Ille du Salut to Tobago

Attached is the photo of two Big Eye Tuna caught that night at 9 knots! I suppose with the current being what it was, you could say it was really only 7knots!
The last four days from Salut to Tobago were not that pleasant. The wind was generally in the 20-25 knot range, but the sea state was very confused and uncomfortable, making rest and sleep almost impossible. There was about 3/4mtr swell running from the stb quarter, (sometimes 4/5), but on very short intervals, so the boat was being perpetually lifted and twisted, and fighting its way back on course. On top of this, we were running across the widespread ITCZ zone, and were being hit by squalls every hour or so. They were not particularly vicious, only ever getting up to 35kn, but it meant keeping the sails reefed to deal with them, as shaking out, and re reefing each time in that sea was not an option. The nights were very black, and one could often not see them coming until you felt them! And poor little Fredlet, our rubber band Autohelm 3000 back up had a torrid time. We were however incredibly impressed by its performance, and economy, to the extent that when we have finally got Fred sorted( or deep sixed, and replaced!), we will probably use the Autohelm as the primary, and Fred as the backup! I think the Autohelm was only ever expected to cope with a 7500kg boat, and not a 12000kg fully loaded cruiser! We will just take extra belts, and in fact Roy McBride has sent one or two to Crews inn, in Chaguaramus for us. Whereas the run to Ille du Salut (1369nm) took 194.5hrs, (7.02kn avr, 168nm pd), the 600nm to Tobago took 99hrs, ( avr 6.06kn, 145nm pd). The current was still in our favour, but down to 1kn. I think if we had been able to use the B & G hydrolic pilot, we could have carried more sail, and powered through the conditions more effectively. We definitely noticed that when we were in mid squall, doing 8.5kn- 9..00kn SOG, that our tracking improved, and the ride was easier.
Man of War Bay is a charming anchorage, and we look forward to spending a relaxing couple of months here, before going down to Trinidad for Carnival , haul out, antifoul,and refit. We have now done 8880nm in Sheer Tenacity since we left Hout Bay, and whereas the boat has been fantastic, the electronics , many of which were second hand, have been a real trial to us,often causing uncomfortable levels of stress..... No Radar, No SSB, Main Autopilot u/s, Satphone iffy, VHF Radio failed( Fortunately bought an old spare from anaother cruiser to see us through) B & G Wind - direction 100% garbage, wind speed sometimes garbage! ST deserves some better kit!

Ilha da Salut

We made the 1370nm trip from Jacare ( Cabadelo) to Ille du Salut in 8days and 3hrs , which is by far our fastest avr speed for a passage ( 7.02knots !) En route we clocked up 4 days over 170nm, and one incredible 197nm day! But before you all get either impressed, (or disbelieving), it is only fair to point out the amazing current that can assist one on this leg! I would like to roll it up and take it with me wherever we go sailing! It is mostly in the 1.5kn range, but I swear there were times when it got nearer to 2.5-3.0 knots. On our 197 nm day, we had received a boost from a 35 knot squall, which had us reducing sails to 2 reefs and a rag, in good time. But when it was all over, and the wind had settled back to 14-17knots, I did'nt feel the need to shake out the mainsail reefs, as our SOG hardly dropped below 9.0knots. It had to be the most painless way of sailing fast in a 39ft boat imaginable! We kept the two reefs in the main for the full 24 hrs. At 1.00am that night, after another minor squall, both our fishing lines were taken, and we had to furl the headsail away, to slow down enough to bring in the two Big Eye Tuna. Usually, we pull in the lines after dusk, as its not lekker to fight, gut and fillet a fish, just when you have gone off watch, and need to have a couple of hours rest before your next watch! I've also believe, that ones best fishing time is sundown, not midnight! WRONG! Falacy two, Tuna are best caught at 6-7knots .Wrong Again! These were caughtdoing 9-10knots, although it can be argued that the fish were also in a 3 knot current! That said, however, I did catch a Longfin Tuna in the Med, off Zephiro, doing 11 knots! Obviously , one has to slow the boat right down to give yourself a chance!

The anchorage at Ille du Salut is very rolly, and on the day we arrived, windy, dirty, and rainy as well!Lying in our bed that night, I could sworn we were in the middle of another 170nm day!
Yesterday, we spent the day doing all the post trip repairs we could. Genset impeller, High pressure wash down pump, Spinaker pole beak ( A McGyver job), and the fuel transfer pump (again!) Today was spent exploring the ruins of this old french Penal colony. It is only when you wander through the lightless solitary confinement cells , the rows and rows of what were steel frame cots, with their manacle chains in the walls , and the cells of the condemned, does the inhumanity of the Bagne system , (with its "Doublage", to extend by two, the sentence period for misdemenours), really hit home.

It would seem that "Papilon" was rather a collage of various prisoner tails, whereas, the counterfeiter "Flag" Legrange, certainly left his mark in the form of artwork in the chapel and elsewhere, much of it now in the museum in Cayenne. The eventually reprieved Dreyfus, spent a number of years on Devils Island, protesting his innocence from day 1. As we wandered around the complex, we were aware of a great deal of lawn mowing, repainting, etc, when suddenly a cruise liner appeared in the bay. This realy put the gendarmes and workers into overdrive, which left Mary and I free to explore to our hearts content. We collected a good dozen mangoes, as yet unclaimed by the large rodent type animals whose staple diet seems to be mangoes! These animals (Agouti's?), are about the size and colouring of a red duiker antilope, but are some distant relative to cane rats! We watched them fearlessly running around taking a bite out of each and every mango they could find ! We in turn were watched from the tree tops ,by some dark brown lemur like monkeys, as we looked around the old cemetary. These were the last resting places of wives and children of the gendarmes, not the prisoners.... their lot was to be tossed into the sea in an open, weighted coffin, for the sharks to remove ! Legend has it that the coffin was then retrieved , and used time and time again!

We left the Island to the Cruiseliner( "Rotterdam", out of Fort Lauderdale, and en route to the Amazon), and returned for a late lunch of Grilled Dorado, with Mango Salza, and a Caiperinha ,: in time to watch the raucous Macaws do their sundown flypast,while listening to "Fiona's Travelling Tunes", a special collage compiled for us, just before we left last year. We have now been cruising for exactly one year, and its unusual places like this, which make it so rewarding. Tomorrow we leave for Surinam for a few days, and then its on to Tobago.All our fellow cruisers, being French, have gone into Cayenne, but we are likely to all meet up again in the carribean in a few weeks .So long for now!

Battle of the Bulge nearly over, and a re-take on Bolero!

On 10th May 2004, I sat drinking a beer in the cockpit of a Gibsea 44, anchored exactly where we have just anchored Sheer Tenacity, up the Paraiba river , at Jacare, Cabedelo. At the time, I told Malcolm,( my host, who was delivering the Gibsea to Cape Town, on what was to be his 53rd Atlantic crossing), "'One day I am going to come back here and show Mary this place! " Well, here we are, and it is still rather special, although very much more development has taken place during the last 5 years. There are many more riverside restaurants and bars, all competing to play the loudest music in Brazil. There is a new private marina owned by a Frenchman, Captain Phillipe,and he has taken over the bulk of the yachting trade previously done by Brian Stevens, of Cabedelo Nautica.

On my last visit, I had been crewing for Chris Sutton, to sail Enigma, a Compass 47 from Fortaleza to Gibraltar. I had drawn the short straw, and was required to take a 900km bus trip down to Cabedelo, with only the mainsail as luggage, in order to have it repaired prior to our departure. The recommended sailmaker, was Claudio, a windsurfer sail maker in Cabo Branco. He did a fine job, and Brian Stevens was fantastically kind and helpful to me at the time, asking his wife Sylvia to feed me, and his daughter Pamela to take me and the sail back to the Rodovario in Joao Pessoa, in time to catch the bus back to Fortaleza, with seconds to spare!! Yesterday, I was able to visit Brian again, and give him 4 Pugs T-shirts for Sylvia and Pamela , by way of saying thank you for all he did for me in 2004! I also took the liberty of passing on Roy McBrides best wishes, as I know he would have expected this of me. Brian has got to be one of the best preserved 72 year olds around, and still looks as strong as an ox ! He is now building huge tourist River catamarans, and has by his reckoning now built over 100 of them during the last 6 years. There are about 6 of them in service here, and they are partly the reason why the Riverfront restauant businesses have grown so much.

But, getting to Cabedelo from Salvador, at this time of the year , can be tricky, as the prevailing winds are on the nose, as is a 1.5 to 2.0 knot current ! We first tried to leave Itaparica on Wednesday 28th October.We had just received an sms from Kate, saying that my Mom had been admitted to hospital with a gastric infection. At the time it did not seem too serious, and there was a rare easterly wind affording us a chance to leave. There are however bigger plans afoot, and for reasons best known to Fred ( The Autopilot), he went on strike again , with an entirely new set of symptoms. We were forced to turn back. When we got back, it was to learn, that Moms condition had deteriorated rapidly. Sadly she passed away in the early hours of the 2nd November. At least we were able to stay in touch with the family through these difficult days, and be "there" for each other.

That day too, the wind again went Easterly, and we took the gap, and beat our way up the 290nm to Maceio, arriving after of 65hours of tough motor sailing in pretty uncomfortable conditions. Once again, Sheer Tenacity proved her mettle, arriving a couple of hours ahead of our fellow cruisers who took the same gap. En route, the diesel transfer pump died, and I was forced to syphon my deck jerry's into the day tank. We were all very pleased to arrive safely in Maceio. When Estrella arrived on the Monday, they knew it was Moms funeral day, and they knew too how we were battling with all forms of communication to RSA. They arrived at our boat to deliver a special "Wake Cake",in her honour, which was delicious, and greatly appreciated. We then all rested, and waited for the next window ,which came on Saturday the 7th. We refilled the jerry cans with diesel, rigged up a manual transfer pump using a spare manual bilge pump, and left at 4.am.

The first 6 or so hours were quite tough, but as the coast turns Northwards, the wind angle improved to the point where we could sail very efficiently into the current. The 214 nm took 35 hours, with Sheer Tenacity once again took pole position ( Not that we are racing of course!!)

