770, Captain James Bruce laid out plans for fortification of this site. Using enslaved African laborers and skilled craftsmen rented from planters to build the site. They installed 235 cannons pointing seawards waiting for the enemy. It was closed in July 1854 and most of the cannons were removed. Today is is a pleasant plateau with a nice view.

We drove to the Botanical Gardens, and one site pointed out was a school bus that was crushed by an African Baobab tree in 1979 by Hurricane David.

It was a short drive through the garden, and the other site pointed out was Jack’s Walk, a trail from the garden up to Morne Bruce Garrison. It is about .2 miles and takes about 20 minutes. Apparently lots of people hike this trail for the exercise, but not us!

We returned to the port and checked out the vendors. Dave wondered how they make any money because they all sell the same thing! 

There was one other ship in port with us today, from Marella Cruise Line which I think is an English Company. In a prior life, this ship was “Splendor of the Seas” owned by Royal Caribbean, and was the first ship Dave and I cruised on, to the Mediterranean in 2000!

Tomorrow we will be in St. Barts and there are very few excursions offered. So we chose a semi immersible submarine.

April 15, 2023, Saturday: We were in Bridgetown, Barbados today, and had a shore excursion. Barbados is 21 miles long and 7 miles wide at its widest point. It was made from coral and limestone. Most of the Caribbean islands were formed from volcanic actuvity, but our guide said there is no lava on the island. She said the population is 260,000. Our guide also told us the temperature is about the same year around. Barbados is the most English of the Caribbean islands, with afternoon tea, cricket, and driving on the left.

We had a smaller bus with about 20 people, but all the seats were not full. We had three stops. The first stop was Gun Hill Signal Station. The first mention of Gun Hill was in 1697. This was a 700 foot high vantage point used as one of 6 lookouts. Using lanterns, soldiers stationed here could communicate about approaching ships, civil disorders, storms, or other emergencies. We had wonderful, long views of the island.

As we drove down from the signal station, we passed a huge lion carved by Captain Henry Wilkinson out of one coral rock. It is 7 feet tall and 10 feet long. With the lion staring out toward the sea, its upraised left front paw resting on a large round ball. It has been thought there is another meaning for the statue – that being the power and scope of the British Empire around the globe. Our guide said the large round ball represents the world.  The sculptor was a lifelong military man having already served in at least four countries before his arrival in Barbados, so he probably had a strong loyalty to crown and empire.

The next stop was Tropical Gardens which was previously call Orchard World. Our guide walked us around the garden and pointed out many plants and trees growing there. Some were familiar to us as we have the same plants and trees in Florida, but different ones, too.

We saw a pond and Dave got a pictures of a Muscovy Duck and frogs.

At the end of our walk, we were given a rum punch drink and the opportunity to check out their gift shop. I guess I had enough rum because I bought a cute dress – probably not to wear in public – as it is a little more revealing than what I’d wear to Publix. I have “morning dresses” that I like to put on in the morning before I’m ready to get officially dressed for the day. 

Our last stop was Sunbury Plantation House and museum.

A fire in 1995 destroyed everything except the thick flint and stone walls of this 350+ year old plantation house. Most of the furniture is from the period, but not original to the house. Before we toured the house, we went to a cocktail demonstration of Mount Gay Barbados Rum which was first made in 1703. They made two different cocktails with rum and gave samples out. The drinks were very good, but they did not give out printed copies of the recipes. I think one of the recipes was 1 cup of lime juice, 2 cups of simple syrup and 3 cups of rum….but he got very generous with adding the rum, and I don’t know what kind of rum he used. Don’t try this recipe…Dave thinks there was a fourth ingredient! After the rum, we were given a tour of the house. Our guide spoke very fast, so it was hard to get many details. 

These are some of the things she told us:  There was a gorgeous vase in the front entry brought by the current owner who has only owned the house for 5 years.

One owner of the house was an optician and camera fanatic, so there was one room dedicated to optical equipment and cameras. We saw a ladies bathtub that was very shallow. No running water, so it would be filled up to the hips with water and then emptied by hand. In the master bedroom, at the foot of the bed, were his and her  “relief stations”.

Of course the plantation owners were wealthy, and the nanny had her own room.  But the children would be sent back to England to boarding school to be educated when they were 5 years old, and may not see their parents again for 10 years. There was a  mahogany dining room table from 1750 in the dining room that would seat 28 people.

Another view of first floor rooms.

After touring the house, we were given another rum punch and the opportunity to walk through their gift shop. There were 3 signs posted with more information on the house.

While driving back to the ship we saw several oil rigs! Our guide said there isn’t a refinery on the island, so the oil is shipped elsewhere to be refined.

We really enjoyed our visit to Barbados and could see coming back sometime. That was the end of our tour, so it was back to the ship. Usually there are shops or vendors in the port area, but everything was closed when we got back. 

Tonight we have reservations in Prime 7. May try to catch up with Tom on the piano after dinner.

Tomorrow our port is Dominica.

April 14, 2023, Friday: Only food pictures today – sea day! Tomorrow Barbados.

We got an extra hour of sleep as our time reverted back to Florida time. 

After breakfast we went to a lecture on the Titanic, RMS Titanic: An Engineering Wonder. The speaker, James Grant-Peterkin lives on Easter Island. The speaker gave interesting background information on White Star Line and it’s backing by JP Morgan. Another interesting tidbit was Jacob Aster was onboard. He was 54 years old, divorced and remarried to an 18 year old. High Society in the US was not accepting his new marriage very well, so he and his new wife decided to take an extended vacation in Europe. She became pregnant and they decided to return to the US, on the Titanic. He did not survive, but she did.

We have some waves, so we decided to use the treadmills after the lecture. We’re only allowed 30 minutes at a time, so after our 30 minutes we went to lunch on the pool deck where they were having a seafood festival. 

Then in the afternoon, we went to another lecture, America’s Mystery History. The lecturer, Terry Breen, is a native of the state of Washington, but currently lives in Brazil and has for many years. She discussed the various theories of where the populating Central America originally came from. She presented some evidence they may have been Celtic. There was an ancient arch where people with red hair and blue eyes were represented, and there were some ancient carvings recently discovered that were Celtic in origin.

James Grant-Peterkin and Terry Breen have been excellent. We have really enjoyed all of their presentations.

After Terry’s presentation, we went back to the treadmills for another 30 minutes!

Yesterday we were slugs, so it felt good to get some exercise in today.

We went to listen to Tom before dinner, then to Compass Rose for dinner. We both had Chateaubriand, which was delicious. Dave had a shrimp cocktail for an appetizer and I had two appetizers…escargot and Alaskan King Crab with Avocado.

April 13, 2023, Thursday: Today was the second of three sea days in a row, so not as much going on. This morning after breakfast the crew had “A Country Fair” set up around, and in, the pool. Each department had a different “game” or activity and you could win tickets. Then they had a raffle and winning tickets would get a prize. While we did not actively participate, we walked around and checked out the games and watched for awhile. For example, the housekeeping department had a contest to see how fast you could put a pillowcase on a pillow. The beverage department had a ring toss with liquor bottles. The spa had a little contest to see how quickly and how neatly you could polish a fingernail. My favorite was the production show dancers were in the swimming pool doing a “ring toss” with hula hoops – trying to throw a hula hoop over their heads bobbing in the pool. I forgot to take pictures….

Later in the day we went to a lecture on the Mutiny on the Bounty. This speaker tells the rest of the story! So he told what happened to Captain Bligh…he stayed in the British Navy and eventually was made an admiral. But letting the mutineers take over his ship affected his reputation. Fletcher Christian ended up on the island Pitcairn with some natives from Tahiti, and the natives and mutineers ended up fighting and killing off each other except for two mutineers. The current population on Pitcairn are descended from the mutineers and Tahitians.

