Dawn on the Amazon Captain’s Blog

Biology Teachers Receive Grant to Study the Amazon Rainforest

Two biology teachers from my home area of west central Indiana have been in Iquitos for the last two days. They were chosen from over 150 applicants for the grant, and are feeling honored to be participating. They take notes and photographs of everything and I know they will learn more than most visitors to the Amazon. They are being great students, one of the first steps to being a great teacher.

We have been to the Pilpintuwasi Animal Orphanage and Butterfly Farm, the Yagua village, Las Boas serpentarium, the Amazon River, and watched pink and gray dolphins. We have visited two small river villages to see how the riberiños live. This morning we are cruising up the Nanay River in Dawn on the Amazon III, into the rare white sand forest of Allpahuayo Mishana National Reserve to learn about the real rainforest.

Dawn on the Amazon has one of the most comprehensive libraries of field research books on the upper Amazon Rainforest of Peru, and makes a great mobile base camp to study Rainforest ecology.

I will report back on the Captains blog in a few days about the results of our study of the Amazon rainforest.

Biology Teachers Receive Grant to Study Amazon Rainforest

Bill Grimes, President of Dawn on the Amazon Tours and Cruises

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Monkey Island

Monkey Island is home to nine species of primates totaling over 40 individuals. One of them speaks English, two speak Spanish, and all of them are very expressive.

Gilberto Guerra is the owner of Monkey Island. He has been operating this haven for orphaned monkeys two hours down stream from Iquitos Peru for seven years. Gilberto and his right hand man Libert Garcia raise bananas, star fruit, caimito, papaya, mamey, cacao, and other tropical fruits to feed the monkeys and the humans.

Monkey Island would be nearly self sustaining except the inhabitants have developed a special fondness for grapes which do not produce well in the Amazon Rainforest. A funny scene is watching several Woolley Monkeys separate the grape pulp from the skin. They are picky about their grapes. They don’t like skin, but they do not waste one speck of the fruit.

The species we played with on our last visit to Monkey Island were:

• Red Uacari Monkey
• Woolley Monkey
• Saddleback Tamarin
• Saki Monkey
• Dusky Titi Monkey
• Spider Monkey
• Yellow-tailed Spider Monkey
• Red Howler Monkey

You can learn a lot about monkeys at Monkey Island

I learn something new about monkeys nearly every time we visit Monkey Island. I remember the first time I took a hike across the island. The oldest Woolley was my guide. He held my hand with one of his and caught and ate spiders with his other hand the whole way. I was surprised how many spiders a Woolley eats. Of course that was several years ago before they discovered the joy of grapes.

If you choose an Amazon cruise to Monkey Island, I recommend you ask Libert to be your guide instead of the Woolley Monkey. Be sure to give him a tip. He does not eat spiders.

Monkey Island

Bill Grimes, Dawn on the Amazon Tours and Cruises

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Pink Dolphins in Pacaya Samiria National Reserve

We had come a long way inside Pacaya Samiria National Reserve with an acoustical researcher, his team, and a cabin full of research gear to record the communication of Pink Dolphins.

In an effort to get the best recording we came to the Pacaya River, the most remote entrance into the reserve. Our plan was to enter far enough into Pacaya Samiria National Reserve that there would be no motor or even paddling noise from fishermen or other tour operators.

Our goal was Yarina Cocha, on the far side of a difficult obstacle. The river is blocked with a plant plug of aquatic vegetation, backed up several kilometers, and packed in tight. This was our second adventure through the plant plug. We brought the same researchers through here last year. I was not too worried, just a little worried. The plant plug had matured in 13 months, the roots were more entwined.

I won’t bore you with the details but hours later, we came out the other side into open water and it felt great. Several pink dolphins sounded near the boat. We were happy. We were the little boat and the crew that could, chug, chug, chug.

We discovered the most wildlife that can be in one place in a ripe fruit tree absolutely full of a mixed flock of birds, bees, and monkeys, and although it was an hour till dark we tied up nearby to watch the action while my crew and I changed the motor on our excursion boat. I had used it to help push us through the plant plug. Not a good idea. Fortunately we carried a backup motor.