As we entered the river mouth, we saw for the first time, signs that the dreaded current was diminishing. The point of sail from here on , together with the reduced current, should enable us to get around the Bulge ok. Mary and I are not sure whether we feel like going to Fortaleza, where we would have to pay $1 per foot per day ( R360per day!), for mooring. We are inclined to rest up here, and then prepare for the long haul straight to the Caribean, stopping perhaps at Illle de Salut, and Surinam, before making for Tobago. Whatever we decide, this could be the last stop over where Constante , Estrella, and Sheer Tenacity will be together, before heading our different ways. We have decided therefore to have a Battle of the Bulge Party shortly, to celebrate our voyage up from Ilha Grande, where we all met up in the first place!

A new fuel transfer pump is on order, and should be here in a few days. Brian is quoting on a bit of stainless steel work we want done, to beef up our bimini, and Yes Chris, it will make the boat a bit heavier, but we think she can handle it!

We decided to brave the loud music, and visit one of the riverside restaurants for a beer, and to watch the sun go down from land, for a change! We rowed down the frontage, to select the venue with the least offensive volume of music. Each of the restuarants has it own live music, and dance area. While we were commenting on how much like similar the music in our venue was to the "Boom -Chick" Boeremusik back home, a sudden hush came over all the restaurants, as one by one, they stopped the music. We then noticed a gondola, drifting down the river, transporting a Demis Roussos type figure, dressed in a white Kaftan, with an orange sash, and a saxaphone held to his mouth. It was about 10 minutes before sunset, and slowly one became aware of the haunting, rythmic melody of Ravel's Bolero, emanating from all the restaurants sound systems. I was first introduced to Bolero. in Musical Appreciation at school, but I must confess, that my lasting impression of the piece was indelibly etched in my brain, by Bo Derek, in the movie "Perfect 10", as she achieves orgasmic ecstacy , as Bolero ends with the grand crescendo! Now there's nothing wrong with holding on to that image all these years, and I'm sure I'm not alone ! But the simple beauty of hearing it being played live, over the water, as the sun went down, was very, very special.! The last notes coincided with the sun dropping below the horizon, and the hundreds of patrons emerging from their trance like state, to burst into raptuous applause. We saw it as a fitting requiem for Mom.

Camamu to Salvador-Hooligan fish and Dragon Woman !

As we sit here in Itaparica at the Amigo Restuarant and Bar, owned and run by South Africans, Willie and Robyn, we are once again struck by how the world is shrinking! They arrived here 3 years ago, having sailed over in what was Free Spirit, the Lello 48 from Hout Bay, which they bought from Mike and Sophie ! They lived here for a year, sold the boat and bought the property, and turned it into a bar/restuarant. We then met Annalize and Peter ( The Plankies), who also lived in Hout bay, and sailed over in their 29ft black steel boat, Nor, and who have also bought and renovated a Pousada, and become Brazilian residents. They have a house and the Pousada here, plus a 8000sqm tract of land on the island , and intend just to sell the pousada , and retire, as they dont need to work! Well, good luck to them.. they certainly seem very happy here!
　
In my last blog, we had just arrived in Camamu. Three days later we were joined by Constante, from Abrolhos, and we went down the river to Marau together, with an overnight stop beteween two islands. The town was interesting, but I had expected something more like Paraty. Not so. When we returned to our anchorage behind the Goia island, we found the 65ft Gunboat "Gazelle", with our mates Jon , Nicky and young Travis, plus the owner& girlfriend. Just able to say hi, and touch base again! We then motorsailed the 45 miles up to Morro de Sao Paulo, where once again we anchored in 6m, on dry land, ( according to Garmin Blue charts !) opposite the village of Gamboa. We took the local ferry up to Morro, and had to pay the R$6.50 tourist tax, and found a most enchanting and delightful little island town. The beach , which opens onto the Atlantic is very pretty, and surrounded by palms, Pousada's, shops, bars, and restaurants, and the biggest Foofi slide ever, from the lighthouse point, down into the sea in front of the main beach! The umbrellas and chairs are serviced by enthusiastic young men with watering cans, who keep the surrounding sand cool, and wash the sand off the ladies feet! There are no cars on the island, and the building materials are transported by mules and donkeys. Morro, has a definite charm, and is the most upmarket, tourist oriented place we have seen to date.
　
The following day at 5.00am, we upped anchor fom the brisk current at Gamboa, and headed for Salvador. Once again I got smashed up by Hooligan fish.. not once, but twice in three minutes! I get very little sympathy in this respect- My son Steven, told me I was using Mickey Mouse tackle against the "A" team, and the other cruisers dont know why I should complain, as we still are the only ones who always have fish in the freezer! I did get a consolation prize of a 2 kg Kingfish , when I replace the lures! My logic relating to tackle selection stems from the desire NOT to catch anything over about 20kg, as we dont have the freezer space to spare, and we would rather have a supply of smaller, different fish species ! No one can argue with the
logic- except I must confess to beginning to get very P..d off , with getting smashed up time and time again, losing line and lures, while Mary says" I thought you could fish?". On this occasion, I had a Rapala on the tuna rod, and a pink/yellow squid on the handline. First the rod rachet started screaming, and while we were trying to slow down the boat, the handline went off like a rifle shot, as the bungee was streched to its limit, and the 40kg line bust! When the fish had stripped about 350mts from the reel, and I was down to the last bit, I started working the beast-- then it was gone ! I reeled in the line to find a Rapala sans both double hooks! Another first for me! I've had staightened hooks, broken hooks, but never NO bloody hooks! The stainless steel split rings must have just opened up!
　
We arrived in Baia dos Santos, and went around to the Itaparica marina anchorage, where we met up with Estrela again The following day they joined us as we took the ferry over to Salvador to take care of the paperwork, and to search for a new VHF , since my Navico had finally give up the ghost! Now all the Brazillians we meet, are so friendly and helpful, that one cannot imagine how it is possible for the Brazillian Authorities to select staff who can so frequently be difficult, rude, and downright offensive, to visitors to their country!! Yes, there are thankfully a few exceptions, but there are more than enough of the others ,to make sure that any check in day will be a horrible experience! Enter Dragon Woman to the scene, but first a little background!
　
After an interesting taxi ride across Itaparica, and ferry ride to Centro Nautica , we headed first to Receita Federal, where we were pleased to be told that all we needed to do was check in with the Port Captain ! What a doddle! He is just round the corner. But, its 10.15am, and he only opens at 12.00. So after a bit of VHF research, we go back to the port captains office, only to be thrown out because we need to go to the Policia Federal first. Having got our visa extensions in Angra, until 24/11, and having found in Rio, that only the Port Captain needed to be advised, as we were "quite legal", and with the Receita saying the same thing in Salvador, we were flumoxed. I had walked the 2km to the Policia once before with Chris Sutton, so off we set.... and it is by now very very hot, and I am now wearing my obligatory long pants, ( to show respect for the office of the Port Captain). The walk down the length of the docks, is much like walking down a 2 km urinal, as every pillar along the way makes up for the lack of public conveniences for the truck drivers waiting to get into the docks! The smell in that heat was sickening! We made it by 1pm, only to be told that they open at 2pm, but in any event, they have now opened a new division, called the Delegation of Policia Federal, which was next to Receita Federal! So back we trudge through the same smelly route, finally taking shelter in the garage to get out of the sun. At 13.55, a kind gent sees our purple hue, and invites us into the corridor of DoPF, and points to the door marked "Immigration. I knock, and enter, and am confronted by Dragon Woman!
　
We had heard stories about this woman, from Jeremy (Jervon), and many other cruisers, and thought they must be exagerating.. From Ilha Grande to Vitoria, we had heard about her, her looks, her manner etc etc. Well, "DW", is alone in her office watching a Soapie on TV. She glares at me with a look of pure hatred, and points at her watch, indicating that it is 3 minute to 2pm . Then the like the Doggy show host on TV, she screams the Brazilian equivalent of "SIT!", followed by"SHUT THE DOOR"!, and proceeds to carry on watching the soapie. When the program is over,she begins shuffling papers on her desk, achieving nothing at all
　
, until she eventually sticks out a hand , and grabs my folio of papers. Determined not to be phased by her abusive manner, I smile, and say " Muito obligado". Her response is to continue muttering about interupting her lunch hour . It took her all of a minute to fill out the magic form that we could take back to the Port Captain.
　
When we get back, the queue is long, and the only official dealing with Saida Veleiros, is too busy chatting to colleagues to help riff raff like me, all dressed up in my long trousers, (to show him respect!!) By 3pm, we are stamped and legal . 5 hours to do what could be done in 15 minutes!
　
Up the Elevador, into the old Historical Pelhourina area, in search of a beer and salad. There we were lucky to meet larger than life itself, Cintia, who it turns out is a multilingual translator for Yachting events, Police, and a teacher, apart from her afternoon job entertaining foreigners at this restuarant. She immediatly lightens our mood, as she goes on to tell us that all the International yachties complain about that bitch, and goes on to tell us some choice
stories which are best left out for fear of libel! Cintia, whos
stubby little legs stick out from her ample frame at 45 degs, says she has trouble walking since she fell off he motorbike hitting a pothole and wrecking her knees. She got no sympathy from her daughter, who confiscated the bike, saying she was "too old, and too fat to ride a motor bike!" She speaks German French, English, Spanish and Italian, and is starting to learn Mandarin so that she can be sent to China by the Brazilian Government. In her capacity as a translator, one of her most common duties, is to mediate between the German tourists, and their Black prostitutes, as it would seem that they truly believe you have not tasted sweets, until you have tasted chocolate! Once they have finished tasting, it would appear that they have a tendency to refuse to pay, and thats when the police call in Cintia to mediate!
　
By the time we caught the ferry back , our battles with officialdom was but a distant memory! Like all things Marine, VHF radios in Brazil, are 3 times the catalogue price in the Caribean, so I was lucky to find that Doug (Estrela) had a pre DSC Raytheon spare which he was happy to sell for a modest sum. So we are up and running, and hoping for one last southerly to help us on our way!
　
The attached pic is Constante, our travelling companion in a spectacular sunrise leaving Morro de Sao Paulo.