Only food pictures today….The food on Regent has been better than any other cruise ship we’ve been on…it is really phenomenal. We can have Steak, Lobster, Scallops, Lamb and fish any night! Plus more, but those are my favorites.

Tonight we had a nice dinner in Compass Rose, which is the main dining room. I had crab with caviar and Dave had a shrimp cocktail for appetizers. My entree was Sea Bass with miso, sticky rice and a side of asparagus. Dave had Caribbean seafood curry with rice. We rarely have desert, but they always serve petit fours, which we always enjoy.

After dinner we went to the Navigator Lounge to hear Tom Santori on the piano.

We change our time tonight and go back to Eastern Daylight Savings Time, just like home! So we get an extra hour of sleep!

April 12, 2023, Wednesday: I had a very difficult time posting my blog from yesterday. So I am including two photos from Alter Do Chao of trees that we saw. The first tree caught my eye because it had very large fruits, almost as big as bowling balls! According to Google, it is a Crescentia tree. 

The second tree is a Laburnum or Golden Rain Tree. What’s interesting is that it is native to the mountains of southern Europe from France to the Balkans. Obviously brought to Brazil by somebody! 

I am fascinated by trees, sometimes plants, that I’ve never seen before.

The morning we attended a lecture on Charles Darwin. While I do not ascribe to the theory that I have descended from an ape, the speaker also spoke about the captains of the Beagle. According to the speaker, the first captain committed suicide because he could not deal with the weather in the far southern hemisphere. The second Captain, a Fitzroy, also died rather young. However due to the native Indians confiscating one of his boats, he kidnapped 4 children hoping to make a trade. The native Indians weren’t interested, so he took the 4 children back to England. Upon arrival, one child died. He hoped he could educate the three remaining children, make them Christian’s, and then return them to South America to become missionaries to the tribes. After a year of education in England, the children were returned, but they quickly resumed their old ways as members of their Indian communities.

In the afternoon we attended a lecture on Theodore Roosevelt exhibition into the Amazon. It was very interesting and they discovered a river which is named after Theodore Roosevelt. 

We walked a little over 2 miles on the jogging track. Early evening we went to a show highlighting our favorite piano lounge performer, Tom Santori. Tom has had an interesting life, and we have enjoyed going to the Navigator lounge to listen to him in the evenings.

After Tom’s show in the theater, we went to Setti Mari for an Italian dinner. Their lasagne is delicious. I am a big fan of “Mama’s” lasagne, but I think Setti Mari’s is better. However, as the Secondi course we had Mediterranean Branzino, and it was barely OK. I’m sure it was good for others, just not to us. 

Now I am trying to stay awake for Tom’s late show in the Navigator lounge.

April 11, 2023, Tuesday: we are anchored at Alter Do Chao, Brazil. Dave is not excited about getting off the ship because the first announcement made about going to the island indicated  we would have to walk through some water between getting off the tender and reaching shore. So we went to breakfast, and back to our suite for awhile. Then another announcement was made that they have put down some planking and we would no longer have to walk through water. I convinced Dave to take the tender over to the village. I will say that all the villages, and even Manaus, have been pretty run down places, with not much to see. Even yesterday after the Boi Bomba show, we wandered around the town but hardly anything was open.

Alter Do Chao is the best village we’ve visited in the Amazon, including Manaus. The problem with Manaus is safety, besides being run down. Alter Do Chao is a beach destination with nice, clean sand beaches which brings tourists to this remote village.  With much of the beaches underwater due to it being rainy season, it is their off season. Our guide in Manaus said there would only be one more cruise ship coming through the Amazon River for this season. 

The population is about 7,500, but this village seems larger and is much more interesting than the other villages where we have stopped with larger populations. It is cleaner and the buildings are in good repair for the most part. The Regent “Passages” says it is a cosmopolitan community that unites hippies, herbalists, healers, nature lovers, off duty entrepreneurs, and iguanas. 

We stopped and looked into the Catholic Church and made a donation. In 1738 a mission was established in this small village of Boraris Indians. The current building, which is the third church built on this site was started in 1876 and completed in 1896. 

We saw a nice grocery store and a few of the restaurants were open.

We stopped at one of the restaurants as rain was threatening and we stayed through two rain showers consuming two beers and an appetizer (about $18 including tip).

After our snack, we headed back to the ship, missing all the rain showers. We have an early departure at 3:30PM today. We have a couple of sea days heading out of the Amazon River, into the Atlantic Ocean, not reaching our next port of Barbados until  Saturday. 

Excellent dinner at Prime 7, then back to the suite.

We have not heard the water restriction announcement for a day or two, so the crew must think we have enough water to last until the ship can take on water from the Atlantic.

April 10, 2023, Monday: The rain gods paid us back today. We were in a downpour!

The ship is anchored in the middle of the Amazon river to allow us to visit Parintins, a city on the island of Tinambarama which is an island in the middle of the Amazon River.

Parintins hosts a festival each June which is only second to Carnivale in Rio de Janeiro. The 60,000 inhabitants spend all year preparing for the Boi Bumba Festival. Boi means bull, so it is a festival about a bull. During June, the big festival is performed. Tens of thousands spectators cheer wildly for two teams that present the story behind the festival. There are two teams, red with a white bull and blue with a black bull. Each team puts on a performance regarding the story about the bull, and the winner is crowned and carries the honor for a year until the next festival. In June, 2022, the blue team won, and the blue team will present their modified show to us today. It is modified because during the normal festival, the show would last 6 hours (each team would perform for 6 hours). Today we get a one hour summary, from an online source:

If a world record exists for the most remote festival on the planet, then Parintins should win hands down. This cow town of sorts sits on an island in the Amazon River, some 1,100 kilometers (700 miles) inland from the Atlantic. Its claim to fame: the spectacular Boi Bumba festival, held over three days in June. The town’s 60,000 inhabitants spend the year preparing for the festival, building fantastic floats that depict giant pink porpoises, fierce jaguars and the like. Two rival camps, the red-colored Garantido and the blue-colored Caprichoso, compete in song and dance performances staged in a massive stadium glowing like a UFO that landed in the Amazon jungle.

The festival is based on a long-told folk tale with indigenous, African and European elements: A cowboy kills a prized bull (boi in Portuguese) for his pregnant wife, who craves ox tongue; facing death by the landowner, he is ultimately saved when a shaman brings the bull back to life. As tens of thousands of spectators cheer wildly, “Indian” maidens sing while perched high on the floats, and huge dance troupes move to the rhythms of hundreds of samba drummers. The winning team grabs bragging rights for the year. During the rest of the year, visitors are treated to samples of the big shows to come in June. 

As we leave the ship for the folkloric show, Boi Bumba, it is pouring rain. I have a rain poncho and Dave has an umbrella. It is raining so hard that we both got soaked anyway. 

We arrive at the theater, which is air conditioned, which is good because it is hot and humid here. The show is non-stop energy for a full hour with amazing props and lots of young dancers. It is loud and the dancers are non-stop. It is hard to describe a folkloric show, so I will just post some pictures.

As you can see, my photographer (Dave) got pictures of all the good looking young women!

After the show, it had quit raining, and since almost the whole ship attended the folkloric show, there is a huge line for the tenders to get back to the ship. Dave and I walked around the town/village, but there really isn’t much here. Almost all the buildings need some TLC as was the situation in Manaus. We looked for a “nice” area, but did not find one. Maybe we did not walk far enough into the village. It is a larger village, not as large as Manaus, but it did have “hole-in-the-wall” stores. I would have gotten a drink somewhere, but we really didn’t see any place. 

So, we joined the line to get a tender back to the ship. A long wait, as one tender got its propellers tangled in grass, and a strong current was causing trouble for the tenders.

