Amazon River Cruise | M/Y Tucano

On arrival, please make your way through to the Arrivals Hall where our representative will be waiting for you to transfer you to your hotel.
He/she will be holding a sign with your name on it. Please note this service is with a driver only.

At 10:30 this morning, we'll board the Motor Yacht Tucano in Manaus, Brazil. Setting sail on the Rio Negro, we'll begin our journey upstream while enjoying our first discussion about the diverse environments of the Amazon. By late afternoon we enter one of the worlds largest river island systems, the Anavilhanas Archipelago. The boat will weave along a winding channel with rainforest on both sides in a riot of brilliant vegetation.

Weather permitting, we will go for a launch excursion in the gnarled and dense flooded forest known as the igapó. Along the river bank we may see some Squirrel Monkeys and we may hear the other-worldly growls of Howler Monkeys echoing through the primitive rainforest. The Amazon has one of the greatest collection of birds in the world and we are sure to see some of these brightly coloured jewels perched in the treetops. We return to the M/Y Tucano for hors d’oeuvres on the observation deck and a toast to the rainforest sunset.

Following dinner we will embark in our boat in search of nocturnal creatures such as the Caiman, the Amazon’s crocodilians. We may also see one of the large night birds such as a Potoo with its bulging eyes and large mouth adapted to swallow the huge Mariposa Moths.

Shortly after sunrise this morning we explore the Anavilhanas Archipelago, a reserve that includes the world’s largest system of river islands and also areas of tall dense rainforest. Here we will see the strange environment called the igapó, the black water flooded forest where dense forests grow right out of the dark water of the Rio Negro. Mid morning we return to the vessel for a hearty Brazilian breakfast. After some time to relax, weather permitting we will disembark at mid-morning and will go for a walk in the type of rainforest known as the terra firme. Here we have a good chance to see the markings, if not the animals themselves. Some of the Amazon ’s great mammals like peccaries (wild pigs) or even a jaguar. Around mid-day return to the vessel for lunch and a siesta.

Around mid-day, we return to the vessel for lunch and a siesta. In the afternoon we will excursion in our launches along the edges of the dense forest and listen to the sunset chorus of birds, howler monkeys, and frogs. Weather permitting, tonight we will have an excursion to spot caiman (the Amazon’s crocodiles) and other nocturnal creatures. We very often see arboreal porcupines or sloths scrambling high in the limbs.

Today we will voyage to the west side of the Rio Negro and continue to scout in our launches and walk in the forest. We will explore according to the weather and water depth areas rarely visited by anyone else.

Tonight the M/Y Tucano goes downstream and river depth permitting, will enter an east bank affluent of the Rio Negro and explore on deep into the rainforest on this small river. After our nocturnal exploration of the rainforest in our launches and we return to the Motor Yacht Tucano for “Caipirinha Night” and perhaps try a bit of samba on the top deck.

We begin the day with a dawn excursion hunting for wakening wildlife followed by a full Brazilian breakfast. We will then go one last time into the forest.

In the mid-afternoon, we will begin to journey downstream to arrive late in the day at the “Encontro das Aguas” - a stark several mile long lines where two of the world’s largest rivers, the Amazon and the Rio Negro, join in a turbulent maelstrom. Here the dark water of the Negro runs beside the opaque brown water of the Amazon.

At sunset the M/Y Tucano will once again turn her bows upstream on the Rio Negro and journey to our overnight anchorage. As we pass in front of Manaus, we will marvel at the scale of one of the world’s largest and most vibrant port cities, over a thousand miles from the sea. As we pass the glittering lights on shore, we will have a small party, as we say in Brasil, a festazinha, our “Caipirinha Night” and perhaps try a bit of samba on the top deck. Tonight we will have a farewell dinner and prepare for an early departure in the morning.

Early this morning, after a hearty breakfast, all guests disembark from the M/Y Tucano.