Guarapari to Camamu

Guarapari proved to be a surprisingly attractive bay,with a choice of anchorages giving protection from either Southerly or Northely winds. We had never heard Guarapari mentioned ; its just 30 odd mile South of Vitoria, and thats probably the reason. We spent three nights there, catching up on sleep, chilling and fishing, but felt very isolated, as there were no other boats around, and we always feel a bit uncomfortable anchored alone in unknown places! When the cold front arrived we headed out, and started out with a good wind for Vitoria. We caught 4 Tuna mackeral in a hurry, and the biggest Shad( Elf, Bluefish) I've ever seen( about 9-10kgs). The arrival in Vitoria was interesting, as the entrance is very precise, and the seas were doing their best to make life difficult! There is a 20mt gap in the reefs at the end of the shipping lane, which is the recomended route to the Yacht club. A Tug had decided to anchor right in the gap! We thundered past his stern with about three mts to spare , and made for the Yacht club, where the entrance depth was only 2.2Mts, and the only visitors berth was beam on to the Southerly, and very exposed. Elected to go back outside and anchor in the lee of an empty marina adjoining the yacht club, and go ashore by dinghy . The yacht club told us to anchor within the marina , but not to use any of the cleats on the jetty !

Vitoria is also an interesting and attractive city, with graceful sweeping bridges, palm fringed beaches, and some sophisticated shopping... and the most filthy black dust when the North wind blows! And it sure can blow!Its a windsurfing paradise, and the experts scream around at incredible speeds . Each day , the wind piped up to 30-38knots, and the boat was covered in this film of soot, with the boat staining at the stern mooring bouys.

During one heavy southerly blow, I was forced to acknowledge that RSA does not possess the worldwide monoploy for bureaucratic idiots-- Brasil definitely has its fair share too- and as usual, in positions of power!While anchored in this new Naval marina, equipped with cleats on all four sides,( which you are not allowed to use), and with stern and bow bouys which you may. We had dropped the anchor, and gone astern to pick up the stern bouys . No mean feat in a Shearwater in a beam wind. Long lines and Tinker were the only solution. We were the first of three yachts to arrive, and I was able to offer Tugboat Tinkers services . With the wind then turning North, and covering us with soot, we all wanted out as soon as the wind went south. Mary and I did our shop on the day it was due to turn, while our French Neighbours were enjoying their second day in the Port Captains office dealing with their extension request. We got back to find a SE wind of 30knots, beam on to the anchored yachts. We had twisted 45 degs, but the French Yacht (Joz 111), had dragged, and was threatening to side swipe a 51ft Brazilian Power Cruiser. As the French couple were still with the Port Captain, Frank ( Constante Singapore) and I set about rescueing the situation. Fortunately, Joz had let out about 40 mts of chain, and we were able to crank in about 20 mts , clearing the Brazilian stern, and presenting the bow to the wind, but with only about 5 mts between them. The only logical solution was for me to use my 60 mt second anchor warp, and straighten, and secure Sheer Tenacity to the forbidden Jetty, and then secure Joz to Sheer Tenacity. This all took about 2 hours, with Tinker struggling in the 30 knot winds, and Frank and I were pretty knackered , when eventually, the Marina Boat pitches up : To thank us we assume, for having saved the French Yacht, and the Brazilian Launchero. But NO.... He only arrived to tell us to remove the line from the wall, because the Navy will be very cross! Needless to say , I got a little cross too, and refused ."Noa, meu para Director!!" Well, the director had gone home already, so I decided the best form of defence was attack! I laid an official complaint with the secretary of the club, along the lines of: 1) We were paying for the mooring, and where was the Marina official when help was needed. 2) For employing a marina official too stupid to recognize the dangers to the other boats, and 3) For failing to thank us for our efforts to save their club from a very expensive and embarrasiing experience!

Frank added the final valid observation, that the Brazilian Navy spend Millions of Reais every year rescueing and saving boats in distress, and that if they had been called in, they would have done exacltly what we did! The Secretary agreed, promising, to inform the Director, and to tell the Marina official that the safety lines would remain until the wind dropped!

Next day, we set off for the Abrolhos Archiplego, in a stiff SE. En route we were joined by a Brown Booby( its a feathered bird, guys!), determined to hitch a ride on our spinaker pole. He got tossed off three times by the bumpy ride, and on his fourth attempt, he misjudged his landing, and wiped out against the headsail, falling into the sea in a ungainly heap! Undaunted, he shook himself off, and landed on the pushpit, where he managed to cling on for about a 10 minute roller coaster ride!Got some hilarious video footage of his trip!

We made Abrolhos in good time, before evening on day two, and were able to swim in clean water again, and clean a very dirty hull. I was helped by a superfit Frank, who had arrived on the same day, and volunteered to do the prop, shaft and keel! The carpet of crustaceans that we scraped off was amazing.. and quite alarming , when I saw that the carpet covering my costume and body, when I got out of the water, was in fact, alive! After 4 beautiful sunsets, over the Palm tree'd islands,we tired of being the only yacht there without the prerequisite passport for a shore visit... Kids!

The gribs indicated a gentle easterly for two days, so we decided to take the gap, and not wait for the next low front.We enjoyed a really pleasant sail, and motorsail for the 280 miles to Camamu. Once again we were lucky , and caught well ;two nice wahoo, and one tuna mackeral, so, the freezer is well stocked! It was also a real treat to enjoy pleasnt conditions, instead of the wild and tiresome cold fronts we have had since Ilha Grande!On arrival, we found Joz 111, who had bypassed Abrolhos, who treated us to a Bahian lunch at a beach restuarant, by way of thanks for our efforts to secure their boat in Vitoria. As a result of their input, we will now be setting off down the river to Marau, an interesting, very old and traditional town 20 miles downstream. No doubt we will catch up with them again somewhere up the line! Right now, its raining again- seems like Sundays' predicted low has arrived a day early! At least the sea temp is up to 27.5degs!

Sao Tome Squeeze!

Do not be mislead by Mary's picture of me chatting this brassy young blond !! The squeeze to which I am referring is an altogether more nautical one, as opposed to my wishful thinking!

When we anchored in Guarapari bay at 4.00pm on Tuesday, we had without any shadow of doubt, completed by far the most harrowing and stressful 36 hours and 180 miles of sailing we have ever experienced! But before going into detail, another anatomical analogy is called for, to describe the coastline around the Sao Tome cape. Sao Tome would be the elbow on your half bent left arm, with your knuckles being Cabo Frio, and wrist, Buzios. The port of Victoria would be up near your shoulder. Lying 50 miles offshore from this elbow, is Brasil's largest offshore oilfield, comprising any number of oilrigs and platforms, in a rectangle 70miles long, by 20 wide. These rigs are serviced by the port of Macae,somewhere on you forearm! There is a constant stream of tugs, supply and service vessels, running backwards and forwards between Macae and the oilfield.The area between Sao Tome and the oilfield is also very shallow, with the first 15 miles off the point being never more than 25metres deep, and the remaining 30miles between 40 and 60metres deep. The shallow Sao Tome banks, are a very rich fishing area, and are alive with fishing boats, day and night. All of the very considerable South American coastal shipping , has to pass through this narrow 30 mile gap, between the Oilfields, and the Sao Tome banks.

To compound the problems facing yachts, is the fact that the prevailing wind is a 20-25knot North Easterly, which is right on the nose, and is accompanied by the 1 knot Brazilian current! Clearly one does not want to spend too much time tacking backwards and forwards in this area, making slow progress.Our Strataegy was to wait for a cold front to come through, bringing the Southerly winds, and get the hell through this piece of water ASAP! This stategy makes sense, but brings with it, additional problems.... like 25knot winds against the current, over shallow waters, which makes for a pretty horrid sea state! Cold fronts also bring clouds, rain, pitch black nights and poor visibility at times! With our Radar being U/S, we decided to leave Buzios at dawn, to get far enough offshore to be outside most of the smaller fishing boats in daylight, and through the Macae/Oilfield traffic as well, as most of them do not have AIS transmitters( less than 200 tons). By night , we reasoned, we would be in the shipping routes, where we could expect proper navigation lights, and, AIS positioning.

The first 12 hours were uneventful, and plain sailing. By evening, the wind freshened, and we had put in two reefs, and shortened the headsaildown to about a no.3 or 4. But all too soon, we were barrelling along like a bat out of hell, in a wind against current, wild sea, an ink black night, on a marine highway, feeling like tenpins in a bowling alley! Normally, Mary and I do 3 hour night watches, but knowing it was likely to be challenging, and for one night only, we had planned on 2 hour watches for the passage. Fat Bloody Chance!! The sea conditions, and the sheer volume of shipping and traffic, required that both of us had to be on watch, right through the night! I plotted and logged the tracks of about 20 vessels which at some time had appeared to be on a collision course with us. Thanks to AIS, I was able to call up 4 by name, when they got to within 2 -4 miles of us, doing on average 14knots, and alert them to our position and course. In those conditions, our echo would have been lost in the sea clutter on their radars! In each case, they acknowledged my call, and took appropriate course changing action, for which they received my grateful thanks! At times, the AIS screen looked like a shotgun pattern ! All in all, we must have "seen", 40 to 50 tankers (or freighters), a similar number of fishing vessels, as well as an array of exploration rigs, platforms, and flashing bouys , in just 10, very dark hours! And every so often, the rain would block out all nav lights, and leave us drenched, not to mention the electrical storm that tormented our already frayed nerves!!

Never has a dawn been more welcome!! By 5.00am, we had both been awake for 24 hours, and were physically and emotionally knackered ! Then the fish decided to hit our lures! After landing three nice fish, we pulled in the lines, and set a course for Guarapari Bay, some 25 miles short of Victoria, as we did not feel up to entering a difficult new port entrance,at night, in our exhaused state! We dropped the hook at 4pm, in a surprisingly pretty , and sheltered bay ; had a couple of Scotches, a bite to eat, and hit the sack at 6pm, and slept for 12 straight hours! We had squeezed through the Gap!

Beautiful Buzios!

We hauled anchor at 3.00am on Monday, and worked our way out of Guanabara Bay , and up the coast towards Cabo Frio. We had hoped to benefit from the cold front SW winds, but in reality, they were too gentle, and we had to motor sail almost the entire leg to Cabo Frio. Without Radar, and the enormous number of unlit fishing craft, we wanted to do as much daylight sailing whilst close to the coast. We had therefore planned to stop overnight in a little bolt hole anchorage between Cabo Frio island ( Light House Point) and the mainland. It has a narrow (50mtr) head entrance on the West, which can get quite boisterous, with strong currents, before opening up into a very pleasant safe haven. As seems to be our usual habit, the wind started honking just 4 miles before we reached this target, and we had to run the gauntlet! Once inside, we did a right turn to get behing the cliff shelter, and dropped the hook. Despite the rather rolly anchorage, we slept like babes, as neither of us had got much sleep the night before, getting the boat and ourselves set for the early start.

