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Seabourn Amazon 'Ventures' even chalk up an anaconda sighting

Seabourn Amazon 'Ventures' even chalk up an anaconda sighting
Seabourn reports a highly successful first season of the new 'Ventures by Seabourn' program in the Amazon on two voyages aboard Seabourn Quest. Begun in northern Europe last year, the program provides optional excursions by Zodiac and kayak, led by experienced expedition teams.

Robin West, senior manager, expedition planning and operations, cited broad enthusiasm for the Amazon series, with participants spotting exotic birds, sloths, howler monkeys, pink river dolphins and an anaconda.

Seabourn Quest's Amazon cruises also offered a strong shipboard academic pogram, with more than a dozen 'Seabourn Conversations' with the expedition team. They included

Dr. Hans-Petef Reinthaler, the botanical authority aboard Seabourn Quest, whose lecture topics included the geological history of South America and the continent's complex and endangered rain forest in the Amazon basin.

Juan José 'JJ' Apestegui, an ornithologist, naturalist and native of Costa Rica whose curiosity about nature has led him far and wide, talked about the more than 1,500 bird species found in the Amazon and their migration patterns.

Kara Weller, an Alaska native with a background in research for universities on both sides of the Atlantic, lectured on a range of biology topics, including the cetaceans of the Brazilian coast and the elusive mammals of the Amazon rain forest.

'Ventures by Seabourn' are available in select destinations such as Antarctica, with the excursions launched from the ships' fold-out water sports marinas. The program will expand to include Alaska for the 2017 season.

Seabourn Quest returns to Brazil with the Amazon program beginning Feb. 23, 2017.