The next day we arrived at Yarina Cocha and were surrounded by pink dolphins, but the wind blew strong causing small waves to lap up against our boat, rain pattered on the lake, and we could not get good recordings until the wind and rain blew over.

While we were waiting for the weather to clear we sent out the excursion boat and had the good luck to watch a herd of around a dozen capibaras, including mothers with their young.

Our best pink dolphin recordings were made in the next couple of days. It is amazing listening in the head phones to sounds like pop corn popping interspersed with lots of other tones.

We knew from previous cruises there was another pod of pink dolphins 55.5 kilometers away at the 3rd ranger station. In an effort to broaden the recorded data base, we set out the next morning.

That stretch of rainforest from Yarina Cocha to the 3rd ranger station is some of the best wild life observation I have ever experienced. The squirrel monkeys, howlers, sloths, and hawks were so plentiful that after a few hours we hardly bothered to pay much attention to them.

We did pay close attention to rare Yellow-tailed Woolly Monkeys, Saki Monkey mothers carrying their babies, Black Capuchin monkeys, falcons, and what may have been a Harpy Eagle which we heard but barely caught a glimpse of.

The bird watching was brilliant, with sightings of a Greater Poto up close, several Rufescent Tiger Herons, flocks of Hoatzins, Golden-collared Toucanets, White-headed Marsh Tyrants, Black-capped Donacobius (the most I have ever seen), and my first Troupial. This is not the place to list all of the macaws, parrots, or over 50 other species, that we identified during those two days.

We all agreed that section of the Pacaya River was one of the best stretches of river we have ever been on.

I was concerned about busting back through the plant plug, so we had to leave earlier than any of us wanted, but it proved to be a good plan as it took even longer to work our way back out.

After 10 days, our cruise totaled 989 kilometers, 307 k were inside the Pacaya Samiria National Reserve recording pink dolphin communication. We spent around 15 hours working our way through the plant plug.

That time was not entirely wasted as we saw and photographed a rainbow boa, a Fer-de-Lance, a Rosy-toed Tarantula, and several interesting species of frogs.

Our two Amazon cruises into Pacaya Samiria National Reserve to record Pink Dolphin communication were great opportunities for me, my crew, and Dawn on the Amazon Tours and Cruises, to prove we have what it takes to overcome obstacles and succeed with scientific field researchers that require a mobile platform to study the rivers and rainforest out of Iquitos Peru.

Pink Dolphins in Pacaya Samiria National Reserve

Bill Grimes, photographer

More interesting photographs from this expedition at Pink Dolphins, Pacaya Samiria National Reserve 

Links to articles from our first expedition in 2007 to record Pink Dolphin communication;

Observations about Our Study of Pink River Dolphins in Pacaya Samiria National Reserve

I am Just Another Travel Man

An Interview With David Bonnett, Acoustical Engineer Studying Pink Dolphin Communication

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Uncontacted Tribe Discovered in Amazon

An uncontacted tribe of indigenous has been discovered and photographed from the air near the border of Peru and Brazil. The exact location has not been revealed to protect the tribe from unwanted visits. First contact usually results in half the population of the village dieing from diseases, and the complete disruption of their social order and lifestyle.

I examined the photos of the uncontacted tribe on the Survival International web site. One woman is stained black from either the unripe fruit or seed of the wito tree. Three or four of the men have stained their face red with the fruit of the achiote tree. One man has a wooden spear, three of the men have strips of bark or bamboo around their waist and forehead and are holding bows and arrows at the ready.

Three simple thatch roof structures are laid out in a practical orderly system for communal living for 20 or 30 natives, but only half that many are visible. They might be a tribe of the Amahuaca.

Their days as the uncontacted tribe are just about over.

I am curious about the details of their life. Unfortunately so is every other jungle guide in Peru and Brazil. Anthropologists all over the world are trying to figure out how to hook up with the right jungle guide to get there before it is too late.

