About Dawn on the Amazon |
| beginning of the day, my favorite time of day, the best time of day for fishing, bird watching, nature observation, and photography, seemed a more appropriate name for the boats and company. My best early memories are of the Wabash River with my Grandpa Will, in his home built, wooden jon boat running trot lines. It was not so much the catching of fish, but rather the fog coming off the river at dawn, the bank swallows swooping ahead of our boat feeding on insects, butterflies flitting on the sand bar, blue herons, still as statues, nature revealing a few of her secrets to a young boy. My brother and I were raised on a small family farm in west-central Indiana. My Mom did her best to teach me manners, my Dad set a great example of hard work. Four years in the Marine Corps enabled me to glimpse my potential. Sixteen years of marriage and two wonderful children inspired me to scratch out a living on the farm. A nice benefit of farming in Indiana is the slack time during freezing winter. I followed my parents' example and traveled as much as possible, going to or through 45 states, driving my Volkswagen bug coast to coast, and from Florida to Minnesota, taking the train to California twice, and lots of other road trips. We wintered in Florida half a dozen times, California four times, Hawaii twice, and once in Texas. After traveling on six continents and lots of countries and islands, I guess I have had more adventures than most people. Viet Nam, Chiapas Mexico, some events that happened in Central America, island hopping the South Pacific, three African safaris, climbing the volcanoes of Uganda to be with the mountain gorillas, the Congo and Rwanda, Down Under, and a whole lot more that I could tell you about if we get to know each other, but I never had any adventures that suit me better than I am having here in the rainforest of Peru. I came to Iquitos, Peru, for the first time eight years ago, had a 33 foot long, thatched-roof, wooden river boat built and bought a used 25 horse Johnson motor, some camping supplies, and fishing gear and left civilization behind for 5 weeks, exploring, fishing for peacock bass, visiting remote villages, studying the birds and monkeys, epiphytes and trees. I became hooked on the Amazon. The next winter I returned to Iquitos and my boat, and did it again with my fishing buddy Mark. The next year my friend Doug joined us. Since then, I have retired from farming and had three other wooden boats built and 10 dugout canoes. I became a resident of Iquitos, Peru, and started this business to share experiences with people who might not have the skills, knowledge, or confidence, but have the desire for a satisfying adventure and some exotic fun. My company and boats are registered in Iquitos, Loreto, and Peru. They are insured, taxpaying, safe, and available for your enjoyment. |
| Hello, my name is William David Grimes. Please call me Bill. I am the president and owner of Dawn on the Amazon Tours and Cruises. My company and my boats are named after my daughter. I love my son, Matt, but dawn, the |
| This is our building on the boulevard, overlooking the river, on the corner of the first block of Nauta, #185 Maldonado. Marmelita and I live on the top floor. I rent out three apartments on the second floor, a corner office on the ground floor, and the Dawn on the Amazon Tours and Cruises office. This has been our office since August 2006. Before that our office was on Brazil St. for a couple of years. This is a much better location in the tourist center. When the water is high we dock our boat 200 yards in front of the office. We have high speed internet, 4 land line phones, 5 cellular phones, a fax machine, two |
| computers, two printer/scanners, HF and VHF radios to contact the boats, and maps of all the rivers in the upper Amazon. |
