Btimmer

We received this note this morning about water conservation measures in the Amazon.

GREAT NEWS The Captain just announced we are going to Manaus and will stay two nights in order to do daytime transits over shallow portions of the river. He thanked everyone for doing a rain dance! Currently we're loading produce in Fortaleza which is delaying our departure. The ship is moving in the swells at the dock.

Tonight Diego Flgueiredo performed an absolutely brilliant guitar concert. We went to both the 7:30 and 9pm shows. He's a Brazilian artist now residing in the US in Florida. If he comes to your area, he's a must see artist.

Thanks for the update. It's all part of the adventure.

Today in his noon message, Captain Smit said there was not enough water to make Manaus, but he has not made a decision to cancel the port. It's also a water load and provisioning port so it's an important port. I saw on Vessel Finder that the Azamara Quest made it there a couple days ago, but that ship has 2 meters more clearance than the Zaandam.

Today in Salvador, Brazil we did an excellent excursion with DoBrazilRight which took us out to the lighthouse, through the old city, to Monserrat for scenic views, and to the Mercado for craft shopping. Unfortunately one of our group had his phone stolen and there were several other reports of thefts and assaults. Salvador is the city with the most African descendants of slaves brought over by the Portuguese. Today they celebrated their black heritage with a large parade that we saw the formation of. Part of parade preparations Michael Jackson filmed here and is honored African gods Police motorcycles Church of Nosso Sehor do Bonfim Our berth Farol da Barra Barra Lighthouse Angela drumming it up

We did it in Feb, 2016 on the Zaandam and the weather was excellent. We're doing it again Jan, 2024 on the Oosterdam.

Here's a sequence of takeoff pictures from the Rio airport taken from Sugarloaf.

Here are some Black Boobie Bird pictures from this morning off the Brazilian coast. They were searching for flying fish disturbed by our bow wake.

Here are some photos from day 2 in Rio where Sugarloaf was the key excursion item.

We had a wonderful time in Armação dos Búzios, Brazil. Here are a few pictures from today.

Here's some photos from the famous stairs and the Municipal Theater. it's a tough life for a plant Find our Seattle sticker

I don't know about everyone, but this is a fabulous stop! I wish it were 3 days. We'll hit the major tourist stops over these two days and a day to just wander would be nice.

I don't have many things in my bucket list, but visiting the Christ the Redeemer statue in Rio was one of them. Today I ticked it off my list. Here are a few pictures. It was cloudy, so photography was challenging. A little visitor Trying for a closeup photo Taken at sunset from the ship The evening entertainment was an Oi Brasil production show.

Tonight was Carnival night with all sorts of games in the Lido pool area. Winners received tickets which were entered into a drawing for prizes throughout the night. The Ocean Bar band played and great fun was had by all. ticket muliplier our stash

Ours were prepunched. But the front desk will punch them for you. Are you following my daily blog or just this thread? We're redoing the 22 day section starting 1/7/24, two weeks after this cruise ends.

We've had an excellent couple days in Buenos Aires including horseback riding and a small boat ride up the river system that feeds this very large bay. Me on a horse Cultural show last night Local hawk horsemanship demo

After 10 days at sea we finally reached land at Montevideo, Uruguay. We did a private 6 hour tour with stops all over the city. Below are a few pictures (primarily birds). When we return in January, we'll walk the city on our own since it will be the third time there for us.. Vegetable display MAM market Mariana, our guide, & Angela war memorial Uruguay's national bird Carnival museum

We've been to the colony previously off the Zaandam in 2016. Our private tour van got us there before the HAL buses and it was wonderful. All of the pieces are falling into place!

Thanks. We did follow the game via game casts on our phone.

You're preaching to the choir! 😉. We certainly will plan to do that.

We, too, have been to the Falklands previously but didn't do the Penguin tour.

Since we missed the port stop, the Pinnacle Grill was opened for lunch so we enjoyed a birthday lunch with Bill & Solange.

We've been there before and the penguin watching was wonderful.

Yes Montevideo in 3 days. Now we're considering booking a repeat of the San Antonio to BA on the Oosterdam departing on 1/7/24 to get another shot plus pick up some different ports not on the GSA and maybe do Iguazu Falls.