Power struggle lost!!

After many nights of being woken by the electrical alarms squawking that the batteries were getting lower and lower, and our self dillusional excuses blaming the cloud cover, we finally had to admit defeat! Our very expensive Haze Gel batteries were porked in just two years! We searched far and wide for reasonablly priced deep cycle batteries, which would fit into the
battery compartment, without needing to rebuild the boat around them. The new Optima Marine Blue top Spiral AGM's made a brief claim, until the $310 per battery on the website translated into R6000 each when purchased in Brazil ! R24000 for the 4 needed, was just not on! We went through the whole battrey type debate again, and eventually settled for 4 Delphi Freedom Service 115ah batteries at Real 540 (R2500 ) each, which we managed to find
at the new Verolme Marina, around the corner from Angra. It is the biggest and newest Marina in Brazil, and the facilities are impressive, and expensive! They have special forklifts, which can pick up the 40-50ft Power craft, of which there are so many, so when fatso gets back from his day jaunt, they can simply lift it out of the water,and pop it back into its pigeon hole, which could be up to four levels high , in a massive covered shed! When I enquired about leaving Sheer
Tenacity in their care for two months, they said ," sure, very good after carnival price of 4 Real, per foot, per day" That works out at R22300 per month !! All of a sudden the other quotes I had got seemed a little more reasonable! Porto Real, R5625pm, Bracuhy marina R8100 pm ! It would appear that they take the normal monthly rental for an annual contract, and double
it for a two month stay, and treble it for a 1 month stay. I had been told to come to Porto Frade Marina by a lovely Argentinian couple (Omar & Dominique, Sole V), who is also a broker in BA, and who uses Frade often. We have accepted their quote of Real 500(R2250) per month, for a secure swing mooring, with the Marina manager( Hector) personally looking after the boat,
batteries ,systems etc.
From Verolme, we headed back to Siteo Forte, where we met up with Nic and Rene Rust , on la Rose, and a Doctor friend of theirs, Peter Berming. We had gone out together to a Brazillian braai at a hostel in Abrooa(Real 20), and got on extremely well, and finding a number of good
friends in common! Nic's Borg Warner gearbox was shot, and he did not like the Brazillian quote of Real 22000 for a replacement, so he intends trying in Uraguay. He wanted to mount his 25hp Yamaha onto his swim bracket, and took my 8 hp Yamaha Enduro for his tender ! We will settle up back in RSