Furo Maici, Brazil

Yesterday we had an early morning zodiac tour starting at 6 AM.  It was sunny but still cool.  We had an adventurous start when only five minutes into the tour, the engine stopped.  Our captain told us there was something wrong with the fuel line.  Luckily we had another crew member onboard who was able to help solve the issue by  "priming the pump".  Soon we were off again. But then the boat got snagged onto a large branch and we were wedged into a shallow portion of the river.  Our captain had to call a rescue boat to tow us out.  Once again, we were on our way again,  Saw so many birds mostly parrots, macaws and caciques. When we got back we went to the daily 9:45 lecture about the rainforest.  And then the daily briefing about the afternoon zodiac tour.  It was about 11:45 and we had been up since 5 AM. It was time for a mandatory rest period.  We woke up about 2PM and had a quick lunch. We ordered off the grill menu and had burgers and fries.  Good tasting burgers although they both came out medium well instead of our requested medium.  

Soon it was time to get ready for our afternoon zodiac tour which was at 3:30.   We saw more birds and some cool looking bromeliads and epiphytes.  Those are plants that can grow on other plants, predominantly trees and thrive without needing to be in soil. We got back to the ship about 6PM and headed to the cabin. We needed a little break from the heat, having sweated through our clothes. It would be another night for laundry.  We headed down to Deck 5 to catch the sunset. 

I put that in around 7:30 and then we headed to dinner. Putu was again our amazing waiter and recommended we sit at the table with the most breeze.   We had a delicious chicken cassoulet (essentially an elevated chicken pot pie) along with Caesar salads and angel hair pasta with pesto and grilled shrimp.  We also tried a type of white wine we had never had before from the Greco grape.  It went really well with the pesto.  No dessert.  

We went to the Patio Bar and had an after dinner cocktail with our favorite bartender Butch.  And then it was time to head to the cabin. Earlier in the day, there was a medical emergency and the captain said we were going straight to Macapa and would be there by 3 AM to transfer the guest.  It might impact Monday's itinerary.  We'd find out more in the morning. 

At 5:30 AM, an announcement came into our cabin that the original itinerary was still operating and we'd have our 6AM zodiac tour.  We again saw lots of wildlife.  This time mostly toucans.  At least three different types. Also some caciques, parrots, grey headed kite and even a "rare"  hook billed kite. 

We found out later that the ship wasn't able to arrange a transfer at 3 AM for the guest having the medical emergency and instead would do that later today in Macapa.  So after our zodiac tour we had some breakfast then went back to our cabin for a mandatory rest period.  We will have an city tour excursion about 2PM once we anchor outside of Macapa.  They'll use the zodiacs as tenders.