Uncontacted Tribe Discovered in Amazon

Bill Grimes, Jungle Guide for Dawn on the Amazon Tours and Cruises

About Bill Grimes

Contact Bill Grimes

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The Bats of Allpahuayo Mishana National Reserve, and How They Could Benefit You

Allpahuayo Mishana National Reserve is home to the 2nd highest density of bat species in Peru. Of the 65 species captured and identified, 28 percent are fruit eaters and 26 percent are insectivores.

The report I read was incomplete and caused me to speculate on the other 11 species that are presumably divided into nectar eating pollinator bats and fish eating bats, probably in that order of distribution.

The number of bat species is another of the many indicators of the mega bio-diversity found in the Reserva Nacional Allpahuayo-Mishana. Bats pollinate orchids, control insect populations, and disperse seeds.

The Short-tailed Fruit bat is the most common bat in Allpahuayo Mishana National Reserve. The Short-tailed bat will eat 30 different fruit species but prefers Piper and Cecropia. They ingest the seeds with the fruit, but the seeds are usually not digested and are excreted, ready to germinate. One colony of Short-tailed bats, might account for over 100,000 new seedlings per year, making them one of the most important species for regenerating disturbed rainforest.

The Nanay River area of Allpahuayo Mishana National Reserve has few mosquitoes

Allpahuayo Mishana National Reserve and the area upstream of the reserve on the Nanay River has the fewest mosquitoes of any place I have explored in the Amazon Rainforest. Part of the reason is the water in the lakes and rivers is very “acidic”. The rainwater that collects in bromeliad cups, indentations in trees, and hollow logs is “sweet” and provides ample breeding areas to generate a large mosquito population, but the 25 species of insect eating bats help keep the mosquito population at a minimum.

On many tours and cruises up the Nanay River into Allpahuayo Mishana National Reserve and beyond, I have slept out comfortably with no mosquito net. To put that in perspective, every time I have slept out without a mosquito net in any other part of the Amazon Rainforest I spent fairly miserable nights under extreme circumstances.

My smaller Amazon adventure cruise boat, Dawn on the Amazon I, does not have screened in areas. I usually recommend my Dawn I guests go into Allpahuayo Mishana National Reserve. The Nanay River is one of the most beautiful rivers in the upper Amazon watershed, a protected, rare, white sand forest famous with bird watchers. Enjoying your Amazon adventure is a lot easier without mosquitoes pestering you.

Allpahuayo Mishana National Reserve is a hotspot of biodiversity that deserves protection at the highest possible level

I agree completely with the conclusion of the research in the report, “Bats of the Reserva Nacional Allpahuayo-Mishana, northeastern Peru.”

“Although the Reserva Nacional Allpahuayo-Mishana enjoys a relatively high protected status, this has yet to be translated into sustained conservation. As a hotspot of biodiversity in Peru, it deserves protection at the highest possible level.”

In a future post I will propose what I consider to be “protection at the highest possible level”.

The Bats of Allpahuayo Mishana National Reserve, and How They Could Benefit You

Bill Grimes, Allpahuayo Mishana National Reserve Dawn on the Amazon Tours and Cruises

Photos of our Expedition Through Allpahuayo Mishana National Reserve

Photos I took while Bird Watching Allpahuayo Mishana National Reserve

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Water Level, Amazon River, May 1st 2008, Iquitos Peru

The green line is the record high water, the red line is record low water, yellow line is average, blue 2007, and the black line is this year up to May 1st.

