Afternoon ships on the Rio Negro

[amazondk]

I was down by the Rio Negro at work yesterday and could not help taking a few shots of boats and palms.

Superterminais private port loading a container vessel.

[amazondk]

At the other end of town we stopped by the river front of the Tropical Hotel. There was a big contrast in the scene and the boat. It was a nice winter afternoon on the Equator.

The tip of land jutting out on the left side of the river is where my place at Paricatuba is.

A Buriti and Tropical Business hotel.

[Steve]

Great pictures Don. They really show the grandness of the river.

[Jeff in St Pete]

Thanks for the pics Don. I always enjoy seeing photos from the Amazon.

Love the Mauritia in the last pic!

[paulgila]

looks like i started something with the maritime theme.

i enjoyed that last pic alot,too.

[amazondk]

It was a nice afternoon and the stops by the river were a good break. The container vessel came in to pick up empty containers. A sign of the global financial crisis.

Paul, I just checked out your maritime thread. That was a nice outing. It makes me more inspired to take a few water front pictures.

dk

[Kim]

Wow, that's a huge river! You can hardly see the other side. It's hard to comprehend all the rainfall and drainage it takes to create and continue a vast river like that. Thanks for the photos, I always enjoy the visits to your part of the planet.

[amazondk]

Kim,

The river in front of the Tropical hotel is 8 kms wide and in the deepest part of the channel about 100 feet deep. Looking up the river the narrows I was in a boat with a depth finder once and the reading was over 400 feet deep. It is a lot of water. The widest part of the Amazon river which the Negro is the largest tributary is 60 kms wide. There is no way you can imagine how big these rivers are without seeing them in person.

dk

[Jose Maria]

Amazing pictures.

In Costa Rica where rivers are for rafting and kayaking, and watching at the crocodiles, its difficult to imagine the Amazon or Rio Negro, and they are rivers too.....

[amazondk]

I was down at the passenger port on Friday and a cruise ship was in port. It was a rainy day as most have been lately.

[amazondk]

This afternoon I went down to the regional boat port to pick up some fishing rods that I left in Maues, 300 kms from Manaus 3 years ago. Fortunately my friend still had them. They came on the passeger boat PP Maues. It is a 24 hour trip from Maues to Manaus.

Passengers waiting for the boats departure. Most people travel in hammocks, although there are cabins.

Looking back at the Manaus waterfront. It was a slow carnaval day. I guess a lot of people are hung over from the past few nights partying.

Port pier food spots.

[amazondk]

This part of the port is called the escadaria which means the stairway. It is where most regional boats leave. The place is picturesque, but the down side is that it is not kept up well and needs to be refurbished. There is a plan to build another port for passenger traffic in another part of town.

[_Keith]

Great pictures Don. As I was reading this little fellow (90' Crew Boat) came cruising up the bayou that makes my rear property line.

[FRITO]

cool photos Don, thanks for sharing. Like everyone else I enjoy your travel logs from the Amazon!

thats cool Keith, I have a train track right near my house that transports goods

[amazondk]

Keith,

That is a great view at your place. Do you have boat traffic all the time going by?

[_Keith]

A boat that big is not a common sight. Maybe only once a month, probably heading to the small boat yard a mile to north of me. They build large aluminum boats. I think they turn out one or two a month. They also build large catamaran hull boats that look to be 50 to 60 feet or so. I heard through the grapevine that is a military contract but don't know for sure. The one in the picture was an oil field crew boat probably coming in for a repair.

I get a tug boat coming through once or twice a day pushing a single barge. That one I am fairly sure is moving sugar from a the sugar mill about 10 miles north to who knows where down south.

On an average warm day we will get around half a dozen casual boaters as well.

[amazondk]

Keith,

One of the things I enjoy at my place on the river is hearing the boats go by. From my lot I currently do not see all the way across the river, so I only see some of the boats. But, I hear them all. The range from yachts, up to 100 feet, down to canoes with little 5 hp motors. I like to hear the 1 cylander regional transports plugging by. There are Sunday passenger boats like the ones in the pictures above that come up to the beaches on the river with live bands. They are easy to notice when they arrive.

dk

[Mark_NoVA]

Don, thanks for these threads you post. It's really interesting seeing these photos and reading the descriptions of life there. That wide river reminds me of seeing the Yangtze River--towards the ocean, it's so wide you're not close to seeing the other side, and cities are built on the tributaries, rather than the big river itself.

Keith, that's quite a shot of a boat by your backyard!

[amazondk]

Yesterday I took a load of plants over to our place on the other side of the Rio Negro. Not that the ships are in the afternoon, but I figured the trip would fit in to the river boat theme. i had been accumulating plants for some time and my wife did not want them clutttering up the place in Manaus. Some of the plants were palms that I had grown from seed and others trees and a few other plants that I had got either at nurseries or govenment plant agencie, which give away trees and other plants for landscaping. So, the car was real full. Sunday was a beutiful morning with no rain for a change.

I got to the ferry boat port around 8 AM and theee was very little wait in line. The ferries have a lively commerce by vendors at both ends of the trip as well as on the boats. The view is looking out north west over the Negro River. I always enjoy the view of the river.

The camera on the post is part of a new city video monitor system the police put in place. They put 424 digital cameras around town. I guess it has helped somewhat. At least they see a lot of what goes on. I just hope that they take action.

