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M/V AQUA RIVER EXPEDITION
Destination Overview
Embark on the voyage of a lifetime, sailing the earth’s mightiest river — the
Amazon. The first true luxury vessel
in the region, the M/V Aqua caters to the most discriminating and adventurous of
world travelers, providing an
unforgettable journey into areas penetrated by only a privileged few. As your
ship docks along the river,
knowledgeable and experienced naturalists will take you, via small launches,
into remote estuaries in the
Peruvian rain forest and the Pacaya Samiria Reserve. As you explore these
pristine wilderness areas teeming
with wildlife, you will also encounter local people living in villages as they
have for centuries. And when the day’s
sightseeing is over, the comforts of your luxurious floating hotel will await
you.
Accommodations
M/V Aqua is Aqua Expedition's 130-foot flagship. Its 12 luxury guest suites,
designed by an internationally
renowned Peruvian interior designer, measure a generous 230 to 240 square feet,
and feature large, outward facing
panoramic windows and en suite sitting areas. All suites are air conditioned,
and four are interconnected,
to cater to families. Guests can socialize in the dining room, bar, on the
observation deck and in the outdoor
lounge. There is also a small boutique. You'll be served by a crew of 14, plus
three skilled guides. Rates
include all excursions, meals, and wine with meals.
Amenities /Attractions
Guests may choose three-, four-, or seven-night itineraries. Each day will bring
amazing new wonders, as
guests set out with guides in a fleet of three launches to float toward the
source of the mighty Amazon. Each
day, you will explore the small inlets and various winding river systems that
make up the flooded forest. Pacaya
Samiria Reserve, located on the headwaters of the Amazon basin, spans more than
five million acres. Twice the
size of Yellowstone Park, it teems with wildlife and aquatic life. Visitors will
have the opportunity to see hundreds
of species, including the endangered pink Amazon dolphin, black alligator, and
giant river otter.
Dining
Explorers aboard the Aqua will enjoy a menu of fresh, delicious world-renowned
Peruvian fare, whether served
on board or on an adventure. Dinner each evening promises to be a culinary feast
for the senses, paired with
select wines from South America. The menu has been created with the assistance
of Pedro Miguel Schiaffino,
one of Peru's top ten chefs.
Seasons
Aqua Expeditions operates year-round, and every voyage is uniquely appealing,
based on the changing
seasons. During the wet season, the river and estuaries grow, allowing launch
boats to venture deeper into the
flooded forest. During the dry season, the river recedes and beautiful sandy
river beaches form.
Location
Amazon River voyages depart from the port city of Iquitos, Peru. Iquitos is
served by numerous daily flights from
Lima, Peru’s capital. The flights take one hour and twenty-five minutes.
M/V AQUA FACT SHEET
Built: 2007
Port of embarkation: Iquitos, Peru
Vessel’s Registry: Peru
Type of Vessel: River Expedition Vessel
Length: 130 feet / 39.80 m
Beam: 24 feet / 7.30 m
Draft: 7.3 feet / 2.25m
Gross Tonnage: 180 tons
Cruising Speed: 10 knots
Electricity: 220 volts
Engines: 2 new Cummins 380 HP Marine Engines
Generators: 1 x 95 KVA Cummins and 1 x 65 KVA Cummins (encapsulated for noise
reduction)
Water: 7000-liter water treatment plant
Safety: Radio communication with separate battery pack, satellite phone, life
jackets, flares and
signals; fire extinguishers and smoke detectors in each cabin.
Launch Boats: Three auxiliary aluminum launch boats equipped with four-stroke
low emission engines;
constant radio communication with the main vessel. Each boat has a capacity of
8-10
passengers.
Crew: 15, plus 3 English-speaking naturalist guides.
Accommodation: Up to 24 passengers with private facilities
(Additional accommodation for one child in each cabin)
Cabins: 12 suites:
• 4 Master Suites measuring 240 sq. ft.
• 8 Suites measuring 230 sq. ft.
