This morning the sounds of the awakening rainforest found the Delfin II docked at the confluence of the Pucate and Marañon Rivers, where we had peacefully spent the night tied-up to a large tree.
As we leisurely walked out from our rooms to the outer decks for breakfast, we were surprised by the loud, happy chattering of hundreds of invisible birds that had spent the night in the nearby trees. A wonderful reminder of where we are.
Energized, after a fantastic breakfast, we eagerly boarded our skiffs again to explore deeper into the Pucate River. Pink and grey dolphins briefly accompanied us as the skiffs picked-up speed through the river, and into the forest. The beautiful scenery and the feeling of the fresh morning air twirling through our hair on the fast moving skiffs, made us feel closer to nature and alive.
The wonderful spirit of adventure. Off to the unknown!
After some twenty minutes navigating at full speed, putting some distance in between us and the Delfin II, we slowed down for our expert naturalists to look for things. Right away they started to point out many birds, everywhere, while our always eager skiff-drivers skillfully positioned the nimble little boats on the best possible angle to see and take pictures.
The morning temperature and sunlight where just ideal this morning, and the amount of activity was very high; there was more than enough to keep us happily entertained.
Towards the end of an already successful morning exploration, the wonderful suddenly turned into the exceptionally wonderful! We were greatly rewarded by Mother Nature with one of these rare finds that makes nature observation so fantastically fun. An Amazon giant otter rested on top of driftwood on the river’s edge, lazily sunbathing, it even permit us to get close enough for a really good photo. Giant otters are one of these iconic, elusive, Amazon specialties that we all have heard off, but very rarely see, and always hope for. And here it was!
We kept a respectful distance from it, and the giant otter generously stayed in the same place until we were all completely satisfied with our photos.
What an exceptionally wonderful day in the Amazon!