Although the anchorage opens up into a lagoon facing east, which is theoretically navigable via a shallow channel, the charts show chart datum of 1.2mt at the deepest, and as we were leaving at 7.00am, and it would be Spring Low, we elected not to explores the moving sand banks, and go back out the way we entered , through the heads. This added about 4- 5 miles to our leg up to Buzios, but we enjoyed the trip around this Cape that always seems to be the change over point in the weather systems. The wind dropped down to about 8 knots, dead downwind, so we were forced to motor the whole way again, in a rather lumpy sea against the 0.8 to 1knot current that runs down the coast.

We arrived in Buzios at about 1.00pm, and checked out the anchorage options, before chosing a spot outside the Yacht club, with good SW protection, and some NE protection behind a point and reef. We were surprised to find ourselves anchored near "Basta", the yellow steel French boat owned by Francis and Silvia, last seen in Abrooa nearly 2 months earlier. They were heading off to the Carribean in search of work there. Instead, they found Buzios, and have entered into a long term lease and project, to renovate, and then run a Pousada restuarant & Bar on the waterfront here. Francis is working like a dog to have it up and running in October, to coincide with the arrival of the cruise liners. His long term plan is to build up a successful business in 5 years, and then sell ti for a big profit, with 5 years of his lease option remaining! Quite a project, and we wish them luck!

The wind has now swung NE, and the sun is out again, which always brings out the best of a place, and Buzios looks quite special. It started out as a quaint fishing village, with numerous small protected beaches around the rocky peninsula of Cabo Buzios. It is now a major tourist driven, and holiday home resort, being only a couple of hours by road from Rio. Bridgitte Bardot spent many of her early years here with a Brazilian boyfriend, and she is depicted in bronze, in one of the three very good sculptures, along the waterfront. The most striking one is of the "three fishermen", lifesize figures hauling in nets , from rocks set in the sea. Very realistic ! The other, is of President "DK", whose full name escpaes me ! Brigitte is depicted sitting on her suitcase looking out over the sea from the side walk. Her lap , head and lips, are polished shiny bright by all the tourists wanting to strike a pose with her!

With the sun out, it is time to explore again, and to find a wifi spot to check out the weather pattern again,and to see how long we have got here before continuing North!

The Amazing Suzie of Samba!

We had originally planned to spend our time in Rio at either Gloria , or the Royal Rio Iate Club, which is where we stayed when we took African Rennaisance back to SA....But , that was before we learned about Suzie! Every cruiser we met in Ilha Grande, who had sailed down from Rio, told us about this little blond dynamo at Club Naval Charitas, who was so wonderful to the cruising fraternity. And they were so right!

Suzie and her husband, Ronato, circumnavigated about twenty years back, in their bright yellow, Bruce Roberts designed steel ketch, "Samba",taking 6 years instead of their planned three. They came through the Red sea, instead of the Cape route, and changed the boat from a ketch to a sloop thanks to a sudden unplanned meeting with a tanker! Suzie and Ronato still live aboard Samba, moored right next to the visitors embarkation jetty. Quite apart from being the Official Ombudsman for the Club Naval Charitas, and speaking English and French fluently, she has made it her mission to be the best friend and service provider a cruiser could ever wish for!

She had been away the week Mary and I arrived, so we missed out on the normal welcome, but she made up for it in double quick time! Need your gas bottles filled? Sure, SA French, US..no problem ! Meet me at the Aquarium at 8.00am with the empty, and I'll get it back to you the following day! Want to go up to the top of our mountain and overlook the best views of Rio, Corcavada, Sugar Loaf, watch all the hang gliders taking off, and have some really good Brazilian coffee?

We leave at 10.00 tomorrow. You need an electronics man to check out your Radar problem, someone to fix you hyperlon dinghy, your outboard, your anyhting! Chances are Suzie will know someone and phone them to come and help you !

Want to go to "Horti Fruiti" this Thursday? Its an amazing really upmarket Fruit and Veg City in the middle of Nitaroi , and she takes any cruiser who want to stock up ,with her when she goes to do her own shopping each Thursday. Who wants to go to a free music concert in the old museum in Rio tomorrow , the film festival here, or the dinner dance there? Suzie will organise!

We went to a regular monthly Brazilian "Braai" a while back, and met a mixture of cruisers and club members. The food kept flowing all afternoon, food and drink included, for R$22 per head ( R80) ! This last Friday she organised a Potluck get together for all the cruisers, and everyone attended.

She organises talks ,slide shows and DVD presentations by cruisers, for cruisers and club members interested. I was seconded to give a talk, and show our DVD, in English, with Suzie doing the Poirtuguese translation.After our aborted Buzios departure last Saturday, we came back and attended Doug & Kyles presentation covering their six years circumnavigation in their Westsail 32, "Estrella", with their two daughters. We were shown the DVD of the talk, and rescue of the crew ,by the Brazillian Navy,of the traumatised SA couple, 2000 miles off the Brazilian coast, in Colin Minty's old boat, "Dikiri".We have since heard that it has been seen sailing around the Buzios area recently, so it seems that the boat survived abandonment.

It is no wonder that cruisers tend to grow roots here! Suzie and Renato... you are gems, Bless you both!

Marking time in Rio!

After our presentation talk and DVD show to the cruisers and club members of Charitas , we set about provisioning and preparing Sheer Tenacity for our trip North. We left last Saturday as planned, but had to abort after only 2 miles, as Fred, our B & G Autopilot went on strike again! On the same day, our Jabsco loo pump had also developed an unpleasant leak, which necessitated immediate attention, and to crown it all, the windlass started misbehaving as we hauled anchor!

So we turned around, and resigned ourselves to another week in Charitas, attending to our new collection of problems, while waiting for the next window. It was a good call, and we managed to sort out all the problems , with the exeption of the Radar, which will have to wait until we reach the Carribean to be repaired. We were also able to attend the next cruisers talk, given by Doug and Kyle, with daughters Lisa (14), and Abergail (11) on "Estrella", about their 6 year circumnavigation. They have only to reach the Bahamas to complete this voyage, and will be moving up the coast during the same period as ourselves.

Fred's problem turned out to be a dead "memory backup battery", a little coin sized CR2032 affair, soldered onto the circuit board. Fortunately I had a spare on board, (for my watch!), but the real challenge was removing and replacing it, as it is soldered in place. Eventually, with a Brazillian assistance, I succeeded, and Fred was up and running again. We had also decided not to sail again, without our backup Autohelm 3000 (Fredlet), working perfectly as well, and he too, is now working well.One of the strange spares I stowed before we left Cape Town, was the pump section from the second marine toilet on the scrapped old Gumbula.I whipped it out , and installed it.... yes, another shitty job, only to find it leaked as badly as the cracked Jabsco unit. After two further removals, and refits, the last with every gasket and joint set, and given time to cure, with sikaflex! We finally had a pure and sweet smelling loo again! What a joy!! But,... we had to endure a day of" bucket and chuck it" first! When one considers that this is effectively no different from what a few million other people in Rio and Nitaroi are doing every day, one should'nt feel too bad! One only has to look at he colour of the water here to know that !

However, the marine heads do a fine job of mascerating the nasties, and pumping it under the boat, and out of sight. Real "Bucket and Chuck it" is a liitle more cold blooded and premeditated , and not quite so easy! We were fortunate to have our Porta Potty on board too, ( our version of a holding tank for USA waters), but we decided to use it only as a comfortable seat, rather than commission it fully for one day. Layers of toilet paper were layed in the bowl,and a fine firm offering placed thereon .This was then picked up, carefully, like a delicate parcel, and dropped overboard, while nobody was looking! In theory, it should have quickly sunk out of sight, with nobody any the wiser. Theories however, dont always work! One such offering, ( exactly whose shall remain anonymous!), refused to sink, and set sail across the anchorage, with the upturned toilet paper acting like a spinnaker! We desperately tried to bomb it with the high pressure deck hose, but it gybed, and sailed out of reach, and we had to stop trying too hard for fear of drawing attention to ourselves! Now there was a fair amount of activity going on in the bay.... waterskiers, an Oppie race, windsurfers, and a couple of jetskies. No prizes for guessing which type of craft we were hoping would finally collide with and sink our newly launched craft! We just ducked below, refusing to acknowledge or watch, but our imagination ran riot with the possibilities!

Later that afternoon, the wind piped up again, and we were soon back to normal, as yet another French Cruiser came dragging past us, while he was enjoying a late lunch ashore. Fortunately, his anchor hooked and re-set after 100mts, and I was able to Tinker ashore, and fetch him. He let out another 30 mts, said "Senk ewe", and went back to lunch!

Next blog ,the Amazing Suzie of Samba!

The Brazilian Paradox!

There is apparantly no nudity in Brazil. Certainly we have not been aware of any, total nudity , that is! There is however a great appreciation for the body beautiful, and a great willingness to show as much of it as possible, within the confines of their legal limits. The National costume for women, is of course the "Boude floss " bikini.. (there just is no other description, in any other language, which describes the item quite as well!) For those of you not familiar with this very descriptive Afrikaans term, I will do my best! One has to start off with the kind of "Itsy Bitsy, Teeny Weeny" bikini that made Frank Sinatra go "AAAAHHHHH", when he sang about the "Girls on Ipanema!"

Then one removes the little triangle on the back that tries to cover the derier, and replace it with a single strand of Dental Floss, which connects the bottom of the front itsy triangle, with the waistband , such that the ladies neat little butt becomes an extension of her lovely long legs! Well, thats the theory, at any rate! And to be sure, there are loads of beautiful bodies on display, offering healthy old men of my inclination, opportunities to drool over their particular pre-delictions! I am un- ashamably a legs man! Others , I know ,are boobs and bum men, not I hasten to add, that there is anything wrong with that! Its just that I can still remember watching the most Beautiful Legs in the World, ( Steffi Graf), playing Chrissy Evert , in the Wimbledon Final, and perpetually losing track of the score!