Do you think the 40 foot rise and fall is because of the rainy season and the dry season in the rainforest near Iquitos Peru, or is it primarily triggered by weather patterns on the east slope of the Andes far upstream? Be careful, trick question, better click this link; Geographic and Climatic Data for Iquitos Peru

Water Level, Amazon River, May 1st 2008, Iquitos Peru

Bill Grimes, Welcome to Iquitos Peru Dawn on the Amazon Tours and Cruises

Geographic and Climatic Data for Iquitos Peru

Water Level is Dropping, Iquitos Peru

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An Amazon Cruise from Iquitos Peru to Tamshiyacu Tahuayo Reserve

If you are traveling to Iquitos Peru and only have three or four days to appreciate nature in the rainforest, I recommend an Amazon cruise to Tamshiyacu Tahuayo Reserve when the water is high, or to Allpahuayo Mishana National Reserve when the water is low. Here is the story of our most recent cruise to Tamshiyacu Tahuayo Reserve.

The first five or six hours were spent cruising upstream on the Amazon River. We like to stay close to shore out of the strong current going upstream. That provides an opportunity to observe how the people living along the banks of the Amazon survive.

Nearly everyone has a small grove of bananas and papayas, a little garden of yuca, bushes of hot peppers called aji, natural medicine plants, and other tropical fruit trees. The women cook over charcoal, or a wood fire, and do the laundry in the river nearly every day. The men fish, hunt, make charcoal, and work the gardens. The children laugh, wave, and play. There seems to be time between chores to enjoy a close family life.

The water was high. Our boat bobbed near the top of the river bank so we could look into their homes. Most people do not have doors or windows, many do not have walls.

Alberto is our best wildlife spotter. He pointed out a family of Iguanas, one of them big. They were so camouflaged I have no idea how he spotted them. We could barely see them with binoculars, even when we stopped the boat, backed up, and maneuvered closer with him pointing to them. We watched birds catching fish, birds catching insects, birds eating fruit, and birds eating amphibians. Life and death in the food chain played out in front of us and that was even before we turned up the Tahuayo River. Then things started getting really interesting.

I was happy to be back on the river, and headed for the Tamshiyacu Tahuayo Reserve rainforest on Dawn on the Amazon III with our nice guests from Hawaii, and my son Matt. This was Matt’s second Amazon cruise; his first to Tamshiyacu Tahuayo Reserve. Last year he went with us to Allpahuayo Mishana National Reserve a couple of days before Christmas. He played Santa’s elf and we delivered Christmas cheer to remote jungle villages. This cruise was a lot different. Of course all cruises are a lot different.

My crew and I like adventuring on the river best. I can be happy pecking on the computer for days, but when I feel the breeze off the river in my face, and the boat handling like a dream under us, seeing where the river and the sky come together, breathing the clean moist air filtered through the rainforest, and the aroma of food cooking in the galley, to me, that is living. We were living.

One of our best series of nature sightings was entering a lake through a narrow channel with monkeys on both sides, parrots all around, and a flock of sand-colored night hawks that numbered well over a hundred swooping up from their day roost right in front of us. Shortly after that we were surrounded by pink dolphins. We had a great sighting of an osprey, which I tried to conjure into a Harpy Eagle, but it remained an osprey.

Why would a sloth swim across the river? To get to the other side! Ha, ja, he, je, hi, ji…No really, why, food, escaping a predator, finding a mate, a random action triggered by a tiny brain? In the middle of the Tahuayo River, there she was, a sloth swimming across. After taking some photos, one of our new friends asked if we could help her across to the other side, so Edson used a pole to put the sloth in our Jon boat, motored across and placed the sloth in a Cercropia tree. All of us humans were happy, I don’t know about the sloth.

We paid our entrance fee, visited two remote villages, donated school supplies, bought lots of handicrafts and hired a local guide. We were good for the economy of the Tamshiyacu Tahuayo Reserve community.

Possibly our guests were most happy by the experience provided by our local guide. He led them by canoe through three lakes and the flooded jungle that separated the lakes, to a pristine stand of the giant water lily, Victoria regias.

Our Amazon Cruise to Tamshiyacu Tahuayo Reserve with our new Hawaiian friends was more than we expected. Our guests were wooden boat people who walked the deck barefoot to have a better feel for the wood. It was as if we found each other, but really they found Dawn on the Amazon III on the internet. Few guests have appreciated my boat more. While drawing from their personal artistic experience, they gave several simple suggestions I can hardly wait to follow up, for the love of my Amazon river boat.

