By our fifth day on the Amazon, we’d settled into a comfortable rhythm aboard the Delfin II. Early mornings, incredible wildlife, great food, an afternoon recharge, and another adventure before sunset. It wasn’t getting repetitive—it was becoming wonderfully familiar.
After breakfast, we climbed into the skiffs for an excursion through Belluda Creek. The morning turned memorable almost immediately when we came across a local fisherman checking his catch. Our guide, Guillermo, struck up a conversation, and before long we were gathered around his canoe examining the variety of fish he’d caught that morning.
I had to ask if we could buy a few piranhas to cook up for lunch. Everyone laughed, but the answer was a polite no. Apparently buying a fisherman’s catch wasn’t part of the itinerary. It was still fascinating to see the fish up close, and one thing became obvious—real piranhas look nothing like the bloodthirsty monsters from the cartoons and movies. They’re surprisingly ordinary-looking fish, just with a bunch of teeth, which they dont use of humans. Along with our Piranha friends, we also saw an electric eel, a ripsaw catfish, an armored catfish, and a trahira, amongst others.
As we continued through the creek, the jungle kept rewarding us with wildlife. A Monk Saki and a Black-Headed Titi Monkey were spotted separate times deep in the trees. The guides were great spotting even the most subtle movement, and with the proper binoculars you could catch them. They also carried laser pointers which helped when we were lost. One particularly interesting sighting was a dwarf squirrel tucked away inside the hollow of a tree, perfectly camouflaged until Guillermo pointed it out.
Back aboard the boat, we had a chance to relax. Like a lot of cruises, when our rooms were made up, there was some sort of towel animal hanging on our bed. They somehow managed to turn ordinary bath towels into works of art every single day. By this point we’d also developed a routine of keeping our binoculars, cameras, hats, and other gear neatly organized on a shelf near the cabin door so we could grab everything quickly whenever another skiff excursion was announced. As part of our mid day relax, the Crew taught us how they made a few of these animals, and when they needed a volunteer, Charlie got up. Bashful at first, she made a pretty decent towel monkey with the lesson from the crew.
Then came lunch—and the crew had clearly been paying attention to my repeated requests for piranha. As a practical joke, they served us bread shaped like piranhas. Everyone got a good laugh, and while it wasn’t quite the grilled piranha I had been hoping for, I had to admit it was a pretty clever surprise.
The afternoon brought another round of card games, with Charlie once again joining the ladies’ group for some friendly competition while the rest of us relaxed around the boat. So we could go home more educated about our environment, the guides showed lounge was showing a BBC documentary about the Amazon. It sounded like the perfect educational way to spend the afternoon, especially in a rocking chair with a beer in my hand…
…and apparently learned absolutely nothing, because I promptly fell asleep.
Refreshed from my unintended nap, we headed back out for our afternoon skiff excursion along the Dorado River. This trip was all about slowing down and soaking in the scenery. The sunset over the Amazon did not disappoint, painting the sky in layers of orange, pink, and gold that reflected across the calm water.
The highlight of the afternoon, however, belonged to Amy. After patiently scanning the trees, Guillermo finally found an impressive sloth high in the canopy. The Sloth is Amy’s self proclaimed spirit animal, and she has had the chance to pet sloths, watch sloths up close, and even do yoga with a sloth from a zoo, but never out in the wild. We had seen plenty of amazing animals during our trip, but sloths had remained surprisingly elusive. This group wasn’t hidden by leaves, or a blurry zoom in from a camera. We caught a few on some bare branches fairly up close, just hanging out as sloths do. This one made Amy’s day.
We lingered after dark just long enough for our guides to spot another Amazonian caiman along the shoreline. Its glowing eyes gave away its position long before the rest of it emerged from the darkness, a perfect final wildlife sighting before heading back to the Delfin.
After another wonderful dinner aboard the ship, we turned in for the night, knowing our Amazon adventure was quickly winding down. Every day had managed to be different from the last, and somehow the rainforest kept finding new ways to surprise us.
