Wednesday 18th January. Our first day on the Amazon

I woke about 5.30 this morning, the light through the port hole was dim, not quite dark, but not really light enough to count as sunrise.  I tried to go back to sleep, but I knew we were now in the Amazon Delta, and that there would be loads to see, not least the bugs! I was up and out of the cabin by 6.

Anchemola Sphinx

There were only a few of the large moths that I know land on the ship as we do this cruise, but I expected that.  The delta is so wide here (130 miles), that the islands and land are some distance away, so it's a bit of a feat for anything to get over the water to us.  I decided to practice my photography skills on the few that were about. Peter decided to have a play too.  This meant a session of bending over, crouching down, standing on rickety chairs and a stiff neck from looking up at the undersides of the decks above. (Who needs an exercise class?) Net Result?  About 30 photographs each of the moths and I'll probably delete 29 of them.

I don't know what this one is called

As we sailed in, a flock of large billed terns chased us up river, diving for the fish that had been disturbed by the draft of the ship, and flocks of ducks appeared to be lost, flying this way and back, back and forth.  Just about every passenger was on deck before breakfast, eager for their first sight of the massive river.

The ship anchored outside the pilot station at Macapa, and as usual, there is a pause whilst the pilot comes aboard and the ship goes through the custom and immigration procedures involved in this cruise.  This includes around 6 to 8 immigration officials joining the ship.  They'll stay on board for the time we are in Brazil, not leaving until we sail out of the delta. They've taken over the conference room to work in, meaning Peter can't run any more art classes until they get off.

A few hours later we set sail again and I've spent the whole day since watching the Amazon go by. Nobody wanted to leave the decks, mesmorised as we were by the river and the rainforest.

Everyone was armed with binoculars and cameras, and I ended up talking to a guy with a massive zoom lens which made me think he might be a birder. It turned out that photograpy was his thing, "taking the picture" he said.  "What?  Like that one?" I said, lifting the camera and pressing the button.

So it's been an awesome day, which ended perfectly  with the comedian David Huband.  He was even funnier on the second show than the first. Just brilliant.

Tomorrow will be our first Amazon 'port'.  We'll anchor outside Alter Do Chao and go ashore by tender.  Bring it on.