An Amazon Cruise from Iquitos Peru to Tamshiyacu Tahuayo Reserve

Bill Grimes, Tamshiyacu Tahuayo Reserve, Welcome to Iquitos Peru, Dawn on the Amazon Tours and Cruises

Articles about Tamshiyacu Tahuayo Reserve for your research;

The Advantages of Bird Watching from Iquitos Peru, with Dawn on the Amazon

Celebrating the New Year with the Monkeys in Tamshyacu Tahuayo Reserve

Tamshiyacu Tahuayo Reserve, Iquitos Peru

In Tamshiyacu Tahuayo Reserve with Friends

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Sample Itinerary of an Amazon Cruise to Pacaya Samiria National Reserve

The itinerary begins with assistance from the Iquitos Airport to the hotel or the boat.

Boats can not leave port without the Captain of the Ports inspection and by his authority. We have very little, to no control of our starting time, but usually it is by 8:00 AM

First you will be introduced to the crew, assigned your cabin, and given a complete tour of the boat. Coffee and tea will be ready, and you can place your order for breakfast. Three large meals plus snacks will be served every day while you are on board. Coffee will be brewed every morning by first light. We are Dawn on the Amazon. The food will be better and more of it than you probably expect. You can whet your appetite over a sample menu at this link;

http://dawnontheamazon.com/blog/2007/08/29/peruvian-cuisine-with-dawn-on-the-amazon/

Please let us know in advance about your special dietary requirements.

One of the great nature appreciation voyages and destinations is an Amazon Cruise to Pacaya Samiria National Reserve with Dawn on the Amazon. Pacaya Samiria National Reserve is a huge protected wetland larger than some countries and states. There are three entrances that we can access depending on conditions and circumstances. We will choose the entrance that should provide the best experience depending on the water level, and other factors at the time of the cruise.

All of the first day, and most of the second day will be on the Amazon River, and can include an opportunity to visit a water buffalo farm, a rum making operation, or to observe a family of wooden boat builders at work with hand tools, the old fashioned way.

Safety is our primary concern and trumps the itinerary every time. Flexibility is the keyword for an Amazon cruise itinerary. Distances are great, so we will run well after dark as long as conditions are safe.

We will start the next morning at first light around 5:00 AM. In the afternoon we will come to the geographically significant confluence of the Ucayali and the Marañon Rivers, where the Amazon River begins. A complimentary Pisco Sour, the Peruvian national drink, will be served.

When we enter the confluence you will have arrived at Pacaya Samiria National Reserve which is located between the Ucayali and the Marañon rivers. You will cruise along side the reserve until we arrive at one of the main entrances of choice.

If the water is high, and conditions favorable we will probably choose to take you up the Ucayali River to enter the reserve on the Pacaya River on the fourth day. The distance from Iquitos to the Pacaya River is 341 kilometers.

If the water is low we will probably choose to take you up the Marañon River and enter the reserve on the Samiria River on the third day.

Either way we will run as late each night as safety permits, and start each morning at first light until we enter Pacaya Samiria National Reserve

When we enter the reserve it is like entering a different world, even our pace will change. We slow down to 6-8 kilometers per hour, because that is our best bird watching, wildlife, and plant life observation speed. We will stop frequently when we see interesting wild life, or plant life such as blooming orchids or bromeliads. Chances are good we will be surrounded by pink dolphins. You will have the opportunity to swim, fish, take jungle hikes, and make small boat excursions both day and night. We will tie up before dark, preferably near a ripe fruit or nut tree, to lure wildlife to us. If our lure works we will remain tied up the next morning for a leisurely breakfast. In the evening we will hoist a Peruvian champaign toast.

