Amazon Queen update: "Life's misfortunes... fates caprices's... here I am, huddled in a bunker"
Last week, ExWeb got an update from the Amazon Queen. It came from a most unlikely place - Iraq.
Even at war, the Captain shoots beautiful images. (Click to enlarge)
Only a few months back, Captain Phil's dream went down, along with his Amazon Queen, into the relentless dephts of the muddy Amazon river (click to enlarge).
Photo of the Amazon Queen in her former glory, sent by Pactor III, Kenwood TS 450S, wire dipole antenna, and 40 watt's of power from( 04 40' N 074 00'W ),Bogota Colombia.
The Captain in the com's room onboard the Amazon Queen a few years ago...this attached picture was originally sent via radio onto the internet.
"I do of course worry about my wife Lelia and daughter Cyd who are now left alone down on the river trying to restore our ship...(click to enlarge). All images courtesy of Captain Phil Gonzales.
11:23 am CST Mar 06, 2007
(TheOceans.net) "My dream for many years has been to navigate with my family from Colombia, the Queens country of registry, to the mouth of the Amazon at Belem do Para, the last town on the Brazilian Amazon River.”
So ended Captain Phil's last report, as his dream - along with his ship - went down into the cruel depths of the muddy Amazon river. Last week, ExWeb got an update. It came from a most unlikely place: Iraq.
"I am again torn by this new reality"
That's where the Captain has been since his Amazon Queen sank. To make money needed for repairs - and a chance to start again.
"'Life's misfortunes ... fates caprices's'... I am huddled in a bunker searching for any movement from a row of bombed out buildings looking for snipers and preparing for possible wounded," writes Captain in his astonishing email to ExWeb.
"The vision of my Amazon Queen cruising against the swift brown current heading up river into the setting sun is too far from my reality to contemplate for more than a moment. The enigma is that for thousands of years nothing has changed in Baghdad and what will become of this place has already 'been written'."
"I do of course worry about my wife Lelia and daughter Cyd who are now left alone down on the river trying to restore our ship...yet in this too, I am again torn by this new reality to shut out such fragile thought and concentrate totally on this environment in order to stay alive."
"All my regards, from sniper alley.....Captain of the desert."
Only when you stop looking for fame, will you discover the golden key of exploration. This key will grant you entrance to the secret world of a selected few - the true adventurers.
Two years back, ExWeb headed to Bogotá to check up on Captain Gonzales and his Amazon Queen. American Captain Phil, a former Vietnam veteran, used his paramedic past to provide tribes along troubled parts of the river with medical aid. Although the situation is improving in the country, Colombia still suffers poverty, drug trade and around 3000 kidnappings each year.
The Captain took us on an unforgettable journey through remote parts of the river. He had visited ExplorersWeb when Maud Fontenoy's first ocean rowing story unfolded, and soon emails began to fly between New York and Bogota.
Apart from his work deep in the jungle and his plans to eventually cross 6,000 miles of the river through Peru, Colombia, Brazil and back to Colombia - another interesting detail was the communication tech Phil was using. Whilst the world is abuzz about blogs, podcasts, wireless and satellites - our Amazon Captain had his own ways. His pictures were transmitted not over satellite, but through amateur radio:
- "I must admit there is a unique challenge in being able to transmit by radio, photographs and stories which may rival those of National Geographic... solely for the satisfaction of being able to accomplish this from a wooden ship navigating the rainforest tributaries of the Amazon River," he told ExWeb.
This "underground" technology is actually a hobby of people such as ISS Expedition 11 Commander Sergei Krikalev, 46, the human with the most cumulative time in space. It is especially interesting when combined with the new satellite systems.
Above all though, the Captain caught our eye for being a dreamer.
"Who would have though that after so many years of abandonment, that is... after the drug trade moved up north to the region known as the Putumayo, that Leticia would be rediscovered so quickly. Leticia has, however, been one of the hubs along the Amazon for interesting travelers. There have been Russian poets, the rich such as Bill Gates, revolutionaries such as Che Guevara, actors, writers, scientists, missionaries, mercenaries...and you," the Captain wrote in his invitation.
And then he brought us on the river - Amazon Queen style.
A few months ago, The Amazon Queen sank. The Captain, a Vietnam vet, did something he swore he'd never do again - he went to war. In Iraq, he hopes to earn the funds needed to save his boat and give his dream another chance.
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