Explora I - Caribbean to the Amazon

Where this cruise calls, day by day

10 ports and 3 sea days over 12 Nights.

1. Day 1

   San Juan

   Puerto RicoDepart
   San Juan port guide: where ships dock and what to do ashore
2. Day 2

   Gustavia

   Saint BarthélemyPort

   St Barth has no cruise pier and no ambition to build one, so this is a tender call and in practice a small-ship one — the big ships do not come. Gustavia is a tidy French harbor town of red roofs and superyachts where the shops are Hermès and Cartier rather than duty-free liquor. It is expensive in a way that catches people out; a sandwich and a beer costs what a meal does elsewhere.

   • Shell Beach, walkable from the harbor
   • St Jean Beach, under the airport approach
   • Anse de Grande Saline and Gouverneur beaches
   • Fort Karl viewpoint and the Wall House museum

   Getting ashore

   Tender into Gustavia harbor, which puts you in the middle of town; Shell Beach is a 10-minute walk and the other beaches need a taxi or a rented Mini Moke.

   Best months

   Dec-Apr, with a very expensive holiday high season; September is when much of the island closes

3. Day 3

   Saint-Pierre

   MartiniquePort

   Saint-Pierre was the largest city in Martinique until 8 May 1902, when a pyroclastic flow off Mount Pelée destroyed it in minutes and killed roughly 28,000 people. It was never really rebuilt — today it is a modest town living among its own ruins, roofless theatre walls and all. Only small ships call, anchoring off a black-sand shore; the vessels that sank in the roadstead that morning are still on the bottom.

   • The theatre ruins and the jail cell that held Ludger Sylbaris
   • Musée Frank A. Perret, the volcanology museum
   • Diving the 1902 wrecks in the bay
   • Mount Pelée and the Route de la Trace

   Getting ashore

   No cruise pier — small ships anchor off and tender in; the town is compact and walkable from the landing.

   Best months

   Dec-Apr (the dry carême); Jul-Nov is wetter with hurricane risk

4. Day 4

   Bridgetown

   BarbadosPort

   Barbados is bigger and more developed than most Eastern Caribbean calls and works less like a beach stop than a country with its own economy — a capital with a UNESCO-listed Georgian core, a calm west coast for swimming and a wild Atlantic east coast that surfs. It is also a major homeport, so calls frequently coincide with turnaround crowds.

   • Snorkeling with sea turtles and the wrecks in Carlisle Bay
   • Harrison's Cave tram tour
   • Bathsheba and the east coast
   • Mount Gay rum tour or St. Nicholas Abbey

   Getting ashore

   Docked at the deep-water port about a mile from Broad Street — walkable, but the route runs through a working port, so most people take the short taxi.

   Best months

   Dec-Apr dry season; Jun-Nov is wetter, though Barbados sits far enough east to be hit less often

5. Day 5

   Port of Spain

   Trinidad and TobagoPort

   Trinidad is an oil and gas economy that happens to be in the Caribbean, and Port of Spain is a real city — traffic, office towers, a vast park called the Queen's Park Savannah — not a cruise town. There is no beach near the port. What the island has instead is Carnival, the birthplace of steelpan and calypso, and genuinely good wildlife.

   • Caroni Bird Sanctuary at dusk for the scarlet ibis
   • Maracas Bay and bake and shark, about 40 minutes over the Northern Range
   • The Magnificent Seven houses on the Savannah
   • Asa Wright Nature Centre in the hills

   Getting ashore

   Docked at the cruise terminal on the Port of Spain waterfront, walking distance to Independence Square and the Brian Lara Promenade.

   Best months

   Jan-May dry season, with Carnival in Feb or Mar; Trinidad lies south of the hurricane belt, so Jun-Dec is wet rather than dangerous

6. Day 6 · At sea

7. Day 7 · At sea

8. Day 8 · At sea

9. Day 9

   Macapa

   BrazilPort

   Macapa is the capital of Amapa state, on the north bank of the Amazon delta, and its selling point is geographic: the equator runs through the city. The Marco Zero monument marks the line, and the local football stadium was built so the halfway line sits on it. There is also an 18th-century Portuguese star fort in good condition and a riverfront pier where you can watch the tidal bore season.

