HAL Amazon Explorer Cruise

[fkfad]

We are booked on the Holland America Amazon Explorer cruise, February, 2024.  We will be visiting numerous ports in Brazil:  Macapa, Santarem, Boca da Valeria, Manaus (overnight), Parintins, and Alter Do Chao.  I am not finding much on what to do in these various ports.  Any experience/suggestions that can help me put together a plan?

[TayanaLorna]

We just sailed the Amazon this February/March on Viking Ocean to Manaus then further up the Rio Solimoes on the Iberostar Grand Amazon.  Macapa was a technical stop to clear in only.  In Santarem any excursion to Maica Lake area is lovely, a hike to the Tapajos Forest is great and exploring Santarem town is nice.  Parintins is a small town most noted for the Boi Bumba dance performances in the convention center.  Alter Do Chao is definitely for a beautiful beach day.  Manaus is a 2.5 million resident, mostly run down, commercial city.  However a tour in the historic  enter with inside visits to the Opera House and Palacio Rio Negro, a walk around the square and a stop at the huge waterside market is very worthwhile.  We also went to MUSA - an outdoor museum on the outskirts of Manaus - for hiking, educational displays etc.  Very nice.  From Manaus there are tons of tour operators for Jungle Survival Treks, swimming with pink dolphins, waterfall treks, visit to indigenous indian villages, meeting of the waters cruises...  We saw lots of birds, monkeys, sloths, caimen, dolphins and insects.

[ScotsLady]

We did a similar cruise last November with Oceania. 
in Santarem and Alter do chao we did amazing tours with a guy called Gil Serique, he is on Facebook as Gil Serique tours. He has wonderful knowledge of this area. Santarem he took 12 of us in his boat to tributaries in the Amazon river, saw lots of wildlife.

in alter do chao he took us on a bus tour to see native rain forest where his family lived and fascinating history of the rubber industry. He then took us back to his house by the beach and gave us drinks and snacks.  
In Manaus we did a private tour using tours by locals. The guy was excellent and we saw lots in the city

[JSR]

@ScotsLadyWhich guide did you use with Tours by locals?

[ScotsLady]

2 minutes ago, JSR said:

@ScotsLadyWhich guide did you use with Tours by locals?

• João Paulo Valente Manaus, Brazil

[JSR]

1 minute ago, ScotsLady said:

• João Paulo Valente Manaus, Brazil

Thank you. We are trying to decide about doing a boat tour in a Manaus or Santarem. We overnight in Manaus And call at Santarem twice. Any thoughts.

 

 

 

 

 

[ScotsLady]

3 minutes ago, JSR said:

Thank you. We are trying to decide about doing a boat tour in a Manaus or Santarem. We overnight in Manaus And call at Santarem twice. Any thoughts.

 

 

We did the same  stops. If you see my post above I highly recommend Gil Serique  who lives near Santarem. He people from our cruise who did the private tours with him all raved about it. He is so knowledgable about the wildlife, history etc. on the way to Manaus we stopped at Santarem and he took us on his boat down a tributary of the Amazon. What we saw was amazing. Then first day Manaus we did the tours by locals tour with John .it was just the two of us. We saw everything , the markets , the opera house, old town, the city centre. It was so hot but his car had air con and he supplied cold water.  We stayed overnight and the next day we just went ashore to the cruise terminal but it was so not we went back to the ship. Other people on our cruise did boat tours  and went to some zoo place but they were not impressed with the zoo. you could see pink dolphins beside the ship. Another tour was to go and swim with them somewhere .

on the way back we stopped in Alter do chao which is where Gil lives and not far from Santarem. There is a beach there but not much else. We did a private tour with Gil, probably about 12 of us. He hired a bus and it took us down dirt roads to a town built for the rubber plantations and now abandoned. We also went to original rain forest on land his family owned . On returning he took us all to his house and served us snacks and drinks. His house overlooks part of the beach. He then took us back to where he picked us up where a small market was set up and you got the tender back to the ship. 
we loved the Amazon.

 

3 minutes ago, JSR said:

 

 

 

[JSR]

@scotslady Thank you for the information. I went to Gil's facebook and much to my surprise he belongs to a windsurfing group that my husband's friends belong to. They are all old windsurfers from back in the day. Small world. I am going to email him now. 

 

The photos are wonderful. Looks amazing.