Amazon shore excursions

[Santyclaws]

Hello!

 

I'm hoping someone could answer me this:

 

Is there a South America cruise that doesn't go down the Amazon, but offers a day trip down the Amazon? Is that even possible?

 

Thanks!

[piper28]

Hello!

 

I'm hoping someone could answer me this:

 

Is there a South America cruise that doesn't go down the Amazon, but offers a day trip down the Amazon? Is that even possible?

 

Thanks!

 

I'm not sure that'd be real practical. Outside of maybe going to Macapa, there wouldn't really be anywhere to go, and even then, that's far enough that there probably wouldn't be enough time to make a stop and still do it in a single day.

 

And to be honest, there really wouldn't necessarily be a whole lot to see at there. Saying the river is huge at the mouth isn't really doing it justice. Until you've seen it, it's kinda hard to believe that something that big is still a river, words just don't really describe what it's like. I'm not sure that the cruise lines would see much value in something like this.

 

Now, any cruise that crosses the mouth anywhere near it, you will see the difference in water color. It was easily at least a days sailing after we left the river before the water turned into the normal ocean color.

[Fattony]

Down the Amazon? That implies from someplace upriver to someplace downriver. Or do you just mean any excursion that allows you to see part of the river? It's a very long river, so what locations did you have in mind? It would be rather time-consuming to go any distance upriver and then return. If you can find a cruise docking at or near Belem, and have at least a full day there (two big ifs) you might find an excursion that would allow you to say you've seen the Amazon but, as noted, you wouldn't likely see much. If you are thinking of the Amazon rain forest, you'd have to fly somewhere. I've been to Belem, and it's a pleasant, historic city to tour around. Not sure that it's technically the Amazon, maybe a branch, that passes by the city, but it may do the trick. I'm not sure I've seen any cruises stopping there except those that go

[marazul]

The Amazon is about 4,000 miles long. Depending on where you measure it, the mouth of the river is either 36 miles or 200+ miles wide. The volume of fresh water entering the Atlantic reaches about 250 miles into the ocean and is over 100 miles wide.

 

Manaus is about 900 miles upriver from the Atlantic. That's where most of the "jungle" excursions, "meeting of the waters", etc are. If your cruise begins or ends in Rio, you could fly there for two or three days, maybe stay at a jungle lodge, take a 3 or 4 day river cruise, etc. But no day trips!