Paddle to the Amazon: The Ultimate 12,000-Mile Canoe Adventure

by Don Starkell

It was crazy. It was unthinkable. It was the adventure of a lifetime.

When Don and Dana Starkell left Winnipeg in a tiny three-seater canoe, they had no idea of the dangers that lay ahead. Two years and 12,180 miles later, father and son had each paddled nearly twenty million strokes, slept on beaches, in jungles and fields, dined on tapir, shark, and heaps of roasted ants.

They encountered piranhas, wild pigs, and hungry alligators. They were arrested, shot at, taken for spies and drug smugglers, and set upon by pirates. They had lived through terrifying hurricanes, food poisoning, and near starvation. And at the same time they had set a record for a thrilling, unforgettable voyage of discovery and old-fashioned adventure.

"Courageous . . . Exciting and always immediate." -- The New York Times Book Review

Genres: Travel, Nonfiction, Adventure, Canada, Biography, Nature, Survival

336 pages, Paperback

First published April 1, 1987

About the author

Don Starkell was a Canadian adventurer, diarist and author, perhaps best known for his achievements in canoeing. Born in Winnipeg, Manitoba, he had a difficult childhood including an abusive father, four and a half years in an orphanage, and later with a foster family in North Kildonan.

He took up canoeing in his teens and competed professionally, including as part of the Manitoba team that won the Expo 67 Centennial Voyageur Canoe Pageant race.

In 1980–1982, Starkell and his two sons canoed from Winnipeg, Canada, to Belem, Brazil, a distance of 19,603 kilometers. In 1990, Starkell attempted to kayak the Northwest Passage.

Reviews

[Matt · Rating 5 out of 5]

When Don Starkell decided to make the canoe trip of a lifetime, he did not let his dreams confine him. This book is the story of his 12,000 mile journey from Winnipeg (Canada) through to Belém (Brazil), entirely by canoe. What follows is a detailed account of the twenty-three month journey Starkell and his eldest son, Dana, took on the open waters, with a canoe and their supplies along the way. Helping to tell the story and deciphering the diary entries Starkell penned, Charles Wilkins enters as formal writer and editor, doing a formidable job and breathing added life into this amazing journey. Highly recommended for those who love long and challenging journeys, as well as the reader who wants a little adventure.

While Don Starkell chose to begin his journey in a three-seater canoe in 1980, the planning was a decade in the making. Starkell recounts how he planned and researched the trip, convincing his two sons, Dana and Jeff, to accompany him through hell and high waters in a canoe. Daunting does not begin to describe it, but they planned and prepared before launching off on June 1, 1980 in a small park in Winnipeg, Manitoba. They were ready for whatever came their way and soon these three would not be disappointed.

As the journal entries explore, Don and his sons were able to tackle a number of adventures, both on the water and while resting on shore. They made a smooth transition from Canada into the United States, learning the ins and outs of the waterways, first the Red River and then into the Mississippi. The waters were not always smooth, but the people were fairly accommodating, helping as they could. The Starkell threesome were able to get their groove, working together as best they could. As they entered Mexico and other Central American countries, they began to see numerous challenges, both on the open water and politically. The journey took its toll on Jeff, just out of high school, who could not handle it. He chose to leave and returned home before Thanksgiving that first year. Don and Dana had a massive undertaking ahead of them and must be ready, both physically and mentally.

Through Central America, Don and Dana found themselves sleeping on beaches as they protected their supplies, ensuring that everything was just where it needed to be. They did encounter a number of friendly people along the way, inviting them for meals and, at times, to lay their heads on real pillows while various wounds healed away from the buzz of insects. That being said, some countries brought clashes, either from marauders or government officials. The Starkells were shot at, imprisoned, beaten, and even taken as spies, all while they tried to communicate their intent in broken Spanish.