One of the best benefits of Dawn on the Amazon is electrical power is stored in 8 deep cell batteries that weigh 320 pounds apiece. When we tie up for the night we shut the engines off and listen to nature’s sounds, instead of diesel generator sounds. All of the boat’s electrical equipment continues to run, including the refrigeration to keep the beer cold. Sweet. Dawn III is the only boat in the upper Amazon of Peru that provides the benefit of jungle sounds while you charge your camera batteries for the next morning’s photo shoot.

When appropriate we will use our excursion boat, Dawncita, the little Dawn, a 26 ft (8meter) double hulled aluminum boat, with a capacity of 15 passengers. She is powered by a 40 HP 4 stroke Johnson, one of the quietest motors on the Amazon River. We also will tow our open Jon boat with a 15 HP four stroke, and a large canoe.

We will time our departure from the reserve to arrive back in Iquitos late afternoon on the last day of our scheduled Amazon cruise, or in time to catch your flight out of Iquitos to Lima.

Sample Itinerary of an Amazon Cruise to Pacaya Samiria National Reserve

Bill Grimes, President of Dawn on the Amazon Tours and Cruises

Click the link to learn more about Pacaya Samiria National Reserve

Read an interesting post about our Amazon Cruise to Pacaya Samiria National Reserve to study Pink Dolphin communication.

Technorati Tags: Amazon cruise,Pacaya Samiria National Reserve

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Which is the longest river in the world, the Nile or the Amazon? This is an earth shaking question for geologists, geographers, and hydrologists. The exploration of these two rivers is full of history, mystery, and legend. “Dr. Livingstone I presume.” I have a small connection to the Nile, and a large connection to the exploration of the Amazon River, so I have taken an interest in this question.

Some of my best adventure memories are the two times I white-water rafted what had been considered the source of the Nile in Uganda. We portaged around category 8 rapids but shot the rest. Two in our group attempted to kayak the category 8s, but capsized each time. In the United States it is prohibited to raft any rapids above category 5. I felt the fear. I would never attempt a category 8.

Recently my boat, Dawn on the Amazon III, was chartered for an Amazon cruise from Iquitos to the Triple Frontier of Brazil, Columbia and Peru, by a family of Polish adventurers on an Amazon Challenge.

Their Amazon Challenge was to trace the path established in 1996, by the famous Polish geographer, explorer, and great self promoter, Jacek Palkiewicz. Using high resolution satellite photos to begin with, Jacek teamed with the Lima Geographic Society to establish a new source for the “mother of all rivers” that temporarily made the Amazon River the longest.

His source and his calculations were later discredited by over 160 miles and the Nile regained the official designation of longest river.

From what I have read about Jacek he would never have chosen a source that would have been the second longest river. He is a longest river type of explorer.

Because of national pride and Jacek’s knack for promotion our Polish adventurers obtained maps and books and set off on their Amazon Challenge high into the frozen Andes, and then down into the tropical rainforest to Iquitos Peru for an Amazon cruise on to the next leg of the journey.

I studied the maps and photos while we were on our Amazon cruise and started taking more of an interest in the problem. It is difficult to determine river length. Not only is it difficult to pin-point the source and the point of actual discharge but big rivers constantly change their course.

There is no doubt that the Amazon River is the largest. It’s volume is greater than the next 8 largest rivers combined according to mongabay.com. Because the Amazon River carries so much more water, the action of erosion is greater and the course of the river changes more.

A long horseshoe bend in the river can be cut off, become a lake, and the river can lose miles of length in one hour. During the flood season the channel can change and pick up miles of length.

The outside bend of a river where the current is strongest is called the cut bank. The inside bend is the slip-off slope. Those names describe the near constant action of erosion that eventually causes the course of the river to change.

In the year 2000 National Geographic put out an expedition led ironically by a Polish-American math teacher, Andrew Pietowski. Using GPS they established a new source, confirming the Nile to be the longest river.

In 2006 the “true source” of the Nile was pushed upstream into the swamps of Rwanda. I have doubts about that story. I wonder if they had a hydrologist on board to measure stream flow. Part of determining the source is measuring the volume of water that flows in a given time period. That swamp has very little stream flow.

