Travellers's Choice 2020

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

Magellan at Alter do chao

Magellan in Santarem

We had an amazing day with Gil and his crew aboard his new boat leaving from Santarem to explore the river and wildlife of the Amazon and its tributaries. Gil is so knowledgeable about this area, the wildlife, the people. We explored narrow creeks in small motor boats with English speaking guides to see mangroves, giant waterlilies, priarucu fish, sloths, wood storks, great egrets, cattle egrets, water buffalo, and many more. On board the larger boat, we had a talk from Gil about his family, his roots and his work. Food and drink was on tap all day and we had a fabulous time. Gil's wrestling with a caiman was the funniest part of the day, especially when it arrived on the deck and ....................I won't spoil the surprise for you! I can highly recommend this trip to get close to the "real" Amazonia.

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