Weary and yet determined, the final push through South America's countries help Don and Dana bond once more, seeing the end in sight as they tried to push themselves to the limits. They would not shy away from the suppurating cuts and bites, nor would they permit a ravishing bout of food poisoning to set them aside. In May 1982, the dream was accomplished and the bond solidified. Their determination and a mere twenty million strokes apiece helped them travel the 12,180 miles (that's 19,488 km) from North End Winnipeg to Belém, Brazil. What a journey it was and I am so pleased to have been able to read all about it!

While I was too young to remember the journey itself, we read about it (and excerpts from the book) when I was in elementary school. In fact, I met Don Starkell while he was working on his canoe in the front yard, just up from my school. My book is signed by Don and I have cherished it all these years. Perhaps this is why I feel such connection to the story and the Starkells. This is a piece, not only about a man and his son defying the odds and making it all the way from Canada to South America, but also one of determination and courage. The story flowed well, not only because of its detail, but the connection from one entry to the other. While Don Starkell makes sure to keep the imagery going in the reader's mind, one cannot discount the editing that Charles Wilkins did to assist with the various bits to ensure success. The detail as each chapter advances the adventure helps shape a wonderful story, adding bts of determination, courage, and sometimes outright riskiness, all in an effort to prove a point and connect. Don and Dana were wonderful characters in this piece and served well to show the reader that anything is possible, as long as someone has motivation. I could not get enough of this piece, which spans almost two years but reads so easily. Don Starkell knew what he wanted and made sure it happened. Now, with this adventure behind me, I have Starkell's other book, about a kayaking trip through Canada's Arctic North, to read. Will you come along with me on that adventure too?

Kudos, Mr. Starkell, for a wonderful story. I am so pleased you were able to get Charles Wilkins to assist with the telling and ensured that readers could feel they were along for the journey.

Love/hate the review? An ever-growing collection of others appears at:
http://pecheyponderings.wordpress.com/

[Delia]

In April of 1987 I rode a Greyhound bus from Winnipeg to Calgary with Don. Observing what looked like a manuscript in a box, I asked this man if he had written a book. "Yes" he said, "My son and I paddled from Winnipeg to the mouth of the Amazon." "You're Done Starkelll!" I shrieked. "You know my name,"he replied, recoiling in the cramped seat. I explained that I listen to CBC radio and heard all about the adventure. He proceeded to tell me all the stories and more, as the bus went on its way. I bought and read the book as soon as it came out. I completely enjoyed it, as I heard his voice narrating the tale.

[Dennis · Rating 4 out of 5]

Paddle to the Amazon is Don Starkell's diary of his canoe trip south with his sons. The trip itself is an amazing thing to contemplate: 12,000 miles of paddling (a world record, incidentally), much of it along the open sea, through 13 countries, in all kinds of weather. Were it not so well documented and witnessed, it would be hard to believe that such a trip was possible.

Starkell's writing conveys well the difficulties and hardships of this journey. Aside from dealing with the weather and the water (difficult enough, most of the time), and dealing with pirates and over-zealous military and police forces (some of these encounters sounded terrifying), the adventurers had to deal with each other. The emotional and social challenges of their trip must have been incredible, and they are conveyed in an understated but very honest way, providing interesting insights into the men making this trip.

Starkell writes in an easy-going, engaging style. He's observant, and often describes the animals they encounter and geographical features they pass. He frequently mentions previous explorers and their trips, relishing his feelings of connection to their histories. Encounters with locals, both friendly and hostile, provide many examples of the best and worst that people have to offer.

Paddle to the Amazon is a fascinating read, and a wonderful real-life adventure. Though I would never have wanted to take a trip like this (and after reading about it, am reassured that it is too dangerous for most mortals to attempt), it's great to be able to take the trip vicariously through reading.

[David Canford · Rating 5 out of 5]

I'm a keen kayaker so this book was a natural choice for me but I can only be in awe of his achievement in canoeing from Canada to the mouth of the Amazon via the Mississippi, eastern coast of Central America and through Venezuela to join the Amazon. He and his son come close to death on more than one occasion but even that doesn't deter them. An incredible adventure story.