Finally back on the ship, we showered and went to dinner in Compass Rose. I had “pepper pot soup” and Dave had a shrimp cocktail. For an entree, we both had a Brazilian Cod dish. After dinner, we went to hear Tom at the piano. 

April 9, 2023, Easter Sunday: Happy Easter! A little disappointed that Regent only offers Catholic Mass and Jewish services. Other cruiselines do non-denominational services. Picture is of Easter decoration onboard.

We did have a good day, and I thoroughly enjoyed our shore excursion. It was billed as Swimming with Pink Dolphins. Since I had not seen them yet, this was a great opportunity. While many of Regents shore excursions are included in the fare, the Pink Dolphin excursion had a charge. 

We rode in a riverboat which held 53 passengers, but there were only 30 of us. Another riverboat with about 30 people left just before us. Just as soon as we get started, our tour guide tells us it is about a 90 minute ride to the dolphin site. We were heading west in the Rio Negro and we pass under the 4th longest bridge in Brazil at 11,795 feet.

The water is pretty smooth and it seems we are running at full power. As we settled in for a long ride, the tour guide tells us information about Manaus, Rio Negro and the Amazon. He said there is no agriculture along the Rio Negro because the water is acidic. The water looks black, but there doesn’t appear to have any sediment in it. Our guide says it is rainy season and the water has already risen quite a lot, but it will probably raise a total of 17 meters.

So lots of houses are built on stilts. Apparently one year, I believe he said 2021, the water rose 21 meters, which caused severe flooding. He said there are no mosquitos because of the acidity of the water – the mosquitos larva can’t exist. 

As we got close to the dolphin site, we stopped at a small village of about 500 people, Acajatura.

The boat that left before us was with the dolphins, so we needed to wait until they were finished with their dolphin visit. This village, while remote, seemed more modern than Boca Da Valeria. Acajatura has a school, a hospital, a couple of stores, etc. We peeked in a couple of shops, and walked down to their church.

After our allowed time of 30 minutes, the first boat arrived and now we could go to the dolphin site. Unfortunately, the boat wouldn’t start! We were really wondering what was going to happen. They kept working on the boat and finally after about 30 minutes, they got the boat running. Whew! 

We rode another 10 minutes to the dolphin site and were given some instructions: don’t touch their blowhole, don’t touch near their mouth because they have teeth, we would have to wear life vests, we would enter the water in shifts of 10 because the number of people are limited, and it is a floating pier. 

One of my concerns was treatment of the dolphins. I refuse to do any dolphin excursions in the Caribbean because the dolphins have been captured and kept in pens. These pink dolphins are totally wild. They come to the pier because the workers feed them fish. The dolphins can come and go as they wish. Of course the dolphins like the free meal, so they come to get their fish.  The workers have names for all of the dolphins. According to Regent’s newsletter, Passages, the pink dolphins, “boto” may be pink due to blood capillaries near the surface of the skin. Passages also tells the legend about the “boto” being able to transform itself into a man, hypnotizing and seducing unsuspecting, young women. 

Dave and I were very satisfied with the treatment of these dolphins. Besides limiting the number of people in the water at one time with the dolphins, they do not do this every day. Dave did not get in the water because he was concerned about the treatment of the dolphins. Dave was my photographer and his pictures are always great! But he was fine after seeing the limits on number of people and that the dolphins were not caged and free to leave. He still didn’t get in the water, but he said he was happy with his decision. 

They did have some fish in an enclosed area. They demonstrated feeding these fish. The fish suck down the bait fish very aggressively. These are the largest fish in the Amazon, Piraracu. They dry their scales and the scales become very hard. Our tour guide gave us a couple of the dried fish scales to bring home. They are triangular, about 3” long and 2 “ wide.

The whole time we were with the dolphins, the boat captain left the engine running…and we were there a little over an hour. At least we knew the engine on the boat was running when it was time to head back to the ship. At first, the water was smooth and it was full speed ahead. But, it is rainy season, and about halfway back to the ship, we ran into rain. The water got very rough, and even though they rolled plastic down over the windows, the water would splash up and get me wet. It was a rough ride back to the ship, but we made it. 

I am extremely happy I got to see the pink dolphins. Overall, I am happy with our visit to Manaus, but even the guide today cautioned us not to wear any jewelry walking around the town. I don’t think I’d want to do an independent visit, which is sad, because Dave and I love to explore places where we have never been. 

After returning to the ship, we had some lunch in the pool grill, then relaxed for awhile. We left Manaus a little after 4:00PM. About 5:00PM, we saw the meeting of the waters again. When we were anchored at Manaus, we were on the Rio Negro. Leaving Manaus, the Rio Negro joined the Amazon River, and we were back on the Amazon. In the pictures, you can see the Rio Negro as black, and the Amazon River with a lot of sediment as brown. It takes a long distance toward the Atlantic for the water from these two river to actually merge into one. 

We showered and went to dinner. Dave had a tortellini appetizer, and I had escargot. For our entrees Dave had Teriyaki Salmon and I had scallops. We rarely get desert, but they always serve petit fours which is usually enough for us. Tonight the Petit Fours was a special Easter edition. 

We still have two more port stops on the Amazon, but so far we have not seen many bugs and have not had to deal with mosquitos. We have been amazed, but very happy with no bugs.

April 8, 2023, Saturday: Lots of pictures again, today.
The captain told us yesterday evening that we would be late getting to Manaus due to strong currents. We were expecting to arrive at 8:00AM, and we actually arrived about 9:30AM. As we sailed closer to Manaus this morning, we saw the meeting of the waters, where the black water of the Rio Negro met with the brown water of the Amazon River. The two waters do not mix for quite a distance due to differences in temperature, acidity, density and current. 

We originally had a tour to the meeting of the waters, but after seeing this, we changed for another tour tomorrow.

Manaus is the capital of the Amazon state. There are 2,000,000 people in the middle of the rain forest, 1,000 miles from the ocean, 

We signed up for a shore excursion, The Golden Era of Manaus. Our ship is anchored in the Amazon River, so we took a tender to the port on land where we boarded buses. 

Driving into the city of Manaus, the buildings look like they are not taken care of. There is a lot of  desolation. Buildings that have been left in disrepair. Buildings are badly in need of face lifting and buildings are dirty, streets are littered, signs of homelessness. Just not an attractive city. It seems to be a city that has not recovered after the collapse of the rubber market. 

Our first stop was the opera house, Teatro Amazonas. It took 17 years to build and was finished in 1896. The theater was built in the height of the rubber boom, using European designers, decorators and even raw materials. The raw materials, including stone blocks, were brought from Europe on the rubber barons boats.

Our guide told us the wealthy rubber barons lived on boats in the Amazon river. They brought slaves from all over the world to gather the rubber and bring it to their ships. Then they would sail with the rubber back to their home country. This was before tires, and the rubber was used by shipbuilders to waterproof the boats. 

Some group presented a model of the opera house in legos.

The slaves came from all over the world, not just Africa, because of the language issues. 

The indigenous Indians would collect the rubber and make it into balls weighing 50 to 60 pounds. Then the slaves would carry the rubber balls to the port to be loaded on the rubber baron boats. The slaves could not drop the rubber balls, because the rubber barons wanted them clean. Then the slaves would carry the stone blocks from the rubber baron boats up the hill to where they were building Teatro Amazonas.

The driveway was made of Brazilian rubber so the carriages carrying the rubber barons would soften the clatter of the carriages. 

There was no air conditioning at the time, and fans in the theater were too noisy. So they put the fans under the floor and cut circular holes under the seats so the air would blow up into the theater. 

There is grillwork on the windows with an A overlapping T, which is for Teatro Amazonas. 

Across from the theater is the Justice Building, which our guide called “injustice”. The statue of lady justice does not have a blindfold, and her scales are uneven. 

