Queen Victoria - What a wonderful day

I contacted Gil almost 20 months before taking this tour. (I am a planner)

His responses were fast and very informative.
He is a great communicator.
I already knew a lot of passengers who would be joining the Queen Victoria's circumnavigation of South America so I contacted them and asked if they wanted to join us. There were 23 people who were part of the group I organized.

Without exception everyone was thrilled with the tour.
Gil was moored directly in front of the ship when we disembarked.
We had to wait almost an hour for the couple (NOT with me!) who claimed that they were told that the tour started at 10 am. Everyone is wrong but my Johnny comes to mind. They were totally unapologetic and as a result, totally ignored.

We headed out finally and went past the pink dolphin, the city of Santarem and then headed down to where Gil planned to take us. All the way along Gil described, in detail what we were going to see.
Once we got to a safe anchorage three smaller boats were set out to explore the tributaries.

This was AMAZING. We were up close and personal with the Amazon!!!
We saw so much wildlife and what we could not see Gil pointed out to us.
He is a truly brilliant man whose love of the Amazon is obvious. He is passionate about his country.

We had some wonderful snacks of native fish and nuts and fruit. The drinks were very ,ummmmmm, exceptional. Terrific bartender service. All of this was included in the price.

We fished for Pirhanna and some actually caught the small but mighty fish.
We saw the huge Lilypads and even found Gil, up to his neck in water, cutting away vines and branches to make our boats able to navigate the tributaries easier.
Do not hesitate to book this trip.
We have only been back from our cruise for 5 days and I have a lot of stuff to take care of but I cannot wait to upload all of my photos of this exceptional day.

Thanks Gil. Forever a friend.

(Take from tripadvisor - Amazon River Cruise Gil Serique, Day Tour)

MS Queen Victoria

Pink Dolphin

Roadside Hawk

Three-toed sloth

Giant water lily

Water Buffaloes

Myself and Mr. Riker

Prinsendam private shore excursion

M/S MAASDAM in Santarem (Private shore excursion)

Maasdam resting at Santarem port

My little book on Amazon Wildlife

Lecturing on a Tambaqui

...about piranhas...

...and sloths

Signing Joe Jackson's book

The meeting of the waters in Santarem

end of the trip

enjoying nature

Amazon Wildlife Guide-Book for cruisers

"Saw this book on a tour we went on just got home couldn't get one anywere someone on our cruise had found one to buy would love a copy as it has in it everything we saw I am a huge bird watcher"

On the top of it It is available on M/S Maasdam shop.

I am so happy about it.

New Review on Trip Advisor

“Amazon River Cruise and Walk”

Reviewed 2 days ago NEW

We did a half day group tour off of our cruise ship with Gil for a short distance out of Santarem. There are two things that you should know. First, though we did not visit an unspoiled national park area (you need to go a much longer distance for that), Gil nevertheless did a great job exposing us to native flora and fauna, as well explaining the sociopolitical ups and downs of local Amazon society. Second, Gil is tremendously entertaining. He goes a mile a minute with his thoughts, and you may have some trouble following his weaving of threads, but I guarantee that you will learn more in an hour with him than you would in a day with somebody else. Gil's depth of knowledge is bottomless, and his good nature relentless. Get him to tell you about the travails of his family attempting to adjust to the region's new economic reality - fascinating and sad. If you are in the Santarem locale, Gil is your man!

Visited November 2015

https://www.tripadvisor.co.uk/ShowUserReviews-g2442844-d9570834-r344625526-Amazon_River_Cruise_Gil_Serique_Day_Tour-Alter_do_Chao_State_of_Para.html#

Where cruiseship passengers should meet me in Santarem port

I am behind the cameraaaaa

M/S Prinsendam in Santarem