[Alexander Weber · Rating 4 out of 5]

Phenomenal read. Absolute highest recommendations.
What drives people to overcome challenges they set for themselves? How far are you willing to go to fulfill a dream?
It is absolutely mind boggling what these two did. And that they didn't give up is simply remarkable. The amount of times they probably should have died is also astounding. I seriously think that, if someone were to try this again, the odds are high they wouldn't make it.

I wonder how Don felt afterwards? Did he feel empty inside? Or did he feel full? I know he later went and paddled from Churchill Manitoba to Tuktoyaktuk NWT and lost his fingers and toes...

But yeah, I would have liked to know more about the end result. Were him and Dana closer? Or more distant? How did Jeff fair?

So many questions...

[Mark · Rating 3 out of 5]

See my review of Paddle to the Arctic. The only difference between the two books is that in this one he manages to alienate both sons by virtue of his monomaniacal insistence that completing the journey was worth the sacrifice of those relationships.

[Carly Campbell · Rating 5 out of 5]

So good! Felt like I was paddling along in the canoe with them.

[Liralen · Rating 4 out of 5]

If we’d known we were going to make it, the challenge would not have been the same—we might not have gone. If we’d known what lay ahead, we certainly would not have gone. (13)

Oh man. My previous impressions of Starkell stand: I was at my mother's when I read this, and every so often I had to look up and say, 'Mummy, I'm so glad I wasn't on this trip.' (I mean, the trip happened almost a decade before I was born, so there wasn't exactly a risk of that, but...) Starkell describes a trip in which he pushed his sons (who were, at best, partially invested in the trip to begin with) to—and sometimes past—breaking point, setting a punishing pace for no reason other than that he cannot see middle ground between 'resting' and 'leave nothing on the table', coming to blows with his sons over navigation and other decisions.

In the cross-Canada Centennial canoe race in 1967, the six men in our Manitoba canoe, Radisson, covered 3,283 miles in 104 days to win the race. Jeff, Dana, and I have now been paddling 104 days and have come 3,220 miles. And back then I was with some of the strongest paddlers in the world. (64)

I don't mean to make Starkell out to be a villain. It's actually pretty fascinating to consider the difference in tone between Amazon and Arctic—here, Starkell is learning some of his limits; by Arctic, he has a good (sometimes inflated) sense of what they were and less patience for the need to learn as he goes along. But even so, at times he...has a hard time holding on to self-awareness. Take these two passages:

[On quitting his job for a race when he was 34] For the first time in my life, I had made a major decision that was not subject to someone else’s expectations or control. I had done as I pleased—I would do so from that point on. (20)

My other major concern was that, off and on throughout the spring, Jeff’s commitment to the trip had been something less than total… We needed his skills as a handyman. More than anything, of course, we needed him as a son and brother. It bothered me that his relatives on his mother’s side had encouraged him to do what he wanted to do, without obligation to the trip. (21)

Telling, no? He can see, on the one hand, how going his own way shaped his life; on the other hand, he struggles at times to see past the very specific goals he'd set for his sons—no matter what they did for careers, but first, time to see about that epic trip he'd been prepping them for for the past decade (though, oddly, the prep doesn't seem to have included all that much experience on a canoe or money put towards updated supplies). They'd be doing the trip, come hell or high water...low water...swamp water...treacherous water...

Yet there is so much adventure here, and Starkell is so clearly so passionate about what he is doing. So while I cannot recommend him as an expedition leader (among other things, too high a chance that he'd rate the success of the expedition more highly than your survival), it makes for quite the read.

