I have done the Manaus city tour 5 times. I think it's an integral part of a trip to Manaus and a great introduction to the Amazon.

We meet up with Rosie to start the day and immediately extend our prolific thanks for all her help with the final leg of our travels to Manaus. She lets us know she is still on Azul’s case about the 2 missing bags - “Siri where is my luggage?" -  Fort Lauderdale still!  Her son Juliano is with her and accompanies us on our tour. 

We'd been told to wear something we can swim in or quick dry clothes because  swimming with the pink dolphins (the boto) will be our first stop on the water-portion of the tour. Swimming with the dolphins was something new as it hadn't been offered on my previous tours. They are wild free ranging dolphins that are fed, which is why they come, but are free to do whatever they want so we had no problem with the set up.

First stop on the tour though is the “Fish Market”. It is truly unbelievable and has to be seen to understand the scope of what is available there. Fish of every description, shrimp, all manner of vegetables and fruit. Even though I have seen this four other times it is still mind boggling to think of the volume of fish and produce that go through that market every day! The guys who have not seen this before are wide eyed and impressed with seeing some of the types of fish we are going to target in a couple of more days! Leaving the market we head to the boat dock. A steep set of stairs down, a quick look at the high water mark (30 feet above our heads) and we get on the boat with our captain and eco guide.

We head to the impressive bridge that's been built since my first trip to Manaus. It’s an impressive piece of architecture measuring 3,595 meters long and is the only major bridge on the Amazon. Ironically it “only” crosses the Rio Negro and is called the bridge to nowhere!   Arriving at the dolphin house, just upstream of the bridge, we could see a couple of other boats at other houses and we could see the pink dolphins moving around the area.

Once docked, we prepare for the swim. For the guys, shirts come off and life jackets go around our waist. Some in the group decide to just go in their underwear and others stay in our quick dry pants. The “dolphin wrangler” is slapping the water with a hunk of wood to “call in” the animals. All 5 of us climb down the ladder and make our way out from the platform as we prepare to swim. We are in the Rio Negro portion of the region and there is about 2 feet of visibility.

We get in the water and start to swim near the "dolphin wrangler." Suddenly more than one of us yelps as something soft and rubbery brushes our legs and the next thing we know there is a pink toothy mouth followed by a bulbous head in the middle of us getting a fish from the wrangler. It was a stunning unique experience for the 15 minutes or so we stayed in the water with the animals. There were 5 different ones that would come in and there would be pink chaos at times when 3 would come in at the same time with the 5 of us in a circle watching the wrangler. There was definitely some current so you had to keep swimming not to be pushed out of the zone. Tick! A new and super cool experience to start out Amazon tour for the day.

Next stop is the Arapaima (Pirarucu) “fishing” spot! It is an absolute blast to watch first timers participate. A sturdy broom pole stick, a finger thick piece of rope, and a hunk of fish sturdily tied on. Slap the fish on the water a couple of times then hang on. A giant “sucking pop” happens and your rod is almost yanked out of your hands as a couple of hundred pounds of aggressive beautifully pink highlighted scaled fish erupts. A memory that will stay with you. These Arapaima are “farmed” to supply the fish market, restaurants, and the local demand, as the meat is excellent and wild fish are now completely protected from harvest due to overfishing in the past. We have lots of fun and do some shopping at the market.

We leave the “fishing spot” and I ask about the eco-reserve that I’ve visited the other tours. Unfortunately due to the low water we are not able to go there but are told we can go see a different location after lunch.

Lunch is great as always with local food including Arapaima, everyone reallyenjoys it. We get to try some local drinks as well, only one makes your lips go numb! We then head next door to the “indigenous performance”. One performance is just wrapping up so we watch the end of the show and wait for the next round. While we wait we end up with painted faces and we are now truly on our Amazon journey.

This show was something else I had not done on previous trips either. Watching the indigenous people do their “made for tourists” dances was a little sad but interesting at the same time. The wood instrument (I think Yapurutu) was very interesting to listen to. The performers were at least making a living doing something that introduced some of their culture to others.

After the dances we headed for a quick trip around a floating village that had been moved there due to low water where they normally lived. Quite something to think of people permanently living in floating basic homes on the Amazon. The are truly at the mercy of the river.

After visiting this community we head to the “meeting of the waters” where the Rio Solimoes and Rio Negro meet to form what many feel is the Amazon Proper. All of both basins are the Amazon River Basin but where these two very different rivers meet is a very unique spot in the world. The rivers are completely different in  their chemistry, temperature, color, and where they come from. You can easily feel the temperature difference when you trail your hand in the water as the boat motors between the two. The water doesn’t mix for many km’s due to the differences. And the water still has to travel 1450km before it hits the ocean. We head back along the loading docks and marvel at the huge container ships that come here from across the ocean. When we get back in the late afternoon we are greeted by Rosie with no news about the luggage. “Hey Siri where is my luggage?” Fort Laurderdale! The uneasiness is setting in that we are going to possibly have to come up with some alternatives for Greg and Anthony’s clothes and gear.

Saturday morning bringing some news! “Hey Siri where is my luggage?” The answer is Recife, Brazil! A distance of 2,838km - not much help! The decision is made for Greg and Anthony to go shopping and get toiletries, some clothes. We agree that the rest of us could split up gear if necessary. Rosie is on the phone with Azul in the late afternoon on Saturday to make sure the bags will arrive later that evening.

We have a fantastic dinner at a traditional Brazilian BBQ restaurant and meet up with the Mossy Creek Flyfishing crew. All you can eat meat with a great salad bar and after dinner shots made for a fun evening. About 10pm Saturday night we get word from Rosie that the bags will arrive at 2am and she will pick them up and get them to the hotel before we have to leave for the charter flight to the fishing camp. Talk about luggage showing up at the last minute but it worked out!