The homes that were originally built in Manaus were about 3 feet above street level. Between the floors and the street were small windows. Underneath the buildings was a drainage system that allowed water from rain or floods to enter the small windows of the buildings and then flow into the river. 

Our next stop was Museu Da Cidade De Manaus. The museum was originally a mansion. The first room we saw was like a large conference room with portraits of all the mayors of Manaus. 

Another room displayed a collection of plants which our guide explained to us. There were lily pads. Brazil nut pods, açaí, etc. Then he showed us a “Marketplace Display” with products made from all those plants in the Amazon. This museum also had an exhibit of the drainage system under the buildings. 

We got back on the bus and drove to Palacio Rio Negro, originally known as Scholz Palace. Karl Waldemar Scholz, a German exported of rubber, built this house for himself and his wife. The house is huge, and they had 22 servants, but none of the servants lived with them in the house.

Scholz built a tower in the house so he could go up in the tower and watch birds. Due to the decay of the rubber business and World War I, the Scholz’s returned to Germany, bankrupt. His house became the Palace of Government and official residence of many governors from 1918 to 1995, when it became a Cultural Center. 

Our last stop was the market. Unfortunately we only had 20 minutes to wander the aisles. There were huge piles of shrimp, bags of Brazil nuts, and all kinds of products.

I love these markets – unfortunately I rarely buy anything because I don’t need anything. The brown item is dried a fish tongue, used like sand paper! The white items on the right are fish scales from the same very large fish. They dry the scales and they become very hard.

But I still find the markets fascinating with all the products they offer. We did contribute $8 to the local economy because I bought a t-shirt. It is red, it will probably fade badly and shrink dramatically!

While exiting the bus to go back to the ship on the tenders, one lady spotted pink dolphins on the water. I was only quick enough to see a bit of tail. Supposedly the pink dolphins are everywhere, but they are elusive to me.

We had originally planned to go back into Manaus since the ship is spending the night here. But I asked the guide about walking around and he discouraged us. He said if we did, we should leave all our jewelry and our cell phones on the ship. Also, since it is Easter weekend, everything will close by 3:00PM. We decided the ship would be a much more comfortable place to be, and returned to the ship. We do have a shore excursion tomorrow morning before we leave Manaus.

Our friends Irvin and Evelyn are going caimen watching tonight….we told him we have alligators in our backyard and don’t need to see the caimen relatives.

Back on the ship, about 3:30, we grabbed a quick bite at the coffee connection and then went to tea at 4:00. Dave has found a way to enjoy the tea service – he gets a glass of Champaign! We just had a couple of little sandwiches to hold us over until dinner. Tonight there was an Amazon Buffet which was interesting. Then we went to the theater to hear an Amazonian band. Jo Panas would find them interesting. The man responsible for percussion was using various beads, a very small boat like structure, and other items for the music. We are not allowed to take pictures. The music was very soothing and we enjoyed their presentation.

Tomorrow Manaus Part II.

April 7, 2023, Good Friday:  Lots of pictures today…..

We have crossed over into the Brazilian state of Amazon. And we saw a bug this morning.

We really have not been bothered with bugs or mosquitoes….yet. But I did see one other bug on the ship – a dead black beetle.

The  ship dropped anchor this morning near a small Brazilian village of less than 100 inhabitants, Boca Da Valeria.

The ship advertises it as an opportunity to glimpse the authentic, simple river life. Dave was really not interested in going ashore as we knew the locals would pose for tips and the children grab for your hands to walk you through their village. We are always a little overwhelmed by these encounters, and try to avoid them. We were planning to stay on the ship and hopefully see the pink dolphins, but with no sightings by late morning, I convinced him to take a tender over to the village. It is rainy season, which means wet and muddy, and neither of us likes to walk in the mud. This village has no tourism infrastructure, so we knew it would just be grassy paths. I suggested we go over but stay on the tender and then we’d ride back (The tenders are the lifeboats but I think they are always called tenders because they tender people from one location to another). After riding over, we saw the dock area was covered, so I convinced Dave to get off the tender and we made our way onto the grassy path. As soon as you get off the tender and out of the immediate port area, the children were lined up to grab your hands, and were insistent. But we walked past them. We saw a church and walked inside, and left a donation as they are trying to build a new church.

There were children all over the place with various animals – sloths (lots), parrots, parakeets, and baby caimen.

One guy had a capybara (large rodent) on a leash. This is not him, but this is a picture from online.

If you take their picture, they expect a tip. Many people were advertising 30 minute boat rides for $5 per person. Somehow I convinced Dave to take the boat ride, which goes to the giant lily pads. The boat we chose happened to already have our friend Irvin on the boat, so it was just the three of us.

We saw more houses along the river, and one house had a horse. Our little boat captain took us right into the lily pads and we could see them up close.

The lily pads had big thorns around edge.

Some had big, beautiful pink flowers.

Then we cruised back to the little village.

One building had a sign, “cool beer” (not cold!). Obviously they know how to appeal to tourists.

The boat was a long boat and the captain used a stick as an oar to maneuver in shallow water.

The boat had an engine with the propeller on a long shaft, similar to the boats in Thailand.

Once back in the little village, Dave took a picture of a cute little girl with parakeets.

Then we headed to the port to go back on the tender. Fortunately we were under cover because it started to pour rain! Well, it is the rainy season. While on the tender, someone noticed Dave’s Tampa Bay Ray’s hat. It turned out they live in Venice and are neighbors of fellow rowers, Denise and Phil Mannino. Getting back on the ship, the crew sat us down and put shoe covers on our shoes so we wouldn’t get the ship carpets dirty.

At the end of our visit, Dave was glad we decided to go to the village.

I will say the crew has been great, and seem to take care of the passengers much better than any other cruise we have been on. I am amazed by how many of the crew have been calling us by name for several days already. I feel like the crew actually cares about the passengers! 

We managed to walk on the jogging track for two miles, and then went to tea. Dave was willing to go because Tom was playing background music on the piano.

This evening we went to the Italian restaurant, Sette Mari for the first time. It is very popular and does not take reservations. First we were served some appetizers.

No pictures, but for our pasta course I had gnocchi and Dave had lasagne. For our our secondi or second course Dave had veal scaloppini and I had cioppino.

For desert, I had profiteroles, and Dave had wine.

After dinner, we went to hear Tom for awhile before bedtime. Our captain has announced we will be late getting to Manaus as the current in the river is stronger than anticipated, so we will be about 2 hours late.

One other thing that has been happening is that ever since we left St. Lucia, we have been asked to conserve water. Every day there is an announcement to conserve water. The ship is usually able to take the ocean water and filtrate it but because the Amazon river has a lot of sediment in it, they are unable to filtrate it to make it usable onboard. We were planning to let the ship do our laundry, but that is not going to happen until we are back in the Atlantic!

April 6, 2023, Thursday. Today we are visiting Santarem, Brazil, which is town of 306,500, along the Amazon River. Our speaker onboard said the Brazilian Government only considers a population a city if there are more than 3,000,000 people. We are not docked in town, but anchored in the river. So we have to take a tender, or a smaller boat, to get to shore. This is actually one of the river boats they were using to transport passengers. Dave and I rode in one of the ships tenders which are smaller than this boat.

Santarem is in the Brazil state of Para. So, while we are on the Amazon River, we are not yet in the Brazilian state of Amazon. Santarem was founded in 1661 as a Jesuit mission to the Tapajo Indians. Our tour guide today guide said the name Santarem came from Portuguese explorers, named after a city in Portugal. Their main language is Portuguese. Santarem is  where the Tapajos River joins the Amazon River. The Tapajos river is very clear and clean, accounting for over 65 miles of river beaches which is a good draw for tourism. 

