Up again for 6.30am breakfast and 7.00am set off - we arrived at the dock just before 8am; after a different outboard motor was fitted to the boat we were off up the river by 0810 - another blue sky day - for temperature this is definitely the best time of the day - I could already sense though that it was going to be another hot one.
No early finds of jaguars today - the branch across the river we saw one on yesterday was bare. We passed caymens and capybaras - one mum sitting upright suckling her twins - an ahh moment. I noticed that there are quite a few young ones in the capybara groups - apparently if a mum dies others will look after her young - Fabricio has seen one mum with 12 - probably only 5-6 were hers.
Boats passed us and guides were shaking their heads or doing a thumbs down - meaning they couldn't find or hadn't heard of any jaguars on the bank.
Immediately after we had seen a thumbs down we were passed by a guide signalling 2 jaguars and pointing in the direction we were going - Fabricio followed but was a little sceptical....later we found out that the sighting had come from a fisherman. About 5 - 10 minutes later we came across a group of about 5 boats pressed against the bank looking on the opposite bank - we could see a jaguar under a bush - so we took up a position next to the bank and alongside the other boats - the jaguar left - we stayed and the jaguar returned about 5-10minutes later - this time sitting more prominently on the bank - the same thing happened again - we realised that this was another mating pair - and this was confirmed when a second jaguar came and sat under another bush further back - there were obviously lots of flies as there was tail swishing and fidgeting - eventually he repositioned in a less insect ridden area. We were then treated to 90 minutes of coming and going - we stayed the course and had great views - when they walked off other boats disappeared down river in case the jaguars emerged lower down or to look for other jaguars but they missed a treat - we saw them both move to the shade by the beach - the female came down to the water to drink - and finally they got fed up with walking into the bushes for 'rumpy pumpy' - I am not sure what he put in her drink but they couldn't resist mating on the beach; they were totally oblivious to the half a dozen boats looking on. The mating ended in bites and growls - the noises we could always hear coming from the bushes and described by Fabricio as more mosquitos biting.....some similarities I suppose! . It was really hot watching it must have been in the high 30s again - no shade - so hats and collared shirts were a necessity as was plenty of water. The views were probably the best yet and we were able to see another segment of jaguar life - 9 jaguars in 3 days - I don't think Fabricio could quite believe how lucky we have been. Albeit the jaguars were still on the beach we decided to leave at 1215 and go and sit in the shade for lunch - as we were eating it giant river otters passed - making their normal calls - again on the way back to the dock we saw another couple of otters eating fish and hunting - so a good day all round - only the tapir still missing!
On the way back to the lodge we stopped to look at the great horned owls - I got a much better picture of the fluffy chicks on the nest and today dad was properly out on a branch in full view so I had much better photos of him too - he was still in the adjacent tree though.....have a breather from the rapidly growing kids!
When we got back I jumped into the shower to cool off and clean up. Fabricio knocked on the door to say his baby son had been taken into hospital so we was going home; he said Eduardo had arranged for a new guide to come and look after us for our last 3 days - Sergio. We said our goodbyes and hoped everything would be ok - in some ways the move to hospital is a good thing as he has been very worried and feeling helpless not knowing what to do to help his son- I can imagine that there is nothing worse than a baby who cries a lot and cannot be pacified - I hope they can find out what is wrong.
John and I both had a nap before dinner - well we lay on the bed and the next thing we knew it was dark - we could have missed dinner for all we knew but luckily we hadn't.
After dinner we got our stuff ready for our last day on the river tomorrow.