[Kristen Lesperance · Rating 5 out of 5]

When I first started dating my husband he told me about this book and how it was one of his favourote books. I loved hearing him tell me stories he remembered from it amd couldnt wait to get my hands on a copy. 19 years later I found a beaten up old copy and was elated. As a Winnipeger this books gives me great prode in a fellow Winnipeger and as an outdoors women pride in such a feat of courage, adventure and will by a fellow outdoors person. Don is a great story teller and this book was a good show of just how good he was. His detail makes you feel you were there experience it along with them. I wish I had the chance to met Don before he passed away. Highly recommend to anyone.

[Melanie Bartelings · Rating 5 out of 5]

I will never go on an adventure like this, but I feel like I have lived some of the experience by reading this book. So well documented this journey to the Amazon was engaging, exciting and filled with emotions.

[Timothy Finnegan · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a remarkable story that is yet unmatched in my experience and one of my favorite narratives. A father and a son from Manitoba take an open canoe from Canada down the Mississippi and then out into the Gulf of Mexico down around Central America until finding the source of the Amazon, taking it to the end, 12000 miles. Don Starkell, the father and the author, kept a journal and somehow managed to save most of it so he could tell the story. Unlike many of the long walk stories of WWII veterans in Russia, this story is true. They were not amateurs but his son had severe asthma and so for many miles the journey was hell. It took a few years to go the distance and they met up with dangers everywhere in the form of hurricanes, bandits, and extraordinary deprivation. Don Starkell later attempted to do the same by finding the Northwest Passage in Canada but failed for a number of reasons. I did a Google search several years ago and discovered that the father and son, with wives, had reenacted the first leg of the original trip down the Mississippi in kayaks; a day at the beach in comparison. If you are a weekend kayaker or canoeist this will cure you of any pretensions to something heroic.

[Dana · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is the story of a father and son who travel over 12,000 miles by canoe. They leave from Winnipeg, Manitoba. Progressing down the Red River and on eventually to the Mississippi river down to New Orleans, along the entire Gulf of Mexico and Caribbean to Trinidad, up the Orinoco River and finally down the Amazon to Belem. The story is told in diary style by the father.

What an adventure!! From animals, to wild coastal waters, to foreign police, it was a roller-coaster ride. It was interesting to note that the people in the most abject poverty were the most generous. It was also curious how the Starells dealt with the police of Central and South America.

Don Starkell, the father, put his son in danger many times in order to complete their accomplishment. As a parent I do not understand this. The dangers were many and I think they were very lucky to come out of this alive. What also was a crying shame is that not one single person was at the end to greet them. There must be more to this story!

[♥ Marlene♥ · Rating 4 out of 5]

Wow. What a great read this was. This book is about a father Don Starkell and his 2 sons, Jeff and Dana who decide to canoe from Winnipeg Canada all the way To Brazil Belem.This trip was so dangerous I could not understand the dad a lot of the times, why he put his sons in so much danger but he kept on pushing. One son decided to quit after 5 months so Don and Dana decided to go on.They were hijacked many a times by people that pretended to be cops, by real cops. The sea nearly did them in. They starved, they fought with each other. Dana had a lot of temper tantrums but can you blame him, but they did make it.I want to read Don Starkell's other book. I just discovered he wrote another book about his journey close to Alaska. This man is a man possessed. Finished reading this morning on December 21- 2010

[Mitch · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is an interesting travel/adventure book about a father and two sons who start out from Winnipeg, Canada and paddle a canoe all the way to South America.

One of the sons burns out in Mexico, and I don't blame him. The other two make it, but at what cost? The author is clearly obsessed or never would have kept going through all the dangerous seas, police harrassments, bandits, parasites and diseases, humid heat, serious sunburn and sores, filth, disgusting shelters and insect bites. All this, and occasional fights with his classical-guitar playing son.

It was the trip of a lifetime and I'm sure it marked the author and his sons for life, but wow...choose your obsessions wisely, grasshopper!

[Ryan Murdock · Rating 4 out of 5]

What a journey!