Our speaker on the boat a few days ago mentioned that a group of Confederates settled in Santarem after the Civil War. Most of them or their families eventually returned to the US, but she said some have mixed with the population. Santarem is also the closest town to Fordlandia, Henry Ford’s failed experiment to get a good reliable source of rubber. 

Santarem is one of the oldest towns in the northern region of Brazil and has historical building and monuments. 

We opted for a shore excursion to Tapajos National Forest. After our tender ride from the ship to shore, we took a bus used for public transportation to the forest. The bus did not have air conditioning, but was bearable. It was an hour ride and the highways were in pretty good shape. Only once did the bus driver have to come to a quick stop when a horse decided to cross in front on the bus. The horse had a saddle and a lead, so I think he wandered off from his rider.

Our tour guide said you are only allowed in the forest with government permission. The forest has more than 1.3 million acres. 

Arriving at the entrance, a guide from the Tapajos National Forest joined us with a chain saw and a machete. We had about 3.5 more miles to drive before we reached where we were going to do a hike. The chainsaw was to clear the road in the event it was blocked by a fallen tree. He did not need to use to chain saw, but the road was blocked by a log at one point that had to be moved. The machete was used for various things on our walk. 

When the bus stopped, there was a restroom…A restroom….the men were on their own. Then we started our walk. It is not a Virgin Forest, but does have some very old trees.

Unfortunately, the guide called the trees by their Portuguese names, so most of the things we saw, I have no idea what they were. But some of the trees were obvious…like the first one. They used the machete to make a scar in the bark of the first tree, and a white substance oozed out. This was a rubber tree. I touched the white stuff that oozed out. At first it seemed very liquidy, but quickly turned into a sticky substance.

We walked to another tree. Our guides bent down and it looked like they blew into the roots. This disturbed the ants living there, who came out of the bottom of the tree. These ants were huge! At least 1 inch long.

Actually we saw a lot of ants in the forest, but none were this big.

The next tree was a Kapok tree about 300 to 400 years old. The guide said there was another one deep in the forest that we would not see that was about 1000 years old.

The machete guy cut a log and banged it against the trunk of the kapok tree, and said this is how they would communicate in the forest. It was a loud, hollow sound.

We left that trail and walked to another trail that was a little distance back down the road where the bus had driven. The only way you would know this trail was there would be if you were a guide. It was here that we saw a beautiful, big, blue morpho butterfly. He was too quick for us to get a picture, but he was beautiful. His wingspan was probably 8” across.

We could hear birds and frogs, but this walk was mostly about the trees. The trees are very tall and have various ant nests built into the trees, including termites. I asked our guide if the ant nests would kill the trees, and he said no.

The next tree was a Brazil nut tree. The nuts come in a pod that looks like a softball. When you break it open, inside are maybe a dozen of the Brazil nuts shells that we would recognize. The guides gave us a sample of the nuts, which was before they were roasted, but they were very good. 

One thing we saw on the floor of the Forrest was cicada tunnels or tubes. I have never seen these before, but this is what they look like in the Tapajos National Forest.

One tree had bark that could be braided and assist in climbing a tree. Our guides succeeded in braiding the bark, but the braid failed and fell apart when they tried to demonstrate climbing trees.

At another tree we’re vines that our guide demonstrated how you could swing on the vine. This tree also produced a sap that was very pleasant smelling, and little branches that could be smoked like cigarettes. 

The bark of another tree was used to sooth sore throats. The machete was used to cut off small pieces of bark, and one lady said it reminded her  like fisherman’s friend hand lotion. 

The last tree had a big ant nest on it, and the guides let the ants crawl on them, then killed the ants, and said it was a natural mosquito repellant. It had a pleasant smell, but we had not been bothered by ants the whole walk, so don’t know if it was true. 

We boarded our buses to go back to the ship. I was hoping to see wildlife and birds, but that didn’t materialize. We did see farms alongside the road to and from the ship. They grew soybeans, and then after picking the soybeans, they would plant corn. The only animals we saw were Brahma cattle that had been brought from India because their hooves were resistant to moisture.

We arrive back at the shore to at catch our tender back to the ship. When we arrived back at the ship, Dave and I were hungry as we didn’t have lunch…neither did the other 20 people on the tour with us. So before going to our room, we stopped at the coffee connection and got some lunch meat, cheese, and in Daves case, a couple of cookies. 

After showering, we tried to go to Sette Mari, which is the Italian restaurant,  but there would have been a long wait. So we went to Compass Rose. Dave had a shrimp cocktail, Caesar salad, and Wahoo for his entree. I had a crab and avocado appetizer which was delicious, a fruit salad, and a spicy shrimp entree.

After dinner we went to “The Liar’s Club” in the theater. There are four crew and they give their definitions to words you’ve never heard of. One is telling the truth and the other three are giving made up definitions. The audience is suppose to guess who is telling the truth. We have watched this on other cruises, and the definitions they come up with can be pretty funny. 

Dave went to hear Tom, and I retired to finish my blog.

Tomorrow we will be in Boca Da Valeria, which is just a small village, and no shore excursions are offered. It is here that we hope to see the pink dolphins.

April 5, 2023, Wednesday: This morning we have entered the mouth of the Amazon River. The ship stopped at a small town to pick up the pilot who will captain the boat to Manaus. In Manaus, we will pick up another pilot to captain us back to the Atlantic Ocean. The stop was at  Macapa.

It was suppose to be at 9:00 AM, but we were stopped and the anchor was down at 8:00AM.

We went to breakfast and after breakfast we went to hear a speaker talk about the Amazon, but more in cultural, economical and political terms. These are recollections from her talk. Deforestation is a large concern, but the current president is taking steps to control the deforestation. There have been several ventures in the Amazon, some succeed and some fail. Henry Ford bought a tract of land and named the area Fordlandia. He wanted a reliable source of rubber. Unfortunately he planted the rubber trees too close and then the land flooded, so Ford’s venture failed. Another guy came in and planted trees for pulp, used the wetlands to grow rice to feed his workers, and was successful. Brazils government came in and told him he created a enterprise that was similar to those in the USA, and told him he had to pay USA wages to his workers. He could not do that, so the Brazilian government bought his enterprise for penny’s on the dollar, and this venture is still successful (to me sounded like the Brazilian government stole this company, but the speaker did not say this). Her talk was interesting, but I do question a couple of her statements. She told us about a parasitic catfish that was drawn to ammonia, so you should not urinate in the water. I googled it, and according to Wikipedia, another unreliable source, the fish exists but is not drawn to humans urinating in the water.

After the talk we went to the exercise room and used the treadmills! I realized I should be bringing my earbuds so I could listen to the TV. After exercising we ate lunch at the pool grill. Did not make it to tea today…. I thought Dave might be interested because it was called a brownie tea. Instead, we watched a presentation on Easter Island, which was discovered 301 years ago today, on April 5, 1722. It was Easter Sunday, thus the name.

It was raining in the afternoon so we went back to the treadmills and I remembered my earbuds. Today is the first day I got in my 10,000 steps!

Somehow we scored another reservation in Prime 7. We are not going to complain! The only unfortunate problem is our reservation is at 8:30, so we will miss all of the evening entertainment. We are really not complaining. The food in Compass Rose, the main dining room is excellent – much better than other cruises we have been on. Compass Rose is fine dining, and Prime 7 is more excellent dining. We can get good steaks, lamb and seafood in either. Prime 7 is just a cut above, with more attentive service. So tonight I had a crab cake for an appetizer and double cut lamb chops. Dave had a crab cake appetizer and the seafood platter again (lobster, king crab legs and a scallop). We are not scheduled to go back to Prime 7 for a few days from now.

We are still traveling on the Amazon River. We will be on the river for 7 days. We have not experienced bugs yet. We have seen clumps of vegetation floating on the river, which are results of vegetation breaking off due to strong current. 