Now, keen observer that I am, it does not escape me, that the Golden, the Bronze, the Coffee, and the Ebony, beat the hell out of the transparant cutworm White, no matter how well put together they are! It should also be pointed out, that these thousands of girls displaying the body beautiful, are nevertheless, a very, very small minority in the scheme of things!! The only onepiece bathing costume I have seen in Brazil, was being worn by a very serious competitive swimmer in full training, in the Club Naval Olympic pool! She would have looked great in a Boude Floss ! But the point is, that the vast majority of women wearing these bikini's, simply dont give a fig!

There they are, any number of orange peel butts, of all shapes and sizes, soaking up the sun, with their equally miniscule tops, totally at peace with the world, and with themselves!

The beaches are a focal point of Brazilian life, and all boast beach soccer fields, Volley ball courts, Foot Volley courts, parallel bars, and all manner of playgrounds for their men, to strut their stuff, and impress the female audience. The seriously wealthy, of course use different tricks, such as the enormous "Lanchero's" and Luxury Power craft , to attract their women. It certainly seems to work, because it would appear that these luxury boats cannot start, without at least one or two elegant pieces of "Deck Jewelry" adorning their foredecks in the national costume. But , whether they use their finely chisled bodies, their athletic prowess, or their mighty cheque books and charm, the men too, adhere to their own style of swimming attire.

The young dudes, 14-17yrs, stick to their "Boardies", and Surf shorts. Thats because they rarely seem to partake in any serious sport, apart from tongue wrestling,or face sucking, which is something of a fad here. Not that it is a male dominated sport... on the contrary, the most active participants seem to be their girlfriends, and this could have something to do with their need to wear Baggies at all times! Once the men hit twenty, they graduate to the tight, skin fitting, lycra swim shorts, that my son Steve calls "Budgie Smugglers", or if he's in a generous mood, "Hamster Hammocks"! In the same way that the Boude Floss Bikini leaves little to the imagination, much the same can be said about the Budgie Smuggler! They present the goods, as it were, like merchandise on a supermarket display rack, with only the price tag missing!

So there we have it ! A nation who have perfected the art of wearing nothing, whilst avoiding nudity at all costs ! Methinks this false modesty is just a giant con! I mean , how could this much loved and world famous landmark be called a Sugarloaf?

Welcome to Rio!

As most blog followers would know, we had planned to leave Ilha Grande a couple of weeks back, and numerous factors conspired to delay our departure ; the arrival of new cruisers, friends, weather ( good and bad!), and Mary's tendancy to throw out a second anchor whenever we spoke of setting off! We had planned to leave on Wednesday last week, but the gribs started showing nasty easterlies, which is NOT what one wants. So we looked for the next break in the weather pattern, and saw a possible gap this last Tuesday. Having resigned ourselves to suffering yet another week in paradise, we decided to sail back round to Siteo Forte for one last visit. (This was the beach Mary first set foot on Brazilian soil, and after 15 days sailing from Ascension, she needed to learn how to walk again. ) The weather was great, and we enjoyed our three days there, swimming, cleaning the hull. Plus the odd cerveja in the little restuarant where a young "Britzy" fell in love , (and equally quickly out of love) with Caiperinha's, when Chris Sutton first introduced us to it, en route to Cape Town, in" African Renaisance", after the 2006 Cape to Bahia race.

We headed back to Abraao on Monday, and set sail for Rio at 21.00hrs on Tuesday. The gribs indicated a gentle passage up the coast , with the front moving out into the South Atlantic. We spent the first couple of hours dodging fishing boats in the ink black moonless night, with their unique ( or totally non existant) Nav lights. Thereafter we had a leisurely motor sail up the coast to Ipanema, catching a metre long Cutlass fish, and a decent sized Bonito at dawn. Then the "front" realised we were trying to slip into Rio behind it, so it changed plans and came to welcome us to Rio! The wind veered to NE, and quickly built up to a 40 knot gale ! I had put in 2 reefs when it reached 25kn, so with our baby staysail we were hard pressed as we worked our wa right across Guanabara bay, to broaden our approach tack . There was a mad scramble of fishing boats and tugs all trying find shelter. We were fairly flying in, in a mass of spray, and for the first time ever, we saw a fishing boat actually trying to get out of OUR way! Some of the bigger fishing boats were towing daisy chains of little fishermen behind them. We worked our way past the fort, and found some shelter behind Jurajuba point, before heading into the bay, past Nitaroi, and down to Club Naval Charitas to drop anchor. The trip was 65miles and took 14 hours, a leisurly 4.6knot average! Sadly, our Radar died between Ipanema and Copacobana, so its one of the first things we will need to get fixed here. It's one of the only defences one has against the fishing boats at night !

We met up with Paco , the Belgium single hander, who had left Abraao the previous Wednesday, when we had called it off. He did 15miles in his first 24hours , and ended up taking 48hours for the trip. He was quite philosophical about it, and said that we had made the right call! He had broached a few times, and been thrown off some big breaking waves, with a "crash", but no damage! When he opened his anchor locker to anchor here, he found his chain and anchor had turned upside down in the locker, and had to take out all his chain and warp to find his anchor! He has now decided NOT to sail directly from Rio back to Begium, and intends to work his way up the coast and leave from the Caribean in May 2010, so we will no doubt meet up with him again! He checked out yesterday, en route to Buzios, and asked if I would like to go in to Rio with him, so that he could take me to "check in" with the Port Captain. What a pleasure, after all the hassles of Angra! We caught the10.30 Charitas ferry into Rio (R$ 8), which takes 14minutes to do the 7miles, walked for 8 minutes to the Port Captains offices, with a few minutes to spare, as they close the doors at 11.00am. They then deal with everyone inside, so that they can go on lunch at 12.00! I was checked IN, and OUT , in twenty minutes, and, they took all the photo copies themselves!! I was back on the boat at anchor in Charitas before they went on lunch!!

The Club Naval Charitas is a super club, with fantastic facilities.They charge R$10 pd for 3 days,at anchor, R$20pd for the next 3days, and R$30pd thereafter. Its about twice that if one takes a marina berth. We are looking forward to meeting the legendry "Suzie", who make a point of meeting and greeting every new cruiser, and showing them the ropes, but with the weather so foul at the moment, we only expect to see her on the week end.

Frogs, Anchoring and a final blast from Abrooa!

Last week, for the second time in as many days, our Sheer Tenacity was under threat from a dragging French ketch. He is STILL determined to go round the Horn, despite inadequate ground tackle and a manual windlass.On the first occassion, I was helping Chris Hull deploy a safety anchor from his bow in a Southerly buster. He was on a mooring bouy in a congested anchorage, and was understandably worried about the condition of the ground tackle. Tinker and I reversed in 25 knots to drop a 20kg CQR 30mts ahead of the mooring bouy , while Chris paid out the rode and made fast. I then headed back towards Sheer Tenacity , who was holding firm on our 30kg Bruce, and 50mts of 10mm chain. Mary was standing on the bow yelling at this French Fellow, who was dragging down on us, sideways , while trying to pull UP his anchor on the manual windlass. Mary's yells finally produced results, and his wife started the engine, and just managed to avoid us. He then proceeded to power around, looking for another place to anchor, wisely out of our earshot! But not far enough, and still upwind! Two days later , we went through exactly the same drama, and once again he dragged 100mts down towards us, and only just avoided taking out our bowsprit , when I exhorted him to START YOUR FROGGING ENGINE!!!

Jeremy and I had shared a few laughs about Brazilian anchoring techniques, which usually involve trying to get as close as possible to the beach, and tossing out an undersized anchor attached to a few metres of chain, and a piece of string ! Thankfully, they are mainly day/fair weather sailors, and have not been around when things get nasty. But we have been advised to excercise caution when in close proximity to some French yachts! Suggestions about keeping a safe swing circle are normally acknowledged by their National single digit salute! Our Fellow was too busy winding chain, to waste time saluting, so our kindness went unacknowledged. Thankfully, he then chose to re anchor about a mile away from us.......leaving just enough room for another Fellow, to squeeze in on his 48ft blue steel ketch, and drop his anchor and 20 mts, on the run, wrong way to the prevailing wind, almost on top of our Bruce. I was en route to refill water jugs, so detoured past him to point out this fact, and that we had LOTS of chain out because of the sudden strong southerly winds. He smiled, and as is their norm, ignored me.

Yesterdays last fish and chips lunch in Abrooa was cut short, by a sudden, and violent wind, which preceded the front. As we Tinkered our way back to the boat, we watched with relief, as the big Blue ketch, dragged his way between Sheer Tenacity, and Jervon, and only just managed to avoid the rocks half a mile downwind. He took off across the bay blowing blue smoke, as he powered his way against the 30-40knots of wind, to seek shelter . We took turns on anchor watch, from 15.00hrs until 02.30 the this morning, when the gale abated. During the night, nine large trawlers and fishing boats came in to seek shelter from the elements, and we were once again very pleased that we have chosen the ground tackle we have, and take the time and trouble to set the hook properly! Don't they teach them this in France and Brazil, or are they just slow learners?? Mind you, poor technique is not the sole prerogative of the Latins . We have witnessed a fellow South African, proud of his amount of chain, drop his hook, and all 80 mtrs of chain on top of it, in a heap, like a doggy doo-doo, when he's only 40 mts from the beach! One can never afford to be too casual (or arrogant), and even when you think you have done everything by the book, the sea can, and will often, still teach you a lesson!

Next stop Nitaroi.

Of Cormorants and Maestros!

Perhaps it is the return of Summer, but there are definitely more Comorant Club applications around. Yesterday we witnessed a very unusual new age blonde application, from, it must be said, a real "Maestro"... Well that's the name of their 45 ft Bavaria anyway She certainly put on a spectacular performance, synchronised with screaming engines, vertical take offs, and very real danger to life and limb! Maestro arrived elegantly enough in the anchorage, towing their tender, and after doing a lap of honour they chose their spot, and dropped the hook . When all was secure, Madam Maestro was delegated the task of collecting their waiting guests from the shore. So eager was she to meet them, and so confident was she in her duck driving, that she started the powerful little outboard, and took off with a tail walk. The only small problem was that she had forgotten to untie the tender from the mothership !