In 1980, Don Starkell and his son Dana got in a canoe and paddled from Winnipeg to the mouth of the Amazon River.

Down the Red River, all the way down the Mississippi, around the stormy Gulf of Mexico, down the war torn coast of Central America, across the top of South America, and down the Orinoco, Rio Negro and finally the Amazon. Two years and 12,000 miles.

I think what I liked best is that there was no one waiting to meet them at the end of their journey. They just hitched a ride on a freighter ship to Puerto Rico and then to Mississippi, rented a car, put the canoe on the roof and drove back to Winnipeg.

[Michael Harris · Rating 5 out of 5]

An APL Recycled Reads find. Wow, one of the most amazing adventure stories I have ever read. Between 1980 and 1982, a 50 year old father and his 19 year old son paddled a 21 foot canoe from Winnipeg down the Red River to the Mississippi and then along the Atlantic coast to Trinidad. Leaving the ocean they then traveled by river through Venezuela into Brazil and up the Amazon river to Belem on the Atlantic. 12,000 miles, 2 years and unbelievable dangers and hardships coupled with amazing stories of human kindness in the middle of nowhere. I could not put this book down.

[Clifford King · Rating 5 out of 5]

excellent,,excellent, excellent one of the most exciting true stories i have ever read:-)

[Trevor Kew · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read this book as a child (probably I was 12 or 13) and it was one of those stories that stuck with me, given that I lived in a tiny rural Canadian town and yearned for adventure. The fact that the author had done something so simple as get in a canoe and start paddling until he reached other countries was something that I could never forget.

As the years passed and I moved abroad, I began to do long distance bike trips around Europe, Japan and other places. While "Paddle to the Amazon" was not something I really thought of consciously, it was in there with Dervla Murphy, Wilfred Thesiger, and the many other non-fiction (and even fiction) stories of extreme travel (and survival) that I've imbibed through print, screen and my own ears throughout the years. I read it so long ago that I wondered for a while if I'd just imagined reading it (it was, after all, long before Goodreads/the internet/Google that I read it) and even hesitated telling other people about it, until one day I told a group of students who were quite keen on canoeing. They whipped out their phones and sure enough...wow, there it was. I hadn't dreamed it at all.

The wonderful coda to this story is that this summer in my hometown, I found a copy of "Paddle to the Amazon" in our local bookshop, in the $2 used book bargain bin, no less. It makes me wonder if it was the same copy! I don't remember where I got it from...I think some friend of my dad's loaned it to me. Needless to say, I forked out the two bucks and re-read it eagerly, wondering if the over-25 years since my initial read would have diminished its impact.

Nothing could be farther from the truth. What a fascinating time capsule it was in some ways: of South/Central America (which has changed so much), of communications, of Canadians themselves. Even of the way we conceive of other places. Starkell was going into places that he had only the foggiest sketchiest ideas of and only the most limited maps. Of course this was true of earlier explorers; but this was the 1980s! On the other hand, reading it in my 30s and as a dad gave me a whole new perspective on the Don/Dana-Jeff dynamic, which is unsettling at times of course, and also of the nature of compulsion, determination, risk, and drive.

There are certain interesting parallels between this book and Dervla Murphy's famous "Full Tilt". Both are raw diary-style narratives lacking at time in terms of literary style and editorial polish (unlike Murphy's later work, which is stylistically brilliant). And yet both contain this incredible sense of raw experience and wonder that seems missing, or at least elusive, in our modern Googlable world (though my own trips have taught me that this simply is not true if you really do get out there and travel at the speed of a bike/canoe. It's still a discovery for you, which is all it ever really can be).

I can't really convey how compulsive a read this book is. You can't put it down. There simply is no book (or trip) quite like it.

[Stephen Whiteside · Rating 5 out of 5]

What an extraordinary book this is! Almost every page gives an account of a new adventure that leaves you exhausted and drained. As an account of a horror story that just goes on and on and on, it is hard to think of anything it can be compared to.

