Captain's Blog Contents |
| These are some of the things we saw and did while fishing for peacock bass on the Nanay River. I wish I could show you the pink river dolphins, the strangler fig, the red spotted green discus, the big fish that got away. read more... |
| An observant, quiet person will have rich interaction with nature during the course of every day in the upper Amazon region of Loreto, Peru. I fished with two friends in my thatched-roof, wooden riverboat, Dawn on the Amazon, less than one day’s travel from Iquitos. We |
| Bill heard the fish splash in the flooded jungle. He positioned the small dugout canoe and made a gentle backhand cast under branches and around tree trunks. The lure fell short but was close. He reeled the slack out of the line and concentrated on the lure floating in the small opening. He had been in this situation many times, and smiled thinking how unfair it was that the fish had the advantage. He twitched the rod tip making the lure wiggle. He saw the water swirl and felt the shock as the fish set the hook. He lost control so fast, |
| Dawn on the Amazon III motored up the Nanay River for three days and two nights to observe and photograph the 6th annual Great Amazon River Raft Race. We spent the first night at the village of Nina Rumi. Before the roosters |
| To be truthful, I must say that I did not catch this catfish. The gentleman pictured is Luzmildos, and he caught the fish with the gear he is holding, from the back of my boat, while it was tied a few hundred yards downstream from the confluence of the Nanay and the Amazon Rivers, over the channel. He had a larger one to the top of the water before it got away. read more... |
| One day, not long ago, I sat at the round table in front of the Yellow Rose, drinking a cold Iquiteña with my good friend, Ryan, talking about the many beautiful orchids and epiphytes we have observed in the rainforest near Iquitos, Peru. Ryan nodded his head. He glanced over his shoulder, leaned toward |
| Muerto (Death by Mosquitos) Where I am, in the relative dryness under the thatched roof by the wheel, are a million mosquitoes, buzzing about their good fortune of shelter and food. I’m doing my best to put mind over matter, to kind of hum at a frequency sympathetic to theirs and confuse them enough to stop the frenzy. I’ve always tried to make a point of ignoring them and going about my business. It is not working. read more... |
| Want to get up close and personal with the creatures that live in the rainforest? Only have three or four days to be face to face with wildlife? Then take a trip with Dawn on the Amazon, up the Amazon River from Iquitos to visit the |
| Tamshiyacu Tahuayo Community Reserve, a chunk of untouched jungle only five hours travel from our home port. read more... |
| Face to Face with Wildlife in a Peruvian Rainforest |
| In Search of an Orchid As Big As a Dinner Plate |
| me, and said in a low voice, “My spies, which are wrong ninety percent of the time, tell me that a new species of orchid has been discovered near Moyobamba the size of a dinner plate.” “Sounds more like the size of a pile of horse manure to me.” read more... |
| The Great Amazon River Raft Race |
| crowed, the sounds of machetes echoed through the fog as the teams streamlined the balsa logs they chose for their rafts. These rafts were not so much built as engineered. The race did not start until 11:00 a.m. and most teams were still testing and modifying their rafts at 10:45. I circulated among them like a man studying horses before placing his bet and took an interest in 4 rafts that I perceived as being the most aerodynamic. read more... |
| Another Day on the Amazon |
| explored a labyrinth of small rivers and cochas, between 3 and 4 degrees south of the equator, without seeing another human being. We caught fish every day except the day that is the subject of this story. read more... |
| it was a second before he understood the reel had broken and the fish was stripping off line. He tried to grab the last of the line, but it burned his hand and was gone. read more... |
| Peacock Bass Fishing |
| The Old Man and the River |
| Catfishing |
| The Pacaya River is one of my favorite places. The stream winds tranquilly through several distinct ecosystems on the south side of a huge wild, wetlands called the Pacaya Samiria National Reserve (PSNR). PSNR has been protected since 1940, and the |
| only sign I can recognize that it was ever disturbed by man are scars on the trunks of a few ancient rubber trees, from the rubber boom era of the late 1800’s. If you want to experience what the upper Amazon rainforest and watershed was like when Alfred Wallace and Charles Darwin explored the Amazon Basin and independently arrived at their theory of natural selection, the Pacaya River is probably the best place to visit. read more... |
| The Pacaya River |
| Visiting Francisco Grippa in Pevas |
| Dawn on the Amazon is in Pevas, the oldest Peruvian Jesuit settlement on the Amazon River. We are visiting the art studio and gallery of our friend Francisco Grippa. Regrettably he is traveling but his people have |
| graciously invited us to tour his studio and gallery and to enjoy the view from the observation tower. read more... |
| Our unique adventure in PSNR is not about seeing the seven species of monkeys, or the hundred species of birds, nor several dozen pink dolphins, or the iguanas, caimans, capybara, or sloth. We expect to observe them when we enter the reserve. Our adventure is with the most interesting, and dangerous primate of all, Homo sapiens. read more... |
| Apprehending Paiche Poachers In Pacaya Samiria National Reserve |
| The Harpy Eagle |
| This is a baby harpy eagle, the largest bird of prey. We had the opportunity to hold and photograph this bird while visiting a village 200 miles from civilization. A hen, with feathers colored remarkably the same as the harpy, was raising it as its chick. A native boy fed it slivers |
| of raw fish several times a day. While visiting villages during our travels we frequently see domestic hens raising young forest birds or even brooding the eggs. read more... |
| We have a new Captain's Blog that takes the place of this old blog. It's at http://dawnontheamazon.com/blog. Read through these entries, then click the link and check out the new blog. |
| This link will take you to our on-line photo album to see pictures from some of our past cruises. |