We heard the roar of the engine, followed by a bang and a scream, and looked up in time, to see the tender heading skywards, while Madame Maestro was being thrown backwards out the boat butt first. The tender landed upside down a few metres in front of her, with engine still racing, and prop spinning! Thankfully the plugs were soon immersed and it soon cut out. Jeremy, from Jervon, had also witnessed the drama, and being the closest to them, he had his boat up on the plane in short time, as he rowed to the rescue. He arrived to find Madame Maestro lying half on the sugar scoop gasping, while Master Maestro was describing in his very best Spanish, what a clever lady she was! After this, his main concern was to get the tender the right way up, trying to start the drowned engine, and, fetching his guests. Jeremy boarded the boat, and helped Madam Maestro up onto the sugerscoop, while ascertaining that she was not hurt. My immediate urge , when I realised that apart from her bruised ego, she was unhurt, was, of course, to rush across with New Membership forms. Why should Mary be the Cormorant Clubs only new member this week?

Another cruiser helped him sort out the engine , and had it running again in quick time. Jeremy received a very nice bottle of Argentinian red wine which will be enjoying with todays braai, and I received a follow up blog story- PLUS, proof that some people are just slow learners! Mr Maestro drove up to Jervon, with the "Kill" lanyard STILL unattached to his wrist, as had been the case with his wife yesterday! They are there precisely to STOP spinning propellers cutting up and killing people, when accidents happen!

Still on Cormorant Club membership matters, I was in Salvador, and on the jetty , when "Thunderchild" arrived after the 2006 Cape to Bahia race. There I witnessed what was for me, the biggest single, simultaneous Cormorant club application by a crew !!! The moment the yacht was secure, the entire crew of 8 ,hurled themselves into the smelly Club Nautica water, with only a beer can in each hand to keep them afloat! The circumstances were as follows. Thunderchild had left Cape Town like a bat out of hell, and had opened up a significant overall lead in the race, having done something like 1200 miles in the first three days.... Then they noticed a structural crack in the frame supporting their modified new keel. Faced with the choice of abandoning the race, and beating back to Cape against the South Easter and swell, or flattening the boat out and heading dead downwind for Salvador, they chose the latter. They cross braced the frame as best they could, prepared the boat for immediate "Abandon ship", alerted one other competitor , with whom they reported their situation daily. Their relief when they finally arrived in Salvador, with life jackets lashed to all the railings, was palpable. I nominate them all as all Honorary Members!

Next in line , Frogs and Anchors!

Mary joins the Cormorant Club!!

Membership of this elite cruising club is usually a well guarded secret, although when discussed among the "yachtie" community, it is a surprisingly well patronised club! Membership to this club is usually granted very suddenly, unrequested, and accompanied by an extremely wide range of emotions. These emotions cover the full orbit from Hilarity, through Mirth and Chuckles, via Care and Concern, too Full on Rage.... Depending upon the circumstances and perspective. Whether one is a bystander/spectator, a participant, or a brand new member.

How exactly does one qualify for membership to such an exclusive club? Is it expensive? The answers two these questions are...Very easily.... and Sometimes!!! Membership is automatically confered on all those who cannot resist the urge to take a quick swim, fully clothed, in that small, but usually widening gap, between the yacht tender and the Yacht or Jetty. Membership is often accompanied by much shouting and screaming, culminating in laughter when the new member is found to be safe and unharmed!

Most new members choose Individual Membership, but this is not always the case, and it is not unheard of for entire crews to become members simultaneously. Chris and Helen Hull chose this strategy when boarding their tender at the restuarant jetty in Ubitubinha. After a very festive meal, Chris manouvered the tender alongside, and leaned over to hold onto the jetty at precisely the same moment that Helen chose to board. With their combined weight on one pontoon, the tender squirted out like a bar of soap in a shower, and landed perfectly safely, the right way up, on top of my Tinker. Unfortunately, the same cannot be said about the two new members of the Cormorant Club, who were very busy playing the Blame Game while splashing around next to the jetty in their going out clothes! Apart from expensive dents to their pride and wet wallets, cellphones, and digital cameras also joined the club with more expensive consequences. Women can usually recover their dignity much more quickly than men. A common ploy is for them to claim, with nipples erect from either shock or cold, that they have always wanted to enter a wet T-Shirt competition, but have never had the courage! Men dont often have such a convenient excuse on hand.

Mary's membership, however, is somewhat debateable. Normally one is either a full member, or a non Member.These are the circumstances, and her membership qualification will have to be put to the vote. We had been invited to dinner on "Jervon". We had also been asked by Fransisco to look after his tender while he had taken a ferry into Angra to sort out his visa problems. His tender was tied on to Sheer Tenacity just behind the boarding ladder, which meant that our position relative to the ladder was a little different when we returned after dinner. Having climbed in and out of Tinker a thousand times, Mary was perhaps a little "casual" when standing up and grabbing the ladder, and unaware that we were a teeny bit further away than normal. ( Caiperinha's are a well know cause of casualness in Brazil!)

Tinker widened the gap, and Mary was left hanging on to the ladder, with a midrif waterline. She was therefore denied even the wet t-shirt excuse ! Now you can't be a Half Member of the Club ! Mary says she only applied for Temporary Membership, but others might say she qualifies as a Country Member! It will have to be put to the vote!

Leaving Home---Again!

We really can't believe that we have spent over three months in Ilha Grande, and that we are now preparing to head Northwards ! The weather has been a lot cooler, with low fronts and rain every 4/5 days, but it is still a whole lot more pleasant than winter in the Cape!
　
We left Jervon in Abrooa, and came around to ICAR again on a wet and miserable Monday,to give us the rest of the week tocheck out with the authorities, as we had a feeling that it would again take a ridiculous amount of time! We were right, but at least this time we were prepared for it! We now KNOW why the Amazon rain forests are under seige ! Its not hard wood that they need, its the paper they need to fill in and photocopy all the Policia Federal and Receita Federal forms !!
　
On Tuesday we caught the bus in to Angra, armed with copies af the required forms which we had downloaded from the website. We then went to the stationery shop to buy the required DARF form( yes, thats what its called!), and headed of to the Policia Federal, only to be told we were in the wrong place, as in the last two months they had opened a "new" facility, down at the Warf. This new facility was actually a run down building staffed by the same obnoxious people we had to deal with when we first arrived! After a while Mary was presented with a voucher indicating that she should now go to the Bank of Brazil, pay R$67, and come back with a rainforest of copies. I was told I must go to an internet cafe to get my form, then pay by direct transfer, and come back with the same plethura of paper. We did not need the DARF form, but had to use the new payment form given to Mary. When I queried why we were being told to do things separately, I was given short shift by an arrogant official who said it was "Impossible" and I must go to an internet cafe!It It transpired later that their system had crashed half way through our process !
　
So we headed back to the boat determined to get every thing sorted, and copied, and paid for the next morning, so that we could get on with our provisioning.
　
The bus ride in was interesting! It was so full, we had to get in the back door, which at least meant we could not pay, as this is done up front! A gallant Brazilian gave up his seat for Mary, but it might have been because the small family sitting on the seat in front of her were sobbing their eyes out , and suffering some very traumatic and private family grief, and the poor fellow could'nt take it! While I hung on for my life to the overhead handrails above the aisle,the liitle girl wedged into the seat at my knees, spent most off the trip puking into a leaky shopping packet, and in serious danger of spilling the contents all over my only Porto Capitano smart clothes ! All the while, Barricello Bus Driver was trying to break Aryton Sennas ICAR to Angra record ! We tumbled out into the hottest day we have had for a while, and learned that the Bank only opens at 10.00am.!!
　
Determined to stay cool, we then found a Xerox shop, got all the copies, waited for the bank to open, paid the R$134( R532), and headed back to Policia Federal. This time we were met by sweetness herself, who must have been embarrassed by her boss the previous day, and she ushered us down the passage to a fellow who had us stamped , approved and extended until November in less than an hour ! Time to get to Porto Capitano before 12.00!! We made it with two minutes to spare!! Relief turned to despair when we read their new opening times ! Mondays 13.30-15.30, Tues-Fri 08.3--10.30! From 24hrs per day to 2 hrs for only5 days, shows an interesting approach to productivity and customer service! Once again, our simple checking out will take three days, even when we know the ropes!
　
Spent a frustrating Thursday trying to get to the bottom of my genset ptoblems. The general consensus from all the local experts, including that my Nuclear Power station friend, Celso, is that the reiring done by B M Power in Cape Town , is not exactly in accordance with the Mase Specs, and that either the number of turns on each section of the rotor, or the guage of wire used, is incorrect I will probably have to take it out in Trinidad, and leavehere for a few weeks to be rewired.
　
Left the boat at sparrows this morning, in the pouring rain, to pay my last respects to the Porto Capitano. Now one has to dress up smartly for this very important man, who is only availailable between 8.30 and 10.30. Its quite a tricky challenge to board ones tender in pouring rain, land on a beach at spring low, drag the tender 40 mts up the beach, secure it, walk 300mts to a bus stop, catch one in rush hour, get off in Angra, and walk another 500mtsin pouring rain to the BIG mans Headquarters, and........still look dignified and respectable..... and more importantly, remember to be respectful!! Surprise , surprise! I was stamped, cleared for Salvador, and back in the rain within 5 minutes !
　
I was so chuffed that I ducked into the fish market to by a Kilo of Queen prawns for supper, which we will be sharing with Michael Martin, a new American friend, who has just launched his steel DeVilliers 45 ft yacht, and who will be sailing up the coast to the Carribean, with his lovely Brazilian wife Larissa, during the same time period as ourselves.( de Villiers trained under Dudley Dix I believe, and when Mike sent him photos of Sheer Tenacity, he replied saying "they are damn fine boats!"!
　
We plan to do a shore power battery charge here, top up with diesel, and head back round to Abrooa, for a re union /farewell party with Jervon, before waiting for a good weather slot to leave for Rio, where we will spend a couple of days at the Club Naval Charitas, in Nitaroi. After that we plan to head for Buzios, Abrolhos, Victoria, Camamu and then only Salvador.!
　
When we finally say farewell to Ilha Grande, I guess it will be like leaving home again! Officialdom aside, it has been a wonderful introduction to the cruising lifestyle, and an experience we will never forget!
　
　
Cheers from ICAR!

Inaugural Meeting of Ilha Grande Chapter of HBYC !