The only wildlife we have seen were a group of snowy egrets. There are many islands in the Amazon. Tomorrow we will stop in Santarem and we have a walk scheduled in the Tapajos National Forest. More on that after we do our walk! 

Almost sunset!

April 4, 2023, Tuesday: At the Amazon talk yesterday, the speaker talked about the volume of water that the Amazon dumps into the Atlantic Ocean. This morning when we got up and looked out, the water was no longer the beautiful blue, but brown, because of the water coming into the Atlantic from the Amazon River.  And, we were about 450 to 500 miles from the mouth of the Amazon! 

It is overcast and rainy in the morning and early afternoon.

After breakfast, we went to another presentation on the Amazon. This one was about the creatures we will see from the ship, on the shore, and the walks we may take into the rain forest. 

From the ship we may see farms with Brahma cattle. These cattle were imported from India because their hooves are resistant to moisture. We will also see river boats, which sound like public transportation. People will wave down the river boat and take them to their destination – market, shopping, medical appointments, etc.

There are millions of insects! The insects will be on the ship. One of these is a moth with a 6” to 12” wingspan! There are many species of birds including Egrets, Terns, Gulls, Kingfishers, Parrots, Parakeets, Toucan, Macaw. 

Along the banks we may see tapirs and caiman.

In the river we may see floating vegetation as a result of the strong current eroding the river banks, giant water lilies that people can even stand on, river otters, many species of fish (3000 – 5000), manatees, porpoises. In one area there are pink porpoises! I am definitely hoping to see the pink porpoises. There is a lot of folklore surrounding the pink porpoises including they can disguise themselves as humans. Apparently unsuspecting pregnancies(!) are blamed on the pink porpoises. 

Along the (muddy – it’s rainy season) trails are flora and fauna. There are over 1200 species of orchids, bromeliads, philodendron, etc. Also, ants, termites, ant eater, sloth, and 23 species of primates; over 300 species of hummingbirds, spotted cats (ocelots and jaguars). 

Of course there are also piranhas, boa constrictors and anacondas. 

Obviously, lots to see! We won’t see everything, but I hope we see the pink dolphins!

After the presentation, we went to the fitness room (!) and spent 30 minutes on the treadmill. Daves knee is bothering him, but he did OK on the treadmill. 

Then we went to a presentation on Thor Heyerdahl and Kon Tiki. Apparently his theories were wrong, but the books he wrote were interesting adventure stories. 

Dave and I went to Tea Time today. It was the first time on all of our cruises that we went to Tea, as I figured Dave would not like it. But he did OK! It was perfect timing because we had a late breakfast and missed lunch. We had little bite size salmon sandwiches, turkey sandwiches, ham and cheese sandwiches and almond scones with our tea.

There was a whole table of sweets which we did not take advantage of. Our little sandwiches and scones were filling. 

King Neptune and Queen Nep’tuna’ made an appearance for the equator crossing ceremony. Lots of people have not crossed the equator (polywogs) … seemed like 1/2 the ship. We are ‘shellbacks’, having crossed the equator previously. On previous crossings, the pollywogs were thrown into the swimming pool, but on Regent, they dropped a fake rat down a tube and the pollywogs were suppose to swat the rat when it cam out of the tube. As you can see from the photo, there are two young boys on the ship. They are the sons of the General Manager. We have seen them all over the ship, but they seem to be pretty well behaved. 

We went to dinner in Compass Rose. Dave had filet mignon and I had Thai barbecue pork rack. Both were very good. We have been enjoying the wines that are included. If we don’t like the wines of the evening, the sommelier is happy to find something else. 

After dinner we went to hear Tom play the piano and then we went to the evening show. It was billed as an instrumentalist, Craig Richard. I had seen him around the ship and he stood out to me because he was younger than most of the passengers and he was with a woman older than him. At the show he revealed he was traveling with his mom. Ahhhhh…it all makes sense now.

Sometime during the night we will really cross the equator and tomorrow morning when we awake, we will be at a technical stop just inside the mouth of the Amazon River. The technical stop is at Macapa, Brazil where we will pick up a river pilot who is familiar with this river that is always changing. 

We will be cruising the Amazon River all day tomorrow.

Two maps which probably won’t show up very well ☹️:

April 3, 2023, Monday: one more item for yesterday…we listened to the Speaker Series which was about Paul Gauguin. Interesting that he was a contemporary of Van Gogh. One of his sons, Emile, is buried in the Lemon Bay Cemetery in Englewood. He seemed to be a tortured soul, however he spread his seed very liberally including the marriage to a West Indies indigenous Indian who was 13 years old! Apparently he had several children with young girls in the West Indies. The speaker insinuated this was not unusual for the times or the geographical area.

Today the water much calmer, but still not “smooth” sailing. We went to breakfast in Compass Rose, and I had the best French toast I have ever had. I may end up ordering it every day! After breakfast we went to the library and after sitting there a few minutes, I realized the couple across from me were very sick. Dave had gone to check on something so I didn’t want to leave because he wouldn’t know where I was. After a few minutes of them coughing, they got up and left, but I’m sure they left their germs behind. The woman looked awful! Finally Dave returned and we got out of there! We decided to try to walk, and we were able to get in 2 miles.

The walking track is above the swimming pool and I noticed the pool was closed, with a net across the top, and workmen in the pool. The water had been drained out….just looked funny!  

I wanted to do more, but Daves knee was bothering him. So after our walk we had a lite lunch in the pool area.

We listened to another of the speaker series about the Amazon, and since this is a cruise to the Amazon, we found this talk very interesting. The Amazon River is 200 miles wide at the mouth, and averages 30 miles wide. There are islands in the Amazon River so despite its width, land is visible. There is a very strong current, and the topography of the river changes frequently. The Amazon is not a jungle, but is considered a rain forest. It is the largest rain forest in the world. The Amazon River is located in Brazil and the Amazon territory is larger than the continental USA. The Amazon River is the longest river in the world by 50 miles. It stars 18,363 feet above sea level in the Andes. The speaker said many rivers flow into the Amazon River. The Amazon is considered white water, but there are a lot of solids in the water so it looks brown. But if you let it settle, the solids will fall to the bottom and the water at the top will be clear. Water from the Rio Negro flows into the Amazon, and it is considered black water. Xingu river flows into the Amazon and is a clear water river. 20% of the fresh water that flows into the Atlantic Ocean is from the Amazon River. The Amazon River was found by Amerigo Vespucci in 1501. The Amazon is a dynamic river with a very strong current. 80% of our pharmaceuticals come from the Amazon, but only 20% of the plants have been identified, so there are many more possibilities. The people we will encounter are not Indians, but are called Caboclo. They are a mix of Portuguese, African and Indigenous Indian. Whew! Now you know!

Dave had requested reservations in Prime 7, but we were on a wait list. We didn’t hear anything, so we went to Compass Rose about 8:00. The restaurant manager approached us and asked if we’d like to go to Prime 7 at 8:15PM? Of course we said yes! We got almost the same meals: Dave had  a crab cake appetizer and the seafood sampler plate (lobster tail, king crab legs and a scallop). I went for the surf and turf again, except I had a goat cheese tart,which wasn’t what I expected! It seemed to be chopped mushrooms, covered with poblano peppers and goat cheese. Nothing resembled a tart. The surf and turf was very good though.

We have been getting excellent attention and service from the wine stewards and sommeliers due to an unfortunate event on Day 2. Our wine server never returned during dinner to refill my empty wine glass. On top of that, our dessert never came. We received many apologies, and as a result….it seems everyone knows our name, especially the wine servers. Our wine glasses never go empty anymore.

By the time we finished dinner, it was late, and we lose an hour tonight. So we retreated to our suite.

