Amazon & Carnival Explorer Cruise - Day 21: Maceio, Brazil

Sunday, February 24

As we journey south along the east coast of Brazil, our port today is Maceio.  Maceio is not as large as Recife, but it is still a fairly large city with a population around 1,000,000.  It is known for its white sand beaches that are protected by an offshore reef.

We are docked in that square like area in the lower middle-right area.

We had a ship excursion planned for today which left early so we were up at 7:00 and in the showroom by 8:00 where we signed in for our tour and waited to be called to the buses.  After the usual delay while waiting for the ship to be cleared, we were on our way to our bus.  There was only one tour available for Maceio so there would be five buses of us today.  As usual, the weather was hot and humid, but our bus had good air conditioning so at least we would at least stay cool on the bus.

Our tour was called Maceio Highlights and that’s what we saw today.  Since it was Sunday, most things were closed today.  We started our trip with a drive along the beautiful white sand beaches of Maceio.  If I remember correctly, Maceio has the longest continuous stretch of beach of anywhere in Brazil.  The beaches were pretty quiet as it was early, but you could see activity was starting for a relaxing Sunday at the beach.  From there we drove through the downtown and through a historic area.  Our first stop was the Pontal da Barra Handicraft Center where there were a number of shops selling local handicrafts. 

There are always carts selling fresh coconut water and cold drinks.

 

Val has a new friend.

The bus drivers hang out in the shade while we explored the area.

 

A common scene, a beautiful area near the beach with trash dumped everywhere.

A View from the bus.

After looking through some of the shops and wandering around the area, it was time to board the bus and head to the Metropolitan Cathedral in the town center.  Since it was Sunday morning there was a service going on, but through the doors we could hear singing.  It sounded very beautiful with reverberation of the singing making it sound very rich and ethereal.

The Metropolitan Cathedral

 

It seemed a little odd to be taking a picture while a service was going on, but it was a very casual atmosphere.

We felt sorry for these guys, it was very hot and humid and they had to dig up the street by hand.

Because parking was very limited in the area, the buses were delayed in coming to pick is up and everyone found shade to wait as it was very warm standing in the sun.  It may be because of the humidity or the close proximity to the equator, but there seems to be a very big difference between sun and shade.

We had one last stop to make on our three hour tour and that was a viewpoint atop Mirante de Sao Goncalo Hill, the highest point in the city.  It was a great view, we could see the whole city and also the port where our ship, the Veendam, was docked.  Everywhere we stopped there were vendors selling everything from cheap souvenirs to food and drink.  Just about everywhere we have gone in Brazil there is a vendor selling fresh cold coconut water.  They have the coconuts right there and crack them open so you are sure to get fresh water straight out of the coconut.

Great views of the city, you can see our ship docked off in the distance.

 

Val took a picture of me while...

I was taking a picture of her.

The old and the new.

After our view of the city it was time to return to the port.  The three hour tour was just about right as there really wasn’t much to see, but we did enjoy the tour and seeing the city and some of the highlights.  We were brought right to the gangway and were soon in our room enjoying the cool of the air conditioning.

It was time for lunch, but we spent a little time on our balcony looking at the view.  We were once again docked in an industrial port so we were surrounded by tankers and cargo ships, but the blue and turquoise water was beautiful as was the view of the city in the background.  As we were standing there Val spotted some fish jumping, some of them clear out of the water.  Val tried to take pictures of them, but of course they never jumped where her camera was pointed.  We found out later they were dolphins and were quite active.

We were in an industrial port, but the water color was beautiful as well as the view of the Atlantic.

Val took many pictures of the dolphins trying to catch one jumping out of the water, but never had her camera pointed at the right spot at the right time.  You can see a dolphin in the water in the lower center part of the picture (click on the picture to make it larger).

 

We headed for lunch and found it very crowded, it looks like everyone on the ship had just gotten back and decided to have lunch.  After searching for a table we found a spot next to an Australian couple who we had a nice conversation with.  I commented to them on the number of Australians on this cruise and they said they were surprised themselves.

After lunch it was back to the room to relax a bit and then Val was off to mid afternoon trivia and I caught up on the blog and downloaded our pictures for the day.

When Val returned from trivia, we rested a while and then got ready for dinner.  We did quite well at trivia tonight and if we would have listened to Val, we would have tied for first as she had the right answer.  After trivia it was off to dinner and the casino.  We didn’t last long in the casino and were back in the before 10:00 tonight.  Tomorrow we will be in Salvador da Bahia, Brazil, but we won’t have an early morning.