August 1st has seen the return of the sun, which went missing a week ago! Time to shake out the feathers, and stretch the legs ... at least to do a little shopping for fresh veggies and fruit, before congregating on the beach front bar/restuarant to attend the inaugural meetiing of the Ilha Grande chapter of the HBYC ! Present are likely to be JC and Jackie, (Taniwa), recently arrived,( but more of their arrival later!) from St Helena via Rio, Jeremy & Yvonne ( Jervon), Chris and Helen Hull ( Sea Lion), and ourselves, Rod & Mary, ( Sheer Tenacity). I cant help but to realise that this unusual gathering of HBYC cruisers, some 5000miles from home has a greater probability of representing a quorum, than the usual turn out at a HBYC AGM!

Out of the mist and rain yesterday morning, we were hailed by JC and Jackie, who had taken a gap in the weather, and motored down from Rio. They had spent the previous evening in Enseada Palmas, before popping round to Abrooa. Taniwa circled the anchored yachts, before presenting us with an unusal challenge after showing us his uniques Irish /American Anchoring style ! He chose his spot carefully, and dropped the hook..... all 120ft plus 45lb CQR, with a minor splash, and a fair amount of Blue Cursing, as JC watched in disbelief as the chain parted at the 120ft mark, and took its leave of Taniwa! They had been anchored for days off St Helena on the same chain, and it chose this moment, in gentle rainy conditions to fail! The headed out into the bay to calm down, lick their wounds, and prepare a second anchor and rode

Our challenge, was of course to recover the 120ft of chain and anchor from the black mud on the 9mt deep seabed ! I headed off in Tinker with a handheld GPS, and when lined up with our reference points from SheerTenacity, Mary called 'Mark!". Jeremy rigged up a grappling hook from his dinghy, and began to troll the area. After persevering for about 40 minutes , he hit paydirt, and hooked something heavy. His efforts nearly ended with him in the water, as his little rigid dinghy did some serious duck dives under the load! A flotilla of tenders arrived to "help", and after a noisy committee meeting, the Plan of Action was agreed upon...... then Re Done..... and Revised again! After a while, the stern of Taniwa was dragged to the drop point by Tugboat Tinker, and the load was tranferred by warps and rolling hitches round to the bow rollers, until the 120ft of chain plus CQR were safely back on board Taniwa. Beers an Rum are the promised rewards! Todays meeting could be fun!

Catch you later!

Abrooa., Ilha Grande

Our run back to Abrooa from Angra was interesting! We decided to give Fredlet,our newly aquired back up auto pilot a test run. Anyone behind us on the water must have thought we were smoking our socks! I'd set the course, engage the pilot , press "SET", and then "1", and we would immediatly do a 180deg spin! Because of the position of the pedestal brace, and the length of the belt, the drive unit had to be mounted back to front. To compensate, I had mounted the gyro compass a matching 180 deg in reverse! But it was TOO Clever, and would not be fooled as simply as that ! It could work out where it really was, and decided to prove it! So I then took the gyro out of the bracket, and held it facing forward, as was intended, and tried again. This time we started out ok, until a small course correction was required, at which point the correction to port, generated a starboard command to the drive unit, which immediately demanded a further port correction, which resulted in an even bigger starboard command to the drive unit, until we were going 180 deg backwards again! I then tried to adjust the settings manually, which threw the whole system into a succession of ever increasing wild zig zagging adjustments. Two islands . a power boat, and a fisherman watched our unique methods of pilotage and resulting koeksister course !

Jeremy joined us on the beach for a Moqueca and beer lunch , on Mary's birthday, before we headed back to the boat ahead of the threatening cold front. We had invited Jeremy and Yvonne, and Fransisco & Petro , (who had heard it was Mary's birthday, and arrived at the boat with 2 fresh bonitos) for supper and a party! We had a "lekker jol", and sat up late, playing music, burning lights, and generally flattening our batteries! With all the overhead cloud, and little wind, we are getting no help from nature in recharging batteries, and are reliant on the genset and main engine to do so.

The next day was spent trying to persuade the genset to be reasonable, and give us some help! It had obviously been conniving with Fredlet, and the "heads", and decided not to play ball! Roy Mcbride says that Autopilots and Marine toilets are related cousins. He's right, but what he does not know, is that they were all educated by gensets ! It seems the governer adjustment has wandered to a point where the voltage and cycles are out of range of manipulation by loading all appliances, and it has once again joined Cosatu, and gone on strike! Today is the beginning of the Festival of St Pedro & St Paulus, which is yet another of the Brasilian excuses to party! The whole village of Abrooa has been decorated with flags, and stalls selling all manner of things are lining the streets. We know the music will go on to the small hours, and we a pleased, that once again we have chosen to anchor some way off! Meanwhile, we will definitely venture forth to watch and enjoy their celebrations, before having another crack at the genset tomorrow!
cheers for now .

Freddie lives on, and we have aquired a Fredlet too!

One of the saddest bits of news from home was that our beloved German Shepherd, Freddie, who was adopted and loved by Alan when we sold our home to him, had passed on to the big kennel in the sky. As most blog readers will remember, we named our Autopilot Fred after him, as it sings and moans just like he did! After a few mid Atlantic scares, we finally seem to have sorted out the autohelm problem by giving it a hydrolic fluid transfusion. We have been using Freddie whenever we have sailed or motorsailed just to make sure he is up to speed. So Far so Good. We have just done a 25 nm leg from Paraty up to Ubitubinha on the Island, and Fred was once again, well behaved! Since the pre St Helena failure however, we have been very aware of how utterly dependant one becomes on the autopilot, when sailing short handed.

We made up our minds to make sure we had a back up in the event that Fred retired hurt again. Ideally, we would like to use the wind vane /trim tab option, as it is not power dependant. However, as we have elected to have davits over the transome, for lifting the dinghy out of the water each night, the wind vane system would have to be offset to one side, and be reliant on a transverse lever. It can work, but introduces yet more points of friction in a system which requires absolutely minimal friction to work well. So we also asked other cruisers about their systems, and their current demands.Two names which came up were APT, used by Niekie on "La Rose", and Alpha, used by Bob & Robyn on "Misty Dawn". Interestingly, La Rose also have a B & G Network hydrolic pilot, but they prefer to use the belt driven APT when conditions allow (95%), because it uses 1 amp vs the 4 to 5 of the B & G. The Alpha is also pretty basic, but apparantly bullet proof, and uses very little current. Both can be found and read about on the internet. With the APT being about $1500 compared to the Alpha +/-$3000 , both of these options were outside our cruising budget , for a second ,back up system. We decided to look out for a second hand option as we move up the coast. We did'nt have to look far! Jeremy and Yvonne had just fitted a very expensive Aquavane system to "Jervon", and had changed the gearing on their hydrolic steering, which made their Autohelm 3000 obsolete. A deal was done , and "Sheer Tenacity" now boasts a Fredlet as her back up system! An added bonus is that it only seems to draw 1 -1.5amps! We need to check this out in more challenging sea states.

One of the least appealing jobs of the skipper, is to sort out a blocked and jammed heads system! This was my lot yesterday on fathers day! I started at the Jabsco pump end, and ended by virtually dismantling all the bathroom/heads cupboards in order to remove all the pipes, anti syphon loops, diverter valves etc. That was the easy bit!! Chipping out all the calcium /uric acid build up that sets like concrete, beating the hoses, overboard, with a stainless steel pipe until you crack it up, and the clearing it all out of the pipes and fittings, can only be described as a Really Shitty Job!! From now on, its a bottle of vinegar into the system every week to stop the build up. ( Its creates a very graphic picture of what a chelesterol build up would look like in ones arteries! Enough to make one go on a fat & cholestrol free diet for life!)

On a happier not, I got an email from my man Hector in Frade, whose assistance I had requested, in chasing up the shop to whom I had returned the Merc 3.3 for fixing. "OK Rod. The owner he said to me the out board motor on tuesday it will be in your hands." Much better to get a Marina Manager to bomb on the shop owner in his own language , on your behalf! Well done Hector ! You really are a star! We plan to go back to Angra on Wednesday, pick up the outboard, do a provision shop, and then head round to ICAR and Itanhanga, and Frade. I would like to introduce Jeremy & Yvonne to ICAR, and Jeremy is keen to meet Hector! A very good man to know!!

Paraty revisited- rowing , chilling ,shopping for cheap whiskey!

Motored down to Ilha da Cotia on Sunday and arrived in time to see the weekend visitors hauling up and leaving us to enjoy the peace and quiet. Spent a day waiting for the showers to pass, and another quiet day before motoring round to Paraty. First mission was to visit Sea Lion at Imperial Marina, to drop off a tillerpilot that Chris Hull had agreed to take back to RSA for me. Imperial is a top end Marina, where security and services looked top notch!. Sea Lion was having the cockpit hatch and surround revarnished by someone dressed like a surgeon! Seemed to be doing a good job, at I'm sure,what was a GREAT price!!

It is also an easy and deeper than usual (3m) fuel and water dock, with diesel a bit cheaper than Pirata's Mall Angra. (+/- R10.20 per lt) After that we rowed into the schooner dock, about 3/4 mile from our anchorage, to explore and do some shopping. Our lunch of Aipim Frita ( deep fried manioc ) and beer, was threatened by a familiar looking black cloud ! Last time we were at the same beach pub we got caught in a thunderstorm and drenched on the way back to the boat. This time we rushed back, knowing we had to row. We stopped long enough to buy a bottle of Scotch and a fish for supper, and rushed to the Schooner Jetty. By the time we got there the wind was pomping, and the 3/4 mile row into the teeth of the wind represented a major challenge.. especially as Mary and I had both neglected to utilise the Ela and Ele, before we left the beach! After rowing fit to bust for 20min, and getting about half way back, we were spotted by a Brazilian Boat taxi good Samaritan. He roared up in his long boat, indicated that I should pass him the bow line, and hit the gas ! Mary nearly went arse over tranny, ( cross between transome and fanny!), and tinker broke the world water speed record yacht tenders, as she was up on the plane in a nano second, and we were delivered to Vermelho veliero in style! A cheery wave and our hero was gone, with no suggestion of payment required! Yet another example of Brazilian kindness!

