Amazon Updates
27 September 2001
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Today we anchored off the town of Coari at 0230 having made
good speed with the current down the river Salimões
from Tefe. It was impossible, in the darkness, to safely navigate
the narrow entrance to the lagoon which fronts the town and
we anchored when the echo sounder (which shows us the depth
of water underneath the ship) showed 10 meters. |
The river changes from season to season and the main channels
and depths shown on the charts are not always accurate. We have
two river pilots on board and they depend on up to date information
from the survey vessel that operates on the river.
At this time of year, near the end of the dry season, sand
banks and shoals shift and reconfigure. Our draft, which is
the depth of the ship under the water (from the waterline
to the keel), is nearly five meters, and we have to take care. |
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Our present latitude is four degrees south. The Autumn Equinox
occured at midnight GMT on 22nd and the sun was then directly
overhead on the equator. This means that now we have exactly 12
hours of daylight and 12 hours of darkness. The sun rises due
east at 0600, and it sets due west at 1800. At noon we have no
shadows; daylight to darkness (and vice versa) takes about 45
minutes.
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During the watch after anchoring this morning, I watched
the day come alive. As it started to get light, and eventually
the top edge of the sun appeared over the trees astern of
the ship, the local fishermen in their canoes and the river
dolphins hunted together where the waters of the main river
and the outflow from the lagoon meet. |
The divide between the brown Solimões river and the darker
lagoon water is quite marked and distinct. It was so quiet, the
dolphins as they surfaced and dived sounded almost like humans
coughing, and the voices of the fishermen carried clearly across
the water. I could hear the birds too on the river bank, circling
the fish. A boat came past with a dog that barked at the dolphins.
It was already dark as we left the anchorage at 1900. The half
moon over the southern bank of the river masked most of the stars
except for the constellation of Scorpio and Mars bright to the
east in Sagittarius.
We will arrive back in Manaus at midday on Friday and I'll know
I've been priviledged to be here.
Pete
Captain
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