Sailing the Amazon ???

[LeaseOnLife]

Originally Posted by tomicante

I have sailed the Orinoco delta in Venezuela and it is a great trip! I highly recommend it to all cruisers!
Next year I'm planing the Amazon, but I can't find too much info about it...

Have you checked the NGA sailing directions? This is written with commercial ships in mind, so compare your notes of the Orinoco with what is written in here:http://msi.nga.mil/MSISiteContent/StaticFiles/NAV_PUBS/SD/Pub124/Pub124bk.pdf

For the Amazon, they describe it all the way to Iquitos.

[tomicante]

Thanks for the info!

[pillum]

Hi Jake, I've been on the Amazon in Iquitos and in and around Shushfindi on the Rio Napo, we lost a guy once who was relieving himself at the river edge and was tipped over by something (locals said an anaconda but it could easily have been a log). Anyway, the current took him and he was never seen again. Treacherous currents and moving mudbanks would make it awkward for a keelboat. Why not join a barge for a downhill run, I heard of a few people doing it, just need to take a good hammock and mozzie net, and your own supply of water (food is good there as you will know if you already visited the Selva Amazonica).

Best of luck, sounds like a great adventure, enjoy the pink dolphins but beware of the candiru...

The Terrifying Toothpick Fish • Damn Interesting

[brumorino]

No one more sailing/ motoring up Amazon River?

[unbusted67]

Sounds like a dream trip. Good luck man.

[donradcliffe]

A friend did it with a French rally. They were escorted by armed naval patrol boats. Maybe it was because of the escort, but the worst hazard was the huge rafts of floating vegetation which would drift down on the anchored boats.

[brumorino]

Originally Posted by donradcliffe

A friend did it with a French rally. They were escorted by armed naval patrol boats. Maybe it was because of the escort, but the worst hazard was the huge rafts of floating vegetation which would drift down on the anchored boats.

The rally you talked about is a french fleet called Iles du Soleil , and the next start is on September 2016. They just sail around Marajó Island, in the end of the river, doesn't go deep inside amazon and Tapajós River.

[Don C L]

Some years ago my folks and I flew into Manaus and then on to Sao Gabriel de Cachoiera, (so we had gone up the Rio Negro which joins the Solimoies there at Manaus.) From there we took a skiff with an outboard up to the border of Venezuela and Colombia to see the Casiquiare canal and then continued a short way up into Venezuela. The river surface was like glass the whole way. This was in July and aside from the occasional rain squall, there wasn't a breath of wind. The trip was absolutely beautiful, but you will be motoring a VERY, VERY LONG WAY. At least on the Rio Negro you probably won't be able to get past the "cachoiera" which means rapids in Portuguese. As far as going up the river, yes you have to avoid shallows in the low water season, but also you need to know where you are to avoid going up dead end channels, and there are a lot of them. You have probably seen Google Earth photos of the river. The Rio Negro is nice in that owing to the acidic tea-colored water (hence "black river") there are fewer mosquitoes and piranha, or at least they aren't biting so much there. Before you do it with a sailboat, go visit first to at least be better prepared. Have a good strong diesel with plenty of tankage!

[brumorino]

Originally Posted by Don C L

Some years ago my folks and I flew into Manaus and then on to Sao Gabriel de Cachoiera, (so we had gone up the Rio Negro which joins the Solimoies there at Manaus.) From there we took a skiff with an outboard up to the border of Venezuela and Colombia to see the Casiquiare canal and then continued a short way up into Venezuela. The river surface was like glass the whole way. This was in July and aside from the occasional rain squall, there wasn't a breath of wind. The trip was absolutely beautiful, but you will be motoring a VERY, VERY LONG WAY. At least on the Rio Negro you probably won't be able to get past the "cachoiera" which means rapids in Portuguese. As far as going up the river, yes you have to avoid shallows in the low water season, but also you need to know where you are to avoid going up dead end channels, and there are a lot of them. You have probably seen Google Earth photos of the river. The Rio Negro is nice in that owing to the acidic tea-colored water (hence "black river") there are fewer mosquitoes and piranha, or at least they aren't biting so much there. Before you do it with a sailboat, go visit first to at least be better prepared. Have a good strong diesel with plenty of tankage!

Nice adventure Don! I found a brazilian sailor/ doctor who did the river up with a steel SV and stopped at Alter do Chão/ Pará, in Tapajós River to help riparian people, and now is living there.

[brumorino]

More stuff found. French sailboat up the river until Tapajós. 2006

Amazonie | Le voyage d´Ilo

[guarany]

Hi,

My name is Grazziano and I live at Santarém - Pará - Brazil at center of brazilian Amazon Rainforest.

I used to sail small boats (17 feet) here at the tapajos, amazon and arapiuns rivers

Some years ago the Rallye Les Iles du Soleil came with many sail boats to Alter do Chao, a small village near (30 km) Santarém

The wind is strong from august to december.

Call me if you want to talk about

[Don C L]

Originally Posted by guarany

Hi,

My name is Grazziano and I live at Santarém - Pará - Brazil at center of brazilian Amazon Rainforest.

I used to sail small boats (17 feet) here at the tapajos, amazon and arapiuns rivers

Some years ago the Rallye Les Iles du Soleil came with many sail boats to Alter do Chao, a small village near (30 km) Santarém

The wind is strong from august to december.

Call me if you want to talk about

Welcome aboard Grazziano! You have piqued my interest! Have any photos?

[guarany]

I choose some pics from my computer and take one from internet. If you want I can post some pics from beachs of river

[guarany]

I fogot to say that I am buying a 25 feet sailboat with retractable keel to sail here.

A friend have nice 45 feet sailboat that he sail here near Santarem. Its draft is 2 meters and have no trouble to navigate at Tapajos, Arapiuns or Amazon rivers

[guarany]

More some nature pics