- All outside-facing with large panoramic windows
- All air conditioned with en suite sitting areas
- 4 interconnecting suites for families
Cabin features: Twin beds that can be converted to a California king-sized bed
En suite sitting area,
Internal communications system,
Well-appointed bathroom with shower, toilet, sink, cabinet, hairdryer, and a
basket of
toiletries.
Hot water around the clock.
Social Areas: Indoor Bar-Lounge
Dining Room
Outside Lounge
Observation Deck
Boutique
RATES
Accommodation:
All 12 suites are exterior, with large panoramic windows
• 4 Master Suites measuring 240 square feet, 2 on each deck
• 8 Suites measuring 230 square feet, 4 on each deck
All suites are air conditioned, with twin beds that can be converted to a
California king-size bed
Interconnecting suites are available
Rates per person:
Suite Master Suite
7 Night Itinerary (double occupancy) Sat-Sat $4,550
$4,900
4 Night Itinerary (double occupancy) Sat-Tue $2600
$2,800
3 Night Itinerary (double occupancy) Tue-Sat $1950
$2,100
Single supplement: 1.5 times adult rate.
Child Policy:
7 year age minimum on all departures
Child aged 11 or under will receive a 20% discount
Third child under 11 in same cabin, US $350 per night
DEPARTURE DATES: 2008
Feb.2,9,16,23 Mar.1,8,15,22,29
Apr.5,12,19 May 3,10,17,24,31 Jun.7,14,21,28
Jul.5,12,19,25 Aug.2,9,16,23,30 Sep.
6,13,20,27 Oct. 4,11,18,25 Nov.1,8,15,22,29
Dec.6,13,20,27
Included:
All meals while onboard
All excursions
Wine with meals
Transfers to/from vessel when arriving on recommended flights
Pacaya Samiria entrance fee
Not Included:
Air tickets to and from Iquitos
Guide and crew gratuities
Bar and Boutique purchases
7 NIGHT ITINERARY
Departs Saturdays
Day 1 Saturday : Iquitos/Amazon River
Arrive in Iquitos this afternoon. There you will board your luxury 12-suite
expedition vessel, M/V Aqua, your
home for the next four or eight days. Check into your luxurious, oversized
suite, and as you settle in, your ship
will start its journey toward the Yarapa River, an estuary of the Amazon. You
are embarking on a spectacular
adventure, to a place visited by only a few of even the most experienced world
travelers.
Your days in this hidden part of the world will be a dramatic study in
contrasts. Imagine seeing rare howler
monkeys and pink dolphins and harpy eagles (not to mention exotic six-foot-wide
water lily pads) by day, and
then returning to exquisite gourmet meals, paired with some of the finest wines
from all of South America. In the
evening, you may go on another expedition, or you may simply want to sit out on
the top deck, sip a Pisco sour,
and count the stars. The choices are yours.
Day 2 Sunday : Yanayacu/Yarapa River
Wake up on the Yanayacu River, throw open your curtains, and you may well see a
great snowy egret, white
against the green of the jungle. Keep your binoculars with you on your early
morning bird watching excursion, to
catch sight of russet and blue tiger herons, vivid masked crimson tanagers,
graceful storks, blue and yellow
macaws, and black-headed parrots . . . just some of the 250 species of birds
that you will spot as you glide
along the river.
In the afternoon, you will board the ship’s small skiffs and float to Corriente
Lake, where you will have the oncein-
a-lifetime chance to fish for freshwater red-bellied, black, white, and purple
piranha. The fishing is good year
round, but is spectacular in the dry season. Amazonia is home to more than 2,700
species of fish . . . more than
can be found in all of the Atlantic Ocean.
Later that day, we will visit the small village of San Juan del Amazonas, where
some 80 descendants of the
famed Cocama Indians still live in thatched stilt houses, carrying on their
tribe’s traditions and earning their living
by fishing.
That evening, sip a sundowner with your new friends, as you watch the sun set
over the mighty Amazon River.
After dinner, your naturalist guides will take you on a night excursion to find
caimans, frogs, tarantulas, bats
(there are 88 species in Amazonia), arboreal snakes, possums, owls, and other
nocturnal birds.