'Horror story' is probably too strong a phrase. I have heard Don's son, Dana (who shared this remarkable journey with him) talk about it more recently, and he describes it as being an almost 100% positive experience. It is hard to believe, though, that you can be marched away at gunpoint thirteen times in two years - with a gun held against your head on at least one occasion - and not carry any mental scars. All this without mentioning the twenty foot waves, powerful currents, huge tides, wide mudflats and biting insects that also had to be negotiated on a regular and frequent basis.

The flip side of all this, of course, is the tremendous generosity Don and Dana encountered among the frequently poverty-stricken inhabitants of Central and South America. The occasional wealthy people also helped them enormously.

It is a totally gripping read, one of the best books I have read in a long, long time. It leaves me filled me with admiration and wonder for these two men who embarked upon an 'impossible' voyage, only to prove that it was, in fact, possible (just!). Indeed, Don himself appears to have been as much, if not more, surprised as anybody that they finally made it.

[R Fontaine · Rating 5 out of 5]

And amazing non-fiction chronicle of an even more incredible journey from Winnipeg Canada to Belum and the completion of a 12,181 mile canoe trip to the Amazon.
While the focus is clearly on the river rafting, the challenges that they had whin off the river were equally amazing and unbelievably fortuitous.
Not only were they really fortunate to enjoy the hospitality of some very poor river people over the course of eight countries, but they were perhaps even more fortunate to avoid being killed by officious or thieving natives.
I was particularly impressed with the fact that it was a father and two sons: one,Jeff, who left halfway through and the other,Dana,who lived it through to the end with his father,And author,Don Starkel,. Thelr courage, inventiveness, and growing confidence were amazing - but the truth of bickering and fighting among the sons and the father rings very true when that stress just got to them.
While it took me quite a long time to read the book, in no way was it ever due to boredem; in fact the book carried me through Almost 2 weeks in of reading enjoyment.
(definitely in the running for the best nonfiction read of the year).

[Vincent Gomez · Rating 3 out of 5]

Kon-tiki lite. Written in a diary style, the author chronicles the journey he takes with his two sons as they canoe from Winnipeg to the Amazon. Along the way their travels are embattled by drug cartels and mother nature herself. It has all the elements to make for a great adventure. The recounting becomes monotonous however; “we launched, we got harassed by random people, nothing of consequence happened, we ate some bananas, we slept in some guy’s yard” sums up about 60% of the book’s volume.

Many opportunities were missed to get deeper insight into the sons’ perspectives of the events of the trip, as everything was solely from the father’s point of view. Other details are completely glossed over. Fist fights occur among the father and son without any insight, but we get all the details about the canned goods that they ate. The author states plainly that the men learned about themselves and that their relationships developed, but in no way is that demonstrated.

The father is obsessed with climbing his personal Mount Everest, and disappointingly the human elements of the story are largely sacrificed to recount the footsteps up the mountains edge. We missed the forest for the trees on this one.

[Tifnie · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this book! Paddle to the Amazon is about a father and his 2 sons who decide to paddle in a canoe from Winnipeg, Manitoba to the Amazon. It was wonderful to relive some of the local scenery they encountered as they traveled through Manitoba and Minnesota. What I enjoyed most about this book was the author told the story through a journal that allowed the reader to go on this adventure via reading.

While the trip was mostly uneventful in the United States, it was when they arrived at the Gulf of Mexico that things started to heat up. First one of the author's sons decided to go back home and finish school, leaving just the two of them to power on. Then traveling around the Gulf in a canoe proved to be quite difficult due to weather, shore pound and the locals the closer they go to Central America. It was amazing to read the harrowing details of some scary places in Columbia and how positive and calm they both seem to be.

[John · Rating 5 out of 5]

The story of the world's most epic, and most insane, canoe trip of all time from Winnipeg MB to the Amazon.

