2024 World Cruise – Leg 1: Florida departure, Tobago, French Guiana & Amazon

The baritone blast of Zuiderdam’s massive horn echoed in Port Everglades, declaring that she was about to get underway.  With 1,215 excited passengers aboard, she departed Pier 26 at sunset for her first of approximately 35,000 nautical mile journey around the world.  The circumnavigation will include 27 countries/territories, 51 ports and 69 sea days.

The Sail-Away Celebration aboard was a lively reunion of friends and crew, as many aboard use this 4-month cruise as their annual winter home.  As this was the beginning of our 4^th voyage, we reconnected with dozens of fellow travelers who share this love for exploration of the world by water.

Built in 2002, Zuiderdam is one of Holland America Line’s smaller ships of their fleet, at 954 feet.  She is more like an ocean liner than her more gaudy ‘big sister’ cruise ships that tower above her in port.  No, she doesn’t have rock climbing walls, skating rinks or carnival rides.  But she’s one tough yet elegant lady that can get into smaller ports and handle challenging seas in comfort.  And while she can accommodate about 2,200 passengers, she feels almost empty with only half that capacity aboard.

Our cozy 275 sq ft cabin includes a queen size bed, loveseat, mini-fridge, desk, tv, compact bathroom and small balcony with 2 chairs.  Storage is adequate if you’re a little creative and selective about how and where to store everything you need for 128 days.  As they say, a place for everything and everything in its place!

Leaving the lights of Florida fading into the distance, we set a course SE for a 4-day passage that will eventually bring us to the island of Tobago.  But in the meantime, these sea days will give everyone time to unpack, settle in and become familiar with shipboard life.   Daily routines begin to develop including morning fitness, midday naps, afternoon social gatherings dinner and evening entertainment.   The days seem to race by. 

At 7am, we dock in Tobago, the smaller, sister island located adjacent to Trinidad and about 100 miles off the northeastern coast of Venezuela.  The shoreside town of Scarborough is quiet on Sunday, except for the welcoming steelpan player, traditionally dressed dancers and the taxi’s awaiting our ships arrival.  Some passengers opt to tour the island and rainforest, while we decided to head for the crystal-clear waters for some snorkeling. 

Many locals enjoying their weekend shared the same glass-bottom boat that transported us to the reef at Pigeon Point.  Beautiful coral gardens and some very social French Angelfish greet us in the warm, shallow waters.  It’s an easy, first port of call.

One day’s passage brings us further south to Royal Island and adjacent Devil’s Island, off the coast of French Guiana.  It’s an idyllic, palm-rimmed island fringed with lovely beaches, but has a very dark and brutal past.  Between 1852 and 1953, it served as a penal colony for the French.  Prison life here was dire and depicted in the movie, Pappion.  Along with being fed rancid pork, the equatorial heat and humidity could have only added to the prisoner’s misery.  Shark infested waters made escape nearly impossible.

Visitors may explore the remnants of the hospital, church, lighthouse cell blocks and insane asylum. We visited here in 2020 and little has changed. We enjoyed stretching our legs on the shady, tropical path that encircles the small island. 

For those who want solitude, you may stay at the small hotel which was formerly the officer’s barracks. Otherwise, the only residents left are peacocks, agouti rodents and small brown capuchin monkeys, who roam freely.  

The Amazon River and Basin  The faint aroma of woodsmoke scents the humid air.  Zuiderdam’s bow cuts through the cappuccino-colored river, beginning her almost 2,000-mile journey on the Amazon River.   Squawking parrots and other bird life along the densely wooded shoreline provide the soundtrack in the otherwise still air.  We will make 5 stops in Brazil during our seven-day route; Alter do Chao, Boca Da Valeria, Manaus, Parintins and Santarem.

Brazilian cultural ambassadors have come aboard to share and educate us on the geography, history, Portuguese language, and the diverse wildlife.  Per Wikipedia, more than 90% of the animal species in the Amazon are insects.  To underscore this point, the ship dims the outside deck lights at sunset to dissuade this enormous population of Amazonian insects—some small, but most are very large–from being drawn to our floating home.  Moths are the size of your hand.  In addition, we are instructed that any wood carvings or souvenirs brought aboard will be collected at the gangway and kept in frozen storage for 24 hours to prevent unwanted pests from damaging your purchase and/or entering the vessel.  

Our first stop is Alter do Chao, a small riverside community, population 6,740.  We stroll along the riverbank pathway and adjacent town square, complete with church, small grocery store, various restaurants, and beachwear huts.  Beautiful murals were everywhere.

After exploring the town streets, we stopped for refreshments at an outdoor café, where we tasted a local snack called Dadinho de Tapioca, or Tapioca Dice.   Crunchy deep-fried crust with a chewy inside, these cubes are served with a pepper jelly for dipping.

Alter do Chao also features a broad beach making it popular among the local weekenders.  A wooden canoe takes us across the 30-yard waterway to the inviting white sand peninsula, lined with concession stands, umbrella tables and chairs. 