Day 3 Monday: Yanayacu and Pucate Rivers, Pacaya Samiria Reserve
Today passengers have two choices:
Option 1: Full-Day Excursion - Journey from Yanayacu Creek all the way to remote
Chingana, a small creek
where giant river otter usually nest. These handsome animals were killed in
great numbers for their pelts, and are
now threatened with extinction. On this excursion, you will also see howler and
capuchin monkeys, the squirrelsized
monkeys called tamarins, pink and gray river dolphins, and a vast variety of
birds.
Option 2: Guided Jungle Walk/Siesta/Monkey and Dolphin Expedition – This morning
your Park Ranger will tell
you all about sustainable resource management projects in Amazonia, and will
take you to visit one of the
projects, where villagers are planting palms to obtain oil. The ranger may also
show you the artificial nests
created on the sand to protect turtle eggs.
After lunch and a siesta, your naturalist guide will take you on a Monkey and
Dolphin Expedition. You are likely to
see all four of the most common species of freshwater dolphins—including the
unusual pink ones—found in the
Amazon. Later, keep your eyes directed toward the jungle canopy, where you can
spot at least 10 of the 13
species of monkeys resident in the National Park, including tamarins and howler,
woolly, and pigmy marmoset
monkeys. Watch for alligators, and keep your binoculars at the ready, as you are
likely to see more than 200
species of birds.
After sundowners on the top deck, dinner, and an optional night excursion, the
M/V Aqua will set sail toward
Nauta Caño.
Day 4 Tuesday : Birthplace of the Amazon/Nauta Caño/Ucayali River and Puerto Miguel
Today, the M/V Aqua skirts the edges of the vast Pacaya Samiria Reserve, a
flooded forest covering five million
acres at the headwaters of the Amazon basin. Rise early and be on your skiffs at
5:30 a.m. to view one of the
great spectacles of the Southern Hemisphere: the sun rising over the birthplace
of the Amazon River.
Here—where the union of two major tributaries, the Ucayali and the Marañon, form
the world’s greatest
waterway—nature is at its most dramatic. Your dawn excursion will be accompanied
by abundant bird song, as
you glide in small boats past river banks populated by large-billed terns,
laughing falcons, gray tanagers,
sandpipers, five kinds of parakeets, the exotic short-tailed parrot, and dozens
of other birds.
A post-breakfast excursion to Nauta Caño takes you into a wilderness populated
by squirrel monkeys, saddleback
and black mantle tamarins, iguanas, tagu lizards, and an abundance of tropical
birds.
After lunch, our three-night passengers depart for the journey back to Iquitos
Airport, and a new group arrives.
Those doing the full seven-night journey will depart on the Ucayali River
Excursion, to visit Puerto Miguel village.
Day 5 Wednesday : Tapiche River/El Sapote Creek
Today begins with an early morning journey via skiff along the remote Tapiche
River, to search for the
magnificent, 3 1/2-feet-long harpy eagles. Chances are good that you will also
see umbrella birds, tanagers,
stern looking chachalacas, puff birds, and more on this expedition into the deep
wilderness.
After breakfast, it’s time for piranha fishing on the Tapiche (where they are
bigger than elsewhere). Other options:
curl up with a good book in your spacious cabin or on the Observation Deck.
As you sail along, you will catch wonderful glimpses of life along the river . .
. fishermen paddling along on
canoes made from tree trunks . . . children waving from riverside villages.
Those who want to venture out into the night will be richly rewarded at El
Sapote Creek (only available in the wet
season), where it is possible to see night jars, night hawks, frogs, tarantulas,
bats, falcons, porcupines, night
monkeys, and more.
Day 6 Thusday : Pacaya Samiria Reserve
Today is devoted to a full-day excursion into the wildlife-rich Pacaya Samiria
Reserve, so vast that it is the size of
some Central American countries. Traveling into the reserve in small boats, you
will enter the black water lakes
collectively known as the Mirrored Forest, where you will view the almost
magical reflection of the towering trees
in the glistening water. In addition to the birds, caimans, monkeys, and
dolphins of the Amazon jungle, you will
also see a rich array of flowers in a riot of colors. In the wet season, as the
water level rises, it is possible to
travel deeper into the reserve, exploring its farthest reaches. In the dry
season, you can spot turtles, and the
massive jabiru—pink storks standing five feet tall, with nine-foot wingspans.