The next day we had thought about heading back to Siteo Forte on the Island , but felt it wiser to allow Mary and Yvonne, who had both been bitten by something crawly and toxic, an extra day in the vacinity of a hospital. They are both taking Antihistamine tablets, and Mary antibiotics as well, as the bite sit looks quite infected with pink lines right up to her armpit. As I write, she is clearly on the mend, but itching fit to scream!

Instead, we took another walk around town , had a crab cake, and stuffed manioc and shrimp roll for lunch, and searched out some cheaper local whiskey options. Results for those interested:
Taylors R$ 36 / ltr R144/ltr verdict : quite acceptable
Old Eight R$ 28/ltr R112/ltr equally acceptable, better value
Drury;s R$ 22/ltr R88/ltr manageable, esp if 2nd dop after one of above!

Also discovered that it is possible to get a Brazilian sim card which one can use for RSA sms calls, and on which one can receive incoming calls, and make internet connections. The "Tim" operator card costs R$15, and is a pay as you go. Internatinal SMS cost R3.20, and local ones 80c.

We are now optimistic that with a little self medication of the above prescriptions, Mary will be well enough to cruise on tomorrow!

Cheers from Paraty

Of old friends,reality checks, special Ilha Grande anchorages, and prawn pig-outs!

Sitting here at Ilha do Cedro, waiting for the rain to clear, I thought it about time to write another blog , which hopefully i can send from Parati. We're both well again, apart from Mom having suffered a repeat bite/sting on her ankle, which has swelled up like a tennis ball, and has driven her nuts! I will try to cover quite a long period, so I will try to cover it all in the blog!

After the tedium of checking in again at Angra, and doing a MultiEconomia shop for provisions, we headed back to Frade to hand over Receita's letter of "Liberation of boat" to Hector, ( Marina Manager) entitling him to give us our boat back ! I had also fitted the new Mastervolt 100amp Battery charger, which we brought back from RSA, but it refused to work off the genset, indicating that the Hz cycles were too high (77hz). We needed to check it out on shore power, and were relieved to see it performing fantastically. Hector called in some local genset experts to see what could be done to correct the cycle problem. Basically, the output voltage and cycles are controlled by the rpm, and when the revs were dropped to the range where the cycle was acceptable, the voltage dropped below the low limitrange, and when the revs were increased to get the voltage above 220v, then the cycles went to 77hz! They tried increasing capacitor sizes, and spent about 7 hours over two days trying to fix it, without success. In the process, they had to replace the impellor, but when we they eventually decided that the problem lay with the rewiring of the rotor ,which was done in Cape Town, I called Enough! They refused any offer of payment, even for the call out, or impeller replacement, saying they had been unable to fix the problem! Would that happen in Cape Town??? Later in the day I opened an Email from Chris Sutton, who had answered my queries on the subject, and he had suggested "load" as a factor.
So next day I started the genset, and applied loads sequentially--- calorifier, freezer, and eventually, when I included the old battery charger, via the plug circuit , in addition to the new charger, we met with success, and the charger started pumping in between 60 and 90 amps! Thanks Chris!!

We headed back to Itanhanga, where we met up with Yvonne & Jeremy from "Jervon", and caught up with each others news. One of the things we chatted about was the sad story about Nic Robinson and Wendy Meyer, from "Sea Jade", with whom we had shared Christmas on St Helena at Annes Place. They were the couple whom I had referred to as Adrenalin Junkies in a blog from the Island. It seems that Wendy was bi polar, and that much of their frenetic lifestyle was an attempt to overcome her depression. Sadly it was in vain, and she OD'd in early Jan while Nic was out kyacking. He took her in to the hospital, where she died. Nic stayed on at the Island until autopsy etc was done , and set sail back to Walvis , single handed, in early April, where according to press reports, he apparantly fell from the mast while effecting halyard repairs, and was lost. Sea Jade was found driftting 300 miles south of St Helena. It was all the more poignant give our own worries about "Jervon"s apparant failure to arrive in St Helena. In fact, Jeremy & Yvonne had checked in with customs and Immigration, and spent two very happy weeks on St Helena, and had many meals at Annes, as well as filling in the Visitors book not far from "Sheer Tenacity"'s entry. Sea Jade was still at the Island at the time, and they had heard about Wendy's demise while there! It just goes to show that government bureacracies cannot always be relied upon, how mortal we are, and how the sea can never be taken lightly!

From Itanhanga we went back to Angra , where we both stocked up on essentials, and dropped off the Merc 3.3 with the shop from whom I had bought it,( as I had finally run out of patience), before working our way down towards Parati. The shopping is very easy and civilised there, as one can trolley directly from the supermarket to the boat. We spent a night anchored behind Gipoia, before motorsailing down to Ilha do Cedro for a few days. The trip down was glorious, and we enjoyed a great lunch on the beach at "Nelson:s bar. As the weather looked set to change, we moved around to the more protected anchorage, which we called "Sand Dollar " bay in our movie, and found a number of local fisherman anchored. It was the start of the Prawn catching season, and so we each bought a kilo of prawns for 12 Reais, and pigged out!

We intend waiting for the weather to clear, and will probably head down to Parati Sunday /Monday. Till Then!

Dois maravilhosoa mes no Ihla Grande !

I've been taking a bit of flack for not being more diligent with my blog updates. Guilty as charged! In mitigation,the  only excuse I can offer is my sensitivity to your states of mental well being ! 

 

We hear about the economic turmoil,financial meltdowns, crime in Hout Bay, crime in Salvador, Cape Town on fire ,etc etc. Now against this background , how can I keep on talking about the natural beauty, the friendliness, peacefulness, culture ,the cruising lifestyle in this magical place,... before you just want to throw up!! ??

               

We can hardly believe we have been here two months already ! Time really has flown while we have tried to keep a balance between boat maintenance and relaxation  Having finally lost the power struggle, I was forced to buy 6 new 115AH batteries . Any hardware relating to boats, costs twice as much as in RSA. Eg Deep cycle batteries, outboard motors, battery chargers, smart chargers etc. Restuarant prices too, seem a bit higher than SA. Even our version , which is a shared portion of Lula ( Calamari), fried manioc, and a couple of beers, on plastic tables and chairs, at a beach pub/restuarant, costs the equivalent of R200-R240.   Food prices in shops/supermarkets is probably , "twolly for twolly", to borrow an old RSA  Checkers advert, about the same. If one can find a supermercado away from the main centres, closer to where the locals shop, prices are very much better, up to 30% lower. But thats enough of the housekeeping! Suffice to say that at least one can buy beers, limes and  Cachaca wherever one can buy food! 

 

Having stripped the little Mercury 3.3 for a third time, (after its swim as a 4 day old new aquisition), it has finally settled down and become a super little outboard. We prefer to anchor in good safe attractive places, where we can swim around the boat, without fear of being wiped out by a wetbike or taxi boat,  even if it involves more tender running.We love our 30kg Bruce, with lots of all chain rode, and sleep easy, provided we have the space to swing a full 360degs.  We have now visited about half of the Ilha Grande spots, and have already developed  our favorite places..Praia de Palmas, Vila do Abraao, Siteo Forte, Ubitubinha, Ilha de Itanhanga, Ilha de Cedro, Ilha de Cotia to name but a few. These are really special places, and during the mid week one can often have  the places all to yourselves! We have taken hundreds of photos, and miles of video footage, which we will have to edit down to something short and hopefully interesting----- when we find out how to do so!! Any volunteers?

           

We have also been able to enjoy the Carnival spirit, much of the music, (but not the headbanging techno stuff !),and the Brazilians zest for life, their sense of fun, the litter free living, relaxed lifestyle,and seeing the opulance of the super rich and their toys ,their holiday homes ,which, for the most part, carefully blend into the beauty of the environment. We have never felt threatened, or uncomfortable, and nor have we ever seen any bad behaviour or drunkedness.... despite the non stop partying !   We have never been hassled by "boat boys", trying to look after your boat,your dinghy, trying to sell you this and that, invading your space,etc, and all those other typical Carribean, and South African , traits.

                

Anchoring is free, and in many places there are mooring buoys which can be picked up, although being heavier than most local boats, we always prefer to lie to our own anchor. I guess we've been spoilt!  Ilha Grande is just so unspoilt! Mike and Les from Exta-Sea, had a friend with them who has visited Thailand annually for the last few years. She preferred Ilha Grande to Thailand! 

 

The fishing is not bad either, which is just as well, because that is one area where the local restuarants know how to charge! A spanish mackerel  (Cavala) big enough for two, costs Real 50 ( R225) at Ilha Paquetta fishermans restuarant/hut. One can buy 50 beers in a supermarket for that! I caught a couple during the last few days,en route to Parati,  which we are really enjoying!  Being wildlife nuts, we are also loving the very different variety of birds found in this area, which I suppose is a mixture of Atlantic Rainforest, and marine estuarine habitats. The water is alive with shrimps and shoals of small fish, which in turn attracts the bird fishing specialists-  from the huge Ascension Frigate Birds,flocks of black Vultures ( which look similar to Egyptian Vultures, and also scavange on dead fish), and allow one to walk up quite close before taking off, a red billed Tern, which behaves like an African Skimmer, (as it feeds off the shrimps that break the surface when chased from below). There is a Giant Kingfisher lookalike, that takes up residence on the spreaders, and never seems to miss when it fishes, as well as a magnificent even bigger version of Kingfisher, where the black markings are replaced by a pretty pale grey/blue  colour.We also see  Terns, Kelp Gulls, Cormorants, Sea Gulls etc, but not in the numbers we see back home. There is a Franklin which likes to be heard , and not seen, as well as some raucus parrots, and a frustratingly shy Cuckoo  which makes a "Huity boo" call which one hears everywhere! We  also see and hear woodpeckers regularly, and have enjoyed seeing a variety of Humming Birds, which are new to us. 

 

Mary & I have just snorkled around the enclosed bay in Ilha Cedro in which we are anchored, and came across a whole colony of live Pansy shells( Sand Dollars), the size of saucers! Now we know where the few shells we found on the beach came from! We were accompanied on our swim by a shy turtle, about the size of a brief case, which ducked  every time he saw us!  

 

On the less desirable side, one can almost see the barnicles growing in front of your eyes! In 5 days, they get to screw head size, and diving to clean them off the boat is a non stop chore. They even grow on the tender which is lifted out of the water every night!   

 

Despite these two months in paradise, we are really looking forward to our home visit, and to touch base with family and friends. This time next week we will be there!