We joined eight of our shipmate friends already enjoying a favorite Brazilian cocktail, Caipirinha, made with the local sugarcane spirit called cashaca.  Vendors strolled by selling jewelry, sunglasses, bikinis and cover-ups.  And a few enterprising young men with mobile bbqs that grill cheese kabobs on the spot.

It was a delightful afternoon for our first stop on the Amazon River.   Our overnight passage will bring us to the tiny village of Boca da Valeria. 

Boca da Valeria   Stepping out onto the Portuguese Bridge on Deck 9 in the quiet early morning hours, where the port side of the ship was only 100 yards from the red soiled embankment.   While fisherman in their log canoes were plying the shoreline setting their nets, Zuiderdam was setting her anchor.

Tendering into shore, the small village of 75 indigenous people welcomed us.  Most holding parrots, baby sloths, small caimans or other local critters, hoping to exchange a photo for a dollar. 

We followed the narrow, sandy path 1/4 mile towards the village passing their simple wooden homes; stilted and open-aired.  Some having electricity and we even saw one satellite dish. The Zuiderdam brought several bins ashore with donated items from passengers and the ship, including toiletries, books and school supplies. 

Continuing the path that follows the river tributary, we soon left behind the hubbub that our cruise ship presence created and found ourselves walking in the natural setting of the Amazon and shoreline villages.   

Boca da Valeria certainly gave us a glimpse into the hundreds of villages like it that call the Amazon tributaries home.

Thirty miles and in stark contrast to the tiny village of Boca da Valeria, our next port is Manaus.  The early morning rain lets up by the time we dock in the center of this large city, home to 2.2 million people.  It is the capital of Amazonas and was once referred to as “the Paris of Brazil”.   The rubber boom in the late 1800’s brought wealthy European families, their art and architecture.  For instance, architect Eifel designed several downtown structures, including the city mercado.  We toured the still-impressive Opera House built in 1896.   

But when rubber tree seeds were eventually smuggled to Asia, Brazil and Peru lost their monopoly on rubber and the boom abruptly ended. Manaus fell into poverty and today under the gray skies, a pallor of grime seems to have taken hold over the cityscape.  

We meandered along with the locals on their Sunday morning pedestrian street fair.  A mix of pop-up cafes, artisans, and farmers market, that rambled for 10 city blocks. 

Our walk continued through the Cidade da Crianca Park in a very local part of town, then through the mercado and waterfront where fisherman unloaded and sold their catch beneath a crude tarp village. 

Manaus is also where to find the “Meeting of the Waters”, where the black waters of the Negro River meet the brown waters of the Solimoes River, flowing side by side without mixing for about 6 miles, until Santarem, where we will see them finally meld together. But first, we will visit Parintins.

Leaving Manaus late afternoon, we will cruise 265 miles overnight to Parintins.

The 115,000 residents are extremely proud to be the site of one of Brazil’s most significant festivals, Boi Bumba.  Held each June, the festival features elaborate parade floats which they build year-round in preparation.  While the entire town is unified about the annual festival, they are divided into Red and Blue Teams which fiercely compete for who creates the biggest, best, most elaborate floats.  Both teams have their own huge warehouses where they work and store past and present creations; their size and scope are impressive!  We hired a tuk-tuk to see it all. 

Their waterfront is crowded with ferries and fishing boats.  Locals predominately travel via water; a ferry to Manaus takes 3 days at $20, versus an airline flight would cost hundreds.  Passengers bring their own hammocks and string them from racks in the ferry ceilings.  The ultimate ‘no frills’ travel. 

Santarem is one of the oldest cities in the Brazilian Amazon and where 2 rivers join, called “Wedding of the Waters”.  

The deep blue Tapajos River and creamy Amazon Rivers mingle, making stark and stunning watery contrasts along the city shoreline and extending 62 miles of beaches. 

Soybean farming is the main supporter of the 300,000 population, along with fishing.  And both gray and pink dolphins enjoy the good fishing here too. 

Speaking of fishing, we tried our luck at piranha fishing!   We boarded a local boat taking us to back water tributaries, where we passed farms, pastures, and fishing camps.

Beaching the boat and tying to a tree, we lowered handlines with hooks baited with meat into the murky water. 

Unfortunately, the piranhas were not biting for our boat today, but the catfish certainly were.  I caught 2 catfish and received the boats ‘trophy’ for my efforts: a dehydrated piranha fish mounted on a wooden stand. 

Fellow passengers on other boats nearby did catch a few piranhas, so we know they were in those waters.  No swimming!

Leaving Santarem, Zuiderdam heads east and successfully negotiates the crossing a shallow sediment bank where we only register 4.5 feet of water beneath our keel!  We trade the cappuccino-colored river waters for the blue Atlantic Ocean once again.  So far, we’ve traveled 1,812.8 nautical miles on the Amazon River, experiencing its indigenous people, their culture, diverse wildlife and their habitats.    What a “wild” way to begin this worldwide journey!

Our next stops are Grenada, Curacao, Panama Canal and beyond.  More to come!

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