April 2, 2023, Sunday: We didn’t do anything today! We woke up to a ship that was rocking and rolling! Fortunately, we are located mid-ship horizontally and vertically, which is suppose to be the best spot to be in rough waters. We went to breakfast at La Veranda, which is near the top of the ship….it was really rocking up there. I got a little queasy, ate a light breakfast, and went back to our suite. Dave also got a little queasy and a headache. We have been on many, many cruises, and this is the first time either of us felt the effects of rocking and rolling. We laid low all morning, and felt much better. We went to lunch at Compass Rose, which is on deck 5. As we sat eating lunch, we had waves splashing up on the windows. We tried to take a picture, but of course it doesn’t really reflect how rough the water was. We did pick up some seasickness pills….just in case. The captain said the waves were 8 feet, but I’m sure the ones hitting the windows on deck 5 were more than 8 feet. We decided to stay in our suite for the afternoon, just to keep from falling or getting queasy again. 

We were suppose to have dinner with Irvin and Evelyn, but we did not hear from them, so perhaps they were laying low today, too. 

Dinner was at Compass Rose. Dave had Lobster Bisque and a salmon filet. I had chicken broth and scallops. Then back to our suite. No evening entertainment tonight.  

I am having a little trouble logging into the internet – maybe the weather is affecting the ships internet.

April 1, 2023, Saturday: This morning we were encouraged to meet Ray, the cruise director at 8:00AM on the pool deck to watch for Porofilla, which were described as sea animals that can grow to 20 feet and look like manatees. Of course we are not early risers so we did not go up to the pool deck. Upon arriving in St. Lucia, Ray made the announcement that the ship was cleared and that they got great photos of the Porofilla earlier, but there was still a pod in the bay next to the ship, port side. Dave and I were at breakfast, and looked out the windows but did not see anything. Later, after googling Porofilla, I discovered it was an April Fool’s joke, and I fell for it. 

We have not been to St. Lucia before. The islanders have two languages, English and French Creole.  The island changed hands between the French and English 14 times. It was controlled by the French 7 times and by the English 7 times. Our guide said England wanted to control the whole island, and gave France part of Canada in return – and that’s why there is a French speaking province in Canada. Don’t know if it’s true, but is interesting. 

We signed up to go to the rain forest and take the Aerial Tram tour. Our tour gathered at 11:25AM and left the port in a small bus about noon. There were 3 little buses, so about 60 people. It was a bit of a drive, about 30 minutes. The roads are not the best, bumpy, potholes, and some were one lane so you had to squeeze by oncoming traffic.

Arriving at the rainforest we were divided up in groups of 8, and awaited our turn for a tram. The vendor at the rainforest also runs a zip line, so some of the trams were used to transport people planning to zip line or returning from doing zip lines. Each tram holds 8 people and a guide.

It travels very slowly up the mountain in the rainforest, with frequent stops which allows viewing of birds and plants in the rain forest.

Our guide was disappointed because we did not see many birds. He was trying to spot the national bird, the St. Lucia parrot. We did not see one, but they are hard to see because while they’re very colorful, their back is green. Trying to spot a green bird among the green trees is pretty difficult. At the top, the tram turns around and you head down the mountain. The views from the top were very nice, and you could see the Atlantic Ocean on one side and the Caribbean Sea on the other side. On clear days it is possible to see the island of Martinique, but today was overcast so we couldn’t see that far. 

I think the tram ride was an hour long, and even though we didn’t see many birds, I enjoyed it and would do it again. At the end, our guide took us on a short walk through a hummingbird garden and we saw several.

We also saw a lizard that looked like our anoles, and several ginger plants.

We were given a complimentary drink of lemonade or tamarind juice before boarding our little bus back to the port. 

There was an interesting “All In” sculpture that caught my eye.

This is what I read about it:

“The “All-In” sculpture was dedicated on October 3, 2019. The sculpture commemorate the 40th anniversary of the independence of Saint Lucia. The 40′ long bronze sculpture is 12.5′ tall and 19′ wide. It was created by Saint Lucian sculptor Jallim Eudovic.

All-In has four seated figures in a line. They each hold a set of large oars are in the act of rowing. There is no boat so the figures are in full view. The blades of the oars support the sculpture. The sculpture represents Saint Lucia’s ethnic composition: The Amerindians, Europeans, Africans and East Indians all of whom arrived by boat. 

According to Jallim Eudovic: “Time has unified us all. We are no longer slaves or colonizers or indentured laborers, we are one nation and one people. We now sail back into the world in collective stride, the cargo – our culture, heritage and the mighty people who now work from the helm.”

After returning to the port, we walked through the shops and back on the boat. We were pretty hungry, so we went up to the pool deck to get some food for a late lunch. Evelyn found us and pulled up a chair…we may have become their best friends….we did commit to dinner with them tomorrow evening.

We rested and showered, and went to the Galileo Lounge to listen to some music by the Navigator orchestra until time for dinner. When we went to the Compass Rose dining room, we had to get on a wait list for a table. So we waited about 20 minutes before they came for us. There were 4 other couples waiting, too. Dinner was good, as usual. Dave had a shrimp cocktail and grouper. I had a tuna and salmon appetizer and the grouper for an entree. We both thought the grouper was delicious. After dinner, we went to a production show in the theatre. The singers and dancers performed songs and dances from around the world. We always enjoy the production shows and thought this one was very good, too, which surprised me because of it being a small ship. After the show we went to the Navigator lounge to hear Tom the piano player. Ray, the cruise director, stopped by and sang “My Way” with Tom on the piano. Tom is building up quite a following and it is getting harder to find a seat in the lounge where he is playing. Tomorrow we were suppose to go to Trinidad, but the port was cancelled, so tomorrow is the first of 3 sea days and 1 more day cruising on the Amazon River. So 4 days without setting foot on land!

March 31, 2023, Friday: Today our port of call is St. Kitts. St. Kitts was founded in 1627 but came under English control in 1727. The capital city is Basseterre and has been destroyed many times by colonial wars, fire, earthquakes, floods, riots and hurricanes.

We have been in St. Kitts twice before, and have seen most of the island. The first time we took a guided tour, which was great. The second time I had downloaded a walking tour. Both those visits were on Sundays and most of the stores and restaurants were closed. We could tell the difference in traffic today, a Friday, and everything appears to be open. We had not traveled on the St. Kitts Scenic Railway, and since it was one of the excursions offered by Regent, we thought that would be a good excursion. Our ship didn’t arrive until11:00AM, and our ship excursion did not meet until 12:15PM. At our meeting place ashore, it seemed about half the ship opted for the scenic railway tour. The tour around the island is 30 miles, 18 miles by train and the last 12 miles by bus. The train is advertised as the last railway in the West Indies. It is a narrow gauge railway built between 1912 and 1926 for hauling sugar cane. 

We boarded a small bus at the port and traveled about 1/2 hour to the train station. The train had five cars, and each car was enclosed on the first level but open air on the second level although there was a canvas cover to provide some shade. Of course we sat on the second level. The train ride was about 2 hours long, with a running commentary that was difficult to understand coming over the speakers. We were served our choice of rum drinks – pina colada, rum and Coke, rum over ice, as well as water, cokes and sprite. Our server came by several times asking if we wanted something else, so we could have drank as much as we wanted. We were also given a cookie made with sugar cane, coconut, and ginger which was interesting. The actual train ride was very bumpy and rocking. At one point Dave asked me if you could get car sick on a train. We ran into a rain shower, and while we didn’t get soaked, we did get sprinkled on. We debated trying to get down to the enclosed level, but there was no way we felt comfortable walking to the stairs and then down the stairs with the train cars  rocking and rolling. However, there were 2 guys, dressed in what I assume were native costumes, that traveled to each car and danced, looking for tips. Obviously they were used to the instability. 