In 2007 a Brazilian expedition claims to have established a new source proving the Amazon River to be the longest by 65 miles.

An Amazon cruise to determine which is longer, the Amazon River or the Nile River

I think it is safe to say this controversy is not over. For now I am happy to think of the Nile as the longest and the Amazon as the largest. If a team of cartographers want to float and measure in comfort from the upper Ucayali or the upper Marañon to the triple frontier on an Amazon cruise, please remember that I am interested. Keep Dawn on the Amazon in mind.

To read another article on this subject please click An Amazon Cruise from Iquitos Peru to a Festival at the Frontier.

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This story is for anyone interested in learning more about an Amazon Cruise from Iquitos Peru to the Triple Frontier. There is no such thing as a typical Amazon Cruise with Dawn on the Amazon. This one certainly isn’t, but you might get an idea of what it could be like to join us on your own Amazon Cruise.

A family of eight Polish adventurers chartered Dawn on the Amazon III on a mission they called the Amazon Challenge. Their “challenge” was inspired by national pride and by the Polish adventurer, explorer, and great self-promoter, Jacek Palkiewicz, who led an expedition to discover the source of the Amazon. In 1996 he followed that trickle of water high in the Andes to the Atlantic Ocean. Our Polish adventurers climbed to the barren, rocky, frozen, high glacial Andean region that Jacek claimed to be where the “mother of all rivers is born”.

They arrived in Iquitos Peru exhausted from their strenuous experience in the Andes and after descending into the high jungle. There was no rule that made being miserable mandatory on their self imposed Amazon Challenge. They wanted only to relax in comfort on an Amazon Cruise that followed Jacek’s route. They knew there were many bad boats on the upper Amazon. To complete one of the great river journeys, they were sure they would be better off in a safe, quite, comfortable boat.

Part of the Amazon Challenge was documenting their adventure with professional photography and semi professional video equipment. Dawn on the Amazon III is probably the most photogenic boat on the upper Amazon River. As soon as our adventurers saw Dawn on the Amazon III, with her beautiful tropical hardwoods polished and gleaming, they knew that was the Amazon River boat to carry them in comfort on an Amazon Cruise from Iquitos down the Amazon River to a party at the Triple Frontier.

Before we could start our Amazon cruise we had to take on supplies. Our guests had only one special request. Make sure there is one bottle of good whiskey on board…per day. For a seven day Amazon cruise, I bought a case of Jack Daniel’s Black Label. Cast off, Bon Voyage!

As we watched the ports and buildings of Iquitos recede, they showed me maps and a copy of Jacek’s book they were using as a reference. Although it was in Polish, there were many maps, illustrations, and photos. One of the photos was of Jacek and his crew holding a 30 foot anaconda. I asked if they would like a photo of that for their documentary of their journey? Of course! First stop Los Boas.

Los Boas is a private serpentarium run by the Steve Irwin of the Amazon, a character named Mesia. It was a great place to take the adventurers to film and video them all struggling to hold a 20 foot anaconda, making faces with red tailed boas wrapped around their arms and macaws on their shoulders making them like pirates, or at least like the photos of Jacek. It was a great photo op and I am sure the Anaconda photo will be in their book, The Amazon Challenge.

The next stop was another hour and a half downstream, across the Amazon River from the village of Indiana. Monkey Island is what it says. Several individuals of eight species of monkeys live on the island. As the monkeys become used to the island and the people visiting them, and because they are fed at a central location, they become tame and come right up and sit on our shoulders, put their dirty fingerprints on the camera lenses, and are generally very cute and adorable. More good video and photo opportunities for the adventurers.

Across from the island, on the opposite side from the Amazon is a black water river called the Yana Yacu. It is a beautiful, small river with the bank close on both sides. Pink dolphins fed right beside our boat at the confluence. We cruised up the river enjoying close contact with the birds, wild life, and the rainforest, seeing the bromeliads and orchids up close. We saw an Iguana, a group of Pygmy Marmosets, smallest monkey in the world, and I would guess a hundred species of birds, and we had just left Iquitos that day. We tied up and spent the night lulled to sleep by the gentle rocking of the boat and a thousand frogs serenading us. Good start.