After dinner, those who choose to go out on the skiffs will have a chance to
experience the nightlife along the
river—an intimidating array of yellow-crowned brush-tailed bats, fishing bats,
snakes, frogs, and tarantulas.
Finally, spend a little end-of-day relaxation time in an oversized lounge on the
Observation Deck, experiencing
the deep darkness of the Amazon night and listening to the ever-changing sounds
of the jungle. Then it’s time to
head off to your ultra- comfortable bed.
Day 7 Friday : Ucayali/Amazon River/Sapo Playa/ “Jurassic Park”
The day begins with a cruise down the Ucayali and Amazon Rivers. We make a stop
to visit the small, bananagrowing
village of Sapo Playa, where you will need items—t-shirts or school supplies—to
barter for purchases.
These friendly people are eager hosts. You will have a delightful time with them
and will get some great
photographs.
Later that day and early evening, we will visit “Jurassic Park,” a
prehistoric-looking swamp where the giant, sixfoot
in diameter lily pads grow. Here, during the wet season, you will also have the
chance to visit lovely
Chontilla Lake, rich with monkeys, birds, and dolphins.
An optional night expedition lets you view the massive water lilies again, and
gives you a good view of bats and
night birds.
Then it’s back to the ship, which sails toward the Tahuayo River.
Day 8 Saturday : Tahuayo River/Iquitos Tour/Departure
Wake up for an early morning excursion on the Tahuayo River, to capture your
last sunrise photos. The morning
light is a perfect time to snap pictures of the rare pink dolphins, terns, and
parrots. You will also have another
chance to see the famous, giant, six-foot-wide Victoria Regia lily pads.
During the four-hour voyage to Iquitos, you will enjoy breakfast and can pick up
some last minute souvenirs in
the boutique.
Your afternoon in the remote city of Iquitos, accessible only by river or air,
will not disappoint. This bustling town,
complete with a house built by Gustave Eiffel, was once a rich center of the
rubber industry. After lunch and a
visit to a butterfly farm, you will tour Iquitos before heading to the airport
for your flight to Lima, and on to your
next Latin American destination, or for the journey home.
Note: Itineraries are subject to change due to weather conditions and time of
year. River and tributary levels may vary, and thus navigation times and
excursions may need to be modified at the captain's discretion.
7 Night arrival and departure information
IN Saturday PM Arrival
OUT Saturday PM Departure
D Transfer from airport to embarkation point in Iquitos. (30 minutes)
B/L Leave ship after lunch; Iquitos city tour and to airport for departure.
4 days/3
nights
IN Saturday PM Arrival
OUT Tuesday PM Departure
D Transfer from airport to embarkation point in Iquitos. (30 minutes)
B/L Leave ship after lunch; Transfer from Nauta city by van ( 1 1/2 hours)
5
days/4nights
IN Tuesday PM Arrival
OUT Saturday PM Departure
D Transfer from Iquitos airport to Nauta city by van (1 1/2 hour) for 4-night
expedition
B/L Leave ship after lunch; Iquitos city tour and to airport for departure.
3 Night arrival and departure information
4 Night arrival and departure information
Recommended Flight
We recommend that all guests fly into Iquitos on the LAN PERU flight that
arrives Saturdays and Tuesdays at approximately 5 p.m.
We recommend that all guests depart from Iquitos on the LAN PERU flight that
leave Saturdays and Tuesdays at approximately 5:30 p.m.
Aqua Expeditions is not responsible for any activities or services for
passengers arriving prior to the scheduled arrivals and departures.
Transfers
Transfers are only included if arriving or departing on the above recommended
filghts.
All picks-ups and drop-offs will be to and from Iquitos' Francisco Secada
airport.
Meals
B - Breakfast is served buffet style
L - Lunch is served buffet style
D - Dinner is served seated
Children's and vegetarian meals can be requested. Please request when making
your booking.
Fresh fruit juices, soft drinks, water and wine with meals are included.
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