I was surprised at the size of the island and as we rode, the narrator would name all the villages we were passing through, and when we crossed from the Atlantic Ocean side to the Caribbean Sea side. She also pointed out this church where an ancestor of Thomas Jefferson is buried.

The Atlantic is always much rougher. We saw lots of animals: goats, pigs, cows, and a green monkey, originally brought to the island by the French.

We wondered about the track maintenance, especially as we crossed 4 bridges!

There was a little maintenance vehicle that stayed a distance in front of the train which I assume was to check the tracks and make sure there were no issues. We made it to the ending train station safely. Not sure I would recommend doing this train ride – it was pretty rough. 

When we returned to the port area, we wandered around a little. But recognizing the places we saw in March, 2022 on our self guided walking tour, we decided to go back to the ship about 4:00PM. We’ve decided if we ever come back to St. Kitts, we will try to visit it’s sister island, Nevis.

We went to Prime 7 for dinner, which is the only restaurant onboard that requires a reservation. Dave had a crab cake appetizer and the seafood platter (lobster, scallop, crab claw) for his entree. I had a scallop with pork belly for my appetizer and surf and turf for my entree. We shared a popcorn sundae for dessert. People raved about the popcorn sundae on the cruise critic message board, so I had to try it. The meal was excellent. We really think the food onboard is the best we’ve had on any cruise.

After dinner we were entertained in the theatre by a comedian, Darrel Joyce, then back to our suite.

March 30, 2023, Thursday: Another sea day. Dave and I have been in the Caribbean on cruises many times, but the water on this cruise has been the most beautiful blue I have ever seen. It is a dark blue, maybe cobalt blue. I tried to take a picture, but the picture just doesn’t reflect the beautiful color that I see in person.

This morning we attended a lecture on the Caribbean beginnings. The islands were originally formed by volcanos and inhabited by people from central and South America. When the Portuguese and Spanish explorers found the islands, they determined that they could raise various crops and began bringing slaves from Africa to do the work. 

We had lunch in La Veranda and then went to a documentary movie about the Amazon, “Mythical Roads – The Amazon”. I had good intentions to walk for some exercise, but by the time the movie was over, my good intentions had faded away. Dave has been having some knee issues, and said he was going to rest his knee today to be ready for out first port of call tomorrow, St. Kitts.

Regent does a “Block Party” where everyone grabs a glass and comes out of their suite and meets their neighbors. Crew is in the hallway with wine and hors d’oeuvres, and the captain and cruise director walks by to say hello. Tom, the piano player, came by with his guitar and sang “Red Red Wine”. We met some of our neighbors and it was a fun event. Afterwards we went to the Stars Lounge to listen to Tom play the piano before dinner. A couple from New Jersey that we met on the first day, Irvin and Evelyn, joined us. They are a bit of a hoot, but very nice and friendly. 

We had a great dinner in Compass Rose. Dave had schezuan beef stir fry and I had scallops with a pumpkin purée. The evening show was the violin virtuoso again, and Dave had no interest in the violin virtuoso, so we went back to our suite.  

We had a letter in our suite that the ship is skipping a port due to timing of the tides in the Amazon River. So we will not be going to Trinidad, but will have another sea day. Dave and I like sea days, but we’re a little disappointed because we have not been to Trinidad.

March 29, 2023, Wednesday: Today is a sea day, so we participated in activities onboard. We went to a film on the Caribbean ports we will be visiting, which included some ports we won’t be visiting! We also went to hear a speaker talk about Christopher Columbus and his four trips to include Caribbean islands, Cuba and Central America….but never North America. He thought he has reached Asia not realizing the American continent was blocking his way. 

We found time in the afternoon to do a 2 mile walk on the  pool deck.

We went to the Captains Welcome event. (Selfie below of us dressed for Captains Welcome) After introducing the department heads, the cruise director, Ray Solaire, gave a performance. Ray said his first cruise ship gig was on the QEII in 1969…so we figure he has to be 70+. His voice is amazing and he gave a great performance. One of his talents is being a ventriloquist, and he would throw his voice to dummies. He was quite good. Dinner was rib eye steak for Dave and lobster for me. After dinner we went to the Navigator lounge to hear the piano player Tom Sartorial. We have been enjoying his music. We skipped the late show which was billed as a violin virtuoso, and headed to bed.

March 28, 2023 – Tuesday: We rented a car to drive to Miami. We took our luggage to the ship and then returned the car at the Miami airport. We got a taxi at the airport to take us to the ship. It was a bit interesting because Dave thought the taxi missed a turn and misdirected the driver. We ended up going city streets to the port instead of the highway. We arrived at the port, they checked our documents, embarkation was quick and we boarded the ship about 1:30PM.

It is the smallest ship we have been on. The ship had an interesting beginning as it was built in what was Leningrad, Russia as a research vessel in 1991. Due to the collapse of the Soviet Block it was never totally fitted with satellite equipment. The ship was sold and eventually christened as the Seven Seas Navigator in 1999 in Ft. Lauderdale. It has been beautifully renovated, with its latest renovation in 2016. It has 13 decks, 560 feet long and 81 feet wide, a crew of 360 and 490 passengers.

After going to our muster station, we were able to go to our “suite”. All the staterooms on this ships are suites. Our suite has a nice size bathroom with a bathtub and a separate shower, we have a walk-in closet, and a seating area with a full size sofa. 

There are three restaurants, but only one requires reservations, Prime 7. Before the cruise, we were only allowed to make one reservation at Prime 7, but once onboard, we were able to make a second reservation for our anniversary. 

We had lunch in their “buffet”, La Veranda. You serve yourself, but are seated at white tablecloth tables and have attentive servers getting your beverages. We explored the ship after lunch and even “visited” the exercise room. By that time our luggage had been delivered and so we spent the rest of the afternoon unpacking and getting settled in our suite. 

Dinner was in Compass Rose, and we were impressed with how extensive the menu was. I had a red beet carpaccio for an appetizer; and lamb chops, spinach and asparagus for my entree. Dave had a Caesar Salad, Swordfish and we shared the vegetables. We generally skip dessert. The meal was very good and based on this first evening, we will be very happy dining in the main dining room, Compass Rose.

After dinner we stopped in a lounge to hear a piano player and then went to the theatre to see a movie on the Amazon. The movie was okay, but a bit too long and several people fell asleep including a man on my right, and Dave who was on my left. 

The next two days are sea days, so we will be enjoying the activities onboard.

Our Itinerary:

Tuesday, March 28	Miami, FL		5:00pm
Wednesday, March 29	At Sea
Thursday, March 30	At Sea
Friday, March 31	St. Kitts	10:00am	6:00pm
Saturday, April 1	St. Lucia	8:00am	5:00pm
Sunday, April 2	Trinidad	8:00am	4:00pm
Monday, April 3	At Sea
Tuesday, April 4	At Sea
Wednesday, April 5	Amazon River (Cruising)
Thursday, April 6	Santarem, Brazil	10:00am	6:00pm
Friday, April 7	Boca da Valeria, Brazil	7:00am	2:00pm
Saturday, April 8	Manaus, Brazil	8:00am
Sunday, April 9	Manaus, Brazil		4:00pm
Monday, April 10	Parintins, Brazil	11:00am	7:00pm
Tuesday, April 11	Alter do Chao, Brazil	8:00am	4:00pm
Wednesday, April 12	Amazon River (Cruising)
Thursday, April 13	At Sea
Friday, April 14	At Sea
Saturday, April 15	Barbados	10:00am	7:00pm
Sunday, April 16	Dominica	8:00am	6:00pm
Monday, April 17	St. Barts	8:00am	6:00pm
Tuesday, April 18	San Juan, Puerto Rico	7:00am	2:00pm
Wednesday, April 19	At Sea
Thursday, April 20	Great Stirrup Cay, Bahamas	11:00am	7:00pm
Friday, April 21	Miami, FL	6:00am