Recent Adventures

by: Steve German
October 2006

By the time the plane touched down in Manaus, Brazil, my son Josh and I already had a thirty-hour day under our belts. Excitement and anticipation of what the next week held for us made the exhaustion our bodies seem far, far away. We cleared customs about 2:30AM and stepped from the air-conditioned terminal into the heat that can only be felt when you are at 0 degrees latitude. Being from South Louisiana helped but it didn’t help a lot. Josh and I both knew how important drinking lots of water was going to be for the next week.

After a huge Brazilian breakfast, hosted by Amazon Tours, and an hour-long flight to Barcellos, a small town some three hundred miles into the Amazon rain forest, we were introduced to the Rio Negro River. The Negro, as called by the locals, joins with the Amazon at Manaus and continues her journey to the ocean. One of, if not the most awesome sights we had ever seen.

Down the sixty or so steps to the river where all of the guides were waiting for us in matching nineteen foot Nitro Bass boats. The legendary Amazon Queen II riverboat docked in the background taking on supplies for her week of fishing on the Negro. Josh and I are assigned a boat, our Indian guide loaded our luggage and off we go for a short sixty-five mile boat ride up the river for our long awaited date with the famous peacock bass of the Amazon. Long awaited because we were to have made this trip eighteen days after Rita slammed into southwest Louisiana. We then rescheduled for February 2006 but the rainy season came early and the Amazon was in flood stage and again the trip was cancelled. But now, October 2006 here we are. The hour and fourty five-minute boat ride flew by. Places in the Negro are wider than Big Lake is long; Impressive is the only word to come to mind. The river`s constant current heading east for it’s union with the Amazon. Soon we see the floating dock at the lodge. Up the steps and as we approached the main lodge awe is the only word that comes to mind. Five thousand square feet and built right into the jungle. Small concrete pathways disappear from either side of the lodge and journey into the jungle. As you walk the pathway cabins appear. Josh and I settled into cabin number 5 and started getting ready for the week. As we walked back to the main lodge we noticed the full sized pool, a welcome everyday after battling the equatorial sun, we realized there were no roads leading here. This whole complex was done by hand with everything being brought up river by boat or float plane.

by: Steve German
October 2006

By the time the plane touched down in Manaus, Brazil, my son Josh and I already had a thirty-hour day under our belts. Excitement and anticipation of what the next week held for us made the exhaustion our bodies seem far, far away. We cleared customs about 2:30AM and stepped from the air-conditioned terminal into the heat that can only be felt when you are at 0 degrees latitude. Being from South Louisiana helped but it didn’t help a lot. Josh and I both knew how important drinking lots of water was going to be for the next week.

After a huge Brazilian breakfast, hosted by Amazon Tours, and an hour-long flight to Barcellos, a small town some three hundred miles into the Amazon rain forest, we were introduced to the Rio Negro River. The Negro, as called by the locals, joins with the Amazon at Manaus and continues her journey to the ocean. One of, if not the most awesome sights we had ever seen.

Down the sixty or so steps to the river where all of the guides were waiting for us in matching nineteen foot Nitro Bass boats. The legendary Amazon Queen II riverboat docked in the background taking on supplies for her week of fishing on the Negro. Josh and I are assigned a boat, our Indian guide loaded our luggage and off we go for a short sixty-five mile boat ride up the river for our long awaited date with the famous peacock bass of the Amazon. Long awaited because we were to have made this trip eighteen days after Rita slammed into southwest Louisiana. We then rescheduled for February 2006 but the rainy season came early and the Amazon was in flood stage and again the trip was cancelled. But now, October 2006 here we are. The hour and fourty five-minute boat ride flew by. Places in the Negro are wider than Big Lake is long; Impressive is the only word to come to mind. The river`s constant current heading east for it’s union with the Amazon. Soon we see the floating dock at the lodge. Up the steps and as we approached the main lodge awe is the only word that comes to mind. Five thousand square feet and built right into the jungle. Small concrete pathways disappear from either side of the lodge and journey into the jungle. As you walk the pathway cabins appear. Josh and I settled into cabin number 5 and started getting ready for the week. As we walked back to the main lodge we noticed the full sized pool, a welcome everyday after battling the equatorial sun, we realized there were no roads leading here. This whole complex was done by hand with everything being brought up river by boat or float plane.

by: Steve German
October 2006

By the time the plane touched down in Manaus, Brazil, my son Josh and I already had a thirty-hour day under our belts. Excitement and anticipation of what the next week held for us made the exhaustion our bodies seem far, far away. We cleared customs about 2:30AM and stepped from the air-conditioned terminal into the heat that can only be felt when you are at 0 degrees latitude. Being from South Louisiana helped but it didn’t help a lot. Josh and I both knew how important drinking lots of water was going to be for the next week.

After a huge Brazilian breakfast, hosted by Amazon Tours, and an hour-long flight to Barcellos, a small town some three hundred miles into the Amazon rain forest, we were introduced to the Rio Negro River. The Negro, as called by the locals, joins with the Amazon at Manaus and continues her journey to the ocean. One of, if not the most awesome sights we had ever seen.

Down the sixty or so steps to the river where all of the guides were waiting for us in matching nineteen foot Nitro Bass boats. The legendary Amazon Queen II riverboat docked in the background taking on supplies for her week of fishing on the Negro. Josh and I are assigned a boat, our Indian guide loaded our luggage and off we go for a short sixty-five mile boat ride up the river for our long awaited date with the famous peacock bass of the Amazon. Long awaited because we were to have made this trip eighteen days after Rita slammed into southwest Louisiana. We then rescheduled for February 2006 but the rainy season came early and the Amazon was in flood stage and again the trip was cancelled. But now, October 2006 here we are. The hour and fourty five-minute boat ride flew by. Places in the Negro are wider than Big Lake is long; Impressive is the only word to come to mind. The river`s constant current heading east for it’s union with the Amazon. Soon we see the floating dock at the lodge. Up the steps and as we approached the main lodge awe is the only word that comes to mind. Five thousand square feet and built right into the jungle. Small concrete pathways disappear from either side of the lodge and journey into the jungle. As you walk the pathway cabins appear. Josh and I settled into cabin number 5 and started getting ready for the week. As we walked back to the main lodge we noticed the full sized pool, a welcome everyday after battling the equatorial sun, we realized there were no roads leading here. This whole complex was done by hand with everything being brought up river by boat or float plane.