We found ourselves sailing through a most unusual sea today as we made our way towards the north entrance of the mighty Amazon River. We were in the ocean over a hundred miles off the South American coast at breakfast time and the water beneath our keel was fresh enough to drink. The first European explorers to sail in this region called it Mar Dulce. The rich light-brown color of the water told us tiny suspended sedimentary particles had been carried far out to sea by the distant river. It has come from the eroding Andes mountain range over twenty five hundred miles (4,000 km) to our west. So great is the volume of freshwater being discharged from this system, one must travel over two hundred miles (320 km) offshore to reach clear ocean seawater.
During the day, we enjoyed three very interesting presentations. Tyrone Turner talked about the Quilombos of Brazil, a vibrant culture of people that are descendents of escaped slaves. Wade Davis presented “People of the Anaconda” and told us about some of the indigenous populations of the Amazon. Tom Ritchie talked of the Columbian exchange, that is, things that were introduced from the New World to the Old and vice versa.
By suppertime we had entered the broad mouth of the north entrance of the Amazon River Delta. It was tricky navigating through the channels in this broad, featureless braided river system and our navigation officer remained diligent, using both paper charts and electronic charts displayed on monitors (see photo). From here we continued slowly up stream toward the city of Macapa, where we planned for a morning arrival and clearance into the country of Brazil.
