4vdmerwe.blogspot.com: Lancois to Soure' (Amazon)

We left Ila du Lancois to head for the Amazon.
This was a last minute decision. Jerry, Annie William and Oliver on Yacht "Myriam" had planned to sail through the delta, and it has always been on the cards, however I was too chicken to go alone. Their route was also not too ambitious. I had a few reservations as the stories we had heard were quite scary. From being eaten by piranhas, or anacondas, to Pirates or Bandits cleaning out your boat while you sleep. I also had some reservations to the ability of my little 1968 VW motor.

Jerry assured me that we would take it slow, so off we went.

The first leg took us from Lancois , to the mouth of the Rio Para, and up to Soure'. This leg is quite tricky as you have to time your arrival in the mouth of the river at the turn of the tide as the current starts flowing up the river. As it happened we got this right, but our speed was a little slow, so the 50nm we had to cover to Soure' saw the last hour against the current, which can get quite nasty. It builds up to 5 knots, which is our motoring speed. We got there just in time.

Soure' is a really wonderfull little Village. Really relaxed. The deliveries are done with carts pulled by buffalo.


Slow delivery guaranteed

Fishing Harbor in Soure' and all really friendly

Soure'

We are anchored in the background.

We stayed here for 3 nights while we raked up enough courage to carry on. I also had to whip my darling Gerda to fill the water tanks

Working for Room and Board (Food optional, JUST PUKES IT ANYWAY!!!!!!!!!!..........;)

When we left Soure, we had a good 50nm the first Amazon day, except for the tornado which almost sucked us up.

Photo taken from Myriam by Annie (about 80nm up the river from the mouth)

This is fresh water. here the river was about 25nm wide and obout 20m deep. Quite fantastic!


Entering the amazon. Jerry climbed to the top of Myriam's mast for this photo.

Jerry has the most infectious energy. Great photo. Thanks!

Birds (like you didn't know)

James next to some of the Rosewood logs on a Barge

We saw possibly 10 barges a day. each about 40m long loaded with trees this size. And up every little creek we sailed there were many sawmills.


The Van's on our little overloaded "Margie"

The fresh water reduced our waterline by about 10cm :( Sorry Russell 100mm) Made me feel like we were sinking. At least the fresh water killed anything that was growing on the boat. By the time we left the Amazon there was not a single bit of growth anywhere.

Canoes expecting "gifts" Sweets, pens or pencils, and paper always wanted and asked for.


Alex Skurfing up the Amazon. Must be a first

Once we arrived at Breves, we had entered the Delta maze of rivers. Each one different to the previous, but fascinating. We were lucky to have Jerry who has great charts along with us as, we did not, and much of the time sailed where there were no rivers marked, or sailed right over islands.