[amazondk]

The trip was me and the plants. Good company anyway.l

Since I had to back on the ferry the car full of plants sort of made loading a bit difficult.

[amazondk]

The express boats dock next to the ferries. They make the trip in about 10 minutes instead of 40. Most people on foot take the ferry because it is free though.

I ended up on at the back of the boat. Firs on last off. The ferry I got on is the fastest of the nine in the fleet.

[amazondk]

The bride over the river is becoming more and more visitble. It is on the right side of the picture. The trip will be 4 minutes instead of 40 plust the line wait. A big difference and I can not wait.

It was a beautiful morning on the river. To the upper left side is Paricatuba where I was headed. The bridge colums are also appearing on the left side of the river.

The buildings of Ponta Negra can be seen on the right side of the river.

Most people took the ride outside as the temperature was nice, not too hot.

[amazondk]

As we approache the other side of the river the Januari palms start popping up. The river is nearing it´s highest level wihich will be in June. This year due to all the rain the river is vey high already. The river can raise up to nearly 30 meters over it´s lowest point in the dry season.

[amazondk]

We were getting near the end of the trip and town of Cacau Periera where the trip ends was coming into sight. The passengers were enjoying the morning. There was a group of motocycle club going over to Manacaparu which is the en of the road 80 kms from the port. Some of the female passengers seemed to be quite ineterested in the bikers. There are not too many places to ride to in Manaus.

[amazondk]

As the ferry gets close to the port the foot passengers concentrate at the front of the boat.

[amazondk]

We pull into Cacau Pereira and get ready to desembark.

Finally off the boat.

This guy has a mototaxi. The sign says he is a handicaped person trying to make a living.

[amazondk]

I frequently stop at the maket in Cacau to buy some fish for lunch in Paricatuba. I picked up a tambaqui and some pacu for my mother in law. I had fried tambaqui ribs for lunch.

I finally got to my place with the cargo and the plants new home.

[amazondk]

In the afternoon after I got done planting a few things, having lunch, and taking a nap on a hammock in the shade under some trees I went down to the beach to check out the boats there.

The end of Bela Vista street.

When the river is high the beach is great close to our place. There are little regional boats and canoes tied up in the igapoo (flooded forest). I went for a swim and the water was great.

This boat was dry docked, but it does look to seaworthy.

[amazondk]

The typical wooden river canoe has been in use for a long time. Previously they were dug outs, but are made of planks. It is great to paddle around the flooded forest and catch a few fish as well.

[amazondk]

The Rio Negro is a unique place. The largest black water river in the world.

I really liked this Leopoldina pulchra clumb in the igapoo.

L. pulchra babies in the black water.

[amazondk]

A few Mauritia babies in the white sand beach.

Thsi pipe channels the cool water from the stream through the Mauritia grove to the river. It is known as the bica. It soon will be flooded as the river rises.

Looking back at the Mauritia grove.

It was a great day to take picture of boats and enjoy the river. And, plant a few things as well. Not to mention a few cold beers and a nap under the shade of some trees.

[amazondk]

I got back to the ferry boat port about 5 PM and forunately the line was not too long and I got on a boat soon.

The rotation of ferry boats kept things moving and soon we were on the way back to Manaus.

The city skyline approached and the late afternoon sun was nice. The catch was when the ferry boat docked things got messed up and delayed unloading by about 20 minutes. Antother trip coming to an end and more additions to the garden in their new home.

[_Keith]

Don,

Sure looks like lots of cool plants in the back. Fun ahead.

Keith

[amazondk]

Keith,

I did have a pretty good selection. Among other things were a yellow tabebuia and a purple tabebuia to put into the forest secondary forest area. I also had a few Brazil nut trees, and fruit trees like rambutan. And, I had a lot of palm seedlings, mostly Euterpe precatoria.

dk

[SubTropicRay]

Don,

As always, your photos are incredible. The photos really show the grandness of the river. I'm imagining all the fishing that river must accomodate LOL.

Ray

[amazondk]

Ray there are a few big fish cruising around out there. The biggest I caught was a red tailed catfish, pirarara at the meeting of the waters, it was bout 35 pounds.

Here are some more shots of a few boats and the river I took yesterday with down by the river with a few fellow gringos. We were at Praia Dourada a beach along a tributary of the Negro called Rio Tarumã.

[amazondk]

I had not been down to this beach in a while. The area is a favorite for watersports, jet skiis, water skiing, boating, and just hanging out on the river, eating some fish, having a some cold ones and enjoying the day. This time of year when the river is high is one of my favorites.

[Al in Kona]

Again, I really enjoyed this latest thread of yours. It's helping me get a feel of your area of the world. Muito obrigado, I'm at lesson 8 of Quick & Simple Brazilian Portuguese using C D's. If I get to Brasil next year I'd like to be able to at least have some basic communication skills. Knowing Spanish helps in some ways but not in everything! It's all audio so my spelling is probably way off! LOL

One big difference I'd notice there would be going to the beaches and finding fresh water, not salt water! Life seems a bit more laid back there compared to many US mainland cities.

[amazondk]

Al,

I hope you can make it down this way next year. And, it would be nice if you could stop by Manaus. Portuguese is enough like Spanish that you can get by with basic communication with little problem normally. It is pretty laid back around here even compared to major Brazilian cities down south.

dk