Early next morning we continued down the biggest river. The next stop is Pevas to visit our friend Francisco Grippa, the famous artist of the Amazon. We were in luck. Francisco was home and glad to see us and meet our Polish friends. Francisco is a charming host and great conversationalist. Our friends became most interested when they learned that one of Francisco’s parents was born in Poland. When our guests found out that connection they made a decision based on national pride, and admiration for Francisco Gippa’s paintings, that still surprises me. First they offered to buy every painting in his studio for half price. Francisco refused that offer, and several other offers, but after much negotiating, they bought 4 of his large paintings, including my favorite of an orchid blossom that Georgia O’Keeffe would have appreciated. That was a rare experience to sit in on. I am sure Francisco and I will never forget those intense hours of art speculation.

After that we visited the Ocainas natives near Pevas. They performed their traditional dances in typical dress. We bought a lot of their crafted jewelry, all made from jungle seeds, large fish scales, and bones strung and tied with strips of Chambira Palm tree bark, just like 1,000 years ago.

Next stop, my favorite secret fishing hole. I would like to tell you the location but you know how it is with secret fishing holes. It is another small, black water stream with the jungle close on both sides and lots of birds and wildlife. I think it is one of the best places on earth. We swam and fished and visited a small, isolated, ribereño village. Fishing was slow. We only caught a few little ones, nothing to brag about. We boiled and cleaned the jaws of the piranhas and they made nice toothy souvenirs to go with the Ocaina jewelery.

We cook a lot of great local food on Dawn on the Amazon III. One of our dishes that got the best reception from our guests on this trip was escargot made from giant amazon snails. Their shell is larger than a baseball. The shells were added to the souvenirs, there were no leftovers.

On every Amazon Cruise we offer night excursions. Part of what we do is to use our super bright spot light to shine and get very close to caiman, colorful frogs, night hawks, and Potos. Most people are amazed to be that close to wildlife.

We could have made several more stops along the way, to tour a water buffalo farm and buy water buffalo cheese, to visit a leper colony, to explore another small stream that leads to an interesting native village, to boat around a large lake, to take our small excursion boat to a place where the Victoria Regia, a giant water lily, grows, a place where we know pink dolphin congregate to feed, and more, but our guests decided our best option would be to hurry on to the triple frontier to take part in the Fiesta de la Confraternidad. It is a large festival combining the best of the distinctive cultures of Peru, Columbia, and Brazil in an annual celebration of music, dancing, beauty pageant, athletics, parades, and fireworks. We were all happy with that choice.

We tied Dawn on the Amazon III up at Santa Rosa on the Peru side, took care of customs, and hired a river taxi to take us across the river. That was our first trip to the festival. One of our friends from Iquitos had entered the beauty pageant. Sybila finished second, but we all thought she should have won.

Another successful Amazon Cruise with Dawn on the Amazon, this time to the triple frontier.

The GPS showed we traveled 536.5 kilometers from Iquitos to Santa Rosa, Peru on this Amazon cruise. The time of travel was 31 hours. That does not include the time we tied up at night, or when we stopped to play. We arrived at Santa Rosa around 1:00 PM on the fourth day. We spent three days and two nights there living on the boat and enjoying the festivities. Then we saw our new friends happily off to the next leg of their Amazon Challenge down the largest river on earth to Manaus.

If you have taken an Amazon Cruise down the Amazon River to the triple frontier of Peru at Santa Rosa, Columbia at Leticia, or Brazil at Tabatinga, with some other company or if you are planning an Amazon cruise in the future please check the Dawn on the Amazon Tours and Cruises web site. If you like what you see there send me an email from the contact page and we will help you plan your own Amazon Challenge from Iquitos Peru.

An Amazon Cruise from Iquitos Peru

Bill Grimes, Welcome to Iquitos Peru

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