On the one hand I am astounded that this journey could have been dreamed up, let alone completed. On the other hand I can't believe that one would subject their kids to such risk - certain death was the likely scenario in multiple situations throughout. For both him and his sons. Animals eating them alive, lack of water and food, being shot at by numerous pirates and foreign adversaries - luck was the primary factor that they came through this alive.

I am also glad I was not on the trip - I would have been on a plane back shortly into Mexico, much like the one son was. This made our motorcycle trip through Mongolia look like a stroll to the local convenience store.

They don't build human beings like this anymore. Highly recommend the read.

[Jacquie · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is a timeless classic. Don Starkell is gone now but his legend will surely live on. Absolutely insane, literally. He was certainly a bit on the unstable side, putting he and his son’s life in danger time and time again. The guts it took to fend off men wishing to harm them again, and again, and again. Any sane person would have said enough is enough. But it takes a wildly outrageous example to encourage the rest of us softies to go, even just a teensy bit, out of comfort zones. So thank-you for that Don and Dana. I was so supremely disappointed that there was no fan fare when they arrived, no one met them, no Free Press. Shame on them!! So disappointing! I hope Don and Dana received many accolades for their accomplishments when they arrived home. Well worth the read.

[Leon Stevens · Rating 4 out of 5]

Could you paddle a canoe from the center (almost) of North America (Winnipeg) to Belem at the mouth of the Amazon?

Yeah, I'm going to say that's a hard no for everyone reading this. Now imagine doing it before home computers, cellphones, and GPS.

On July 1st, 1980, Don Starkell and his two sons set out to do just that. A two year trip that could have ended up in tragedy many times over, completed by a somewhat obsessive compulsion on the part of the father, straining relationships to the breaking point.

Written in diary style, this is a book for all who crave adventure and those who just want to live vicariously through someone else.

[Alissa · Rating 4 out of 5]

What is there to say about the late Don Starkell and this truly unbelievable adventure? Perhaps only that I'm convinced the man was secretly eight cats in disguise for the number of lives he went through in such a short time. I didn't know whether to laugh or to cringe, and usually just did both. By page 267/310 we were playing chicken with an anaconda and I was ready to throw in the towel, though Don and Dana never did even when it would have been advised. Amazing overall, lost one star in my mind for the occasional, unavoidable tedium.

[Berni · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fun read about a very brave couple of Canadian men who paddled a canoe in 1980 to the Amazon. Incredible resourcefulness and resilience displayed in their efforts and in DonStsrkell's storytelling of the journey. I wish the books graphics of the maps were more visible, often hard to read. Wish there were photos of the canoe out of water to see the perspective if it. It was so difficult to imagine how things fit inside and how they paddled the ocean and then landed without crashing. Could have done with a few diagrams or illustrations. Highly recommend.

[Ryan Weston · Rating 3 out of 5]

Really enjoyed the insight into the psyche and demeanour of someone who would attempt something this wild & do it. Sheer determination & ability to withstand anything that was throw their way was close to unrivalled by any non fiction I’ve ever read.

Format as diary entries was enjoyable however sections could be repetitive due to the repetitive nature of much of the journey.

Happy to have read but would never re read. 3.5/5 would be more accurate cmon goodreads

[Shane · Rating 4 out of 5]

A 2 year journey with plenty of bumps along the way. A journalistic type of book but with twists and turns as the father and sons left Winnipeg for the Amazon.
This was a life challenging and life changing trip for the author. An enjoyable read because of the unexpected events and need to adapt along the way.

[Christopher Fulton · Rating 5 out of 5]

So so so good. I lived vicariously though these two. I felt bad for the father at times, especially when he was saying he wished he was allowed to let out his frustration as easily as Dana would. Pretty interesting that Dana had no plans for travel later in life. Amazing book telling a story of perseverance, adventure, and a story only possible in an age before technology as we know it.