   • Marco Zero monument on the equator
   • Fortaleza de Sao Jose de Macapa, a large 18th-century star fort
   • Estadio Zerao, split by the equatorial line
   • The Amazon riverfront pier and market

   Getting ashore

   Ships usually anchor in the river and tender; the deep-water berths are at Santana, some way downriver from the city.

   Best months

   Jun-Nov (drier season)

10. Day 10

    Santarem

    BrazilPort

    Santarem sits halfway between Manaus and Belem where the clear blue-green Tapajos meets the muddy Amazon, and the two run side by side in a visible line off the waterfront. The town is a river port with a fish market and a modest colonial core, but the real destination is Alter do Chao 35 km away — a freshwater lagoon with white sand beaches that appear when the river drops.

    • The meeting of the Tapajos and Amazon rivers
    • Alter do Chao's beaches and Ilha do Amor sandbar (seasonal)
    • The riverfront fish market and Mercadao 2000
    • Boat trips into the Tapajos National Forest

    Getting ashore

    Ships berth at the city's river pier, walking distance from the market.

    Best months

    Aug-Dec for the sandbars; Nov-Mar for high water

11. Day 11

    Boca da Valeria

    BrazilPort

    Boca da Valeria is a village of a hundred or so people where the Valeria River meets the Amazon, and it exists on itineraries as a glimpse of river life rather than a destination. There is a church, a school, a few stilt houses and a muddy path. Children meet the boats holding sloths, caimans and parrots and expect a dollar for a photo, which some passengers find charming and others find uncomfortable. It is worth deciding how you feel before you land.

    • Stilt houses and the village church
    • Canoe trips into the igarape with local boatmen
    • Village children with sloths, caimans and macaws
    • The Valeria and Amazon river confluence

    Getting ashore

    Tender or zodiac landing at a small floating dock; there is no infrastructure ashore.

    Best months

    Nov-Mar (high water; low water can make the landing harder)

12. Day 12

    Manaus

    BrazilPort

    Manaus sits 1,500 km up the Amazon and is a full city of two million with a rubber-boom opera house at the middle of it, built when this was one of the richest places on earth. Ships reach it via the river, and the standard excursion is the Meeting of the Waters, where the black Rio Negro and the sandy Solimoes run side by side for kilometres without mixing. Beyond that it is jungle lodges, igarape boat trips and a very good market.

    • Teatro Amazonas, the rubber-boom opera house
    • Meeting of the Waters, where the Rio Negro and Solimoes converge
    • Mercado Adolpho Lisboa, modelled on Les Halles
    • Igarape and creek boat trips into flooded forest

    Getting ashore

    Ships berth at the floating port in the city centre, built to cope with the river's seasonal rise.

    Best months

    Nov-Mar for high water; Jun-Nov is drier with more river beaches

13. Day 13

    Manaus

    BrazilArrive

    Manaus sits 1,500 km up the Amazon and is a full city of two million with a rubber-boom opera house at the middle of it, built when this was one of the richest places on earth. Ships reach it via the river, and the standard excursion is the Meeting of the Waters, where the black Rio Negro and the sandy Solimoes run side by side for kilometres without mixing. Beyond that it is jungle lodges, igarape boat trips and a very good market.

    • Teatro Amazonas, the rubber-boom opera house
    • Meeting of the Waters, where the Rio Negro and Solimoes converge
    • Mercado Adolpho Lisboa, modelled on Les Halles
    • Igarape and creek boat trips into flooded forest

    Getting ashore

    Ships berth at the floating port in the city centre, built to cope with the river's seasonal rise.

    Best months

    Nov-Mar for high water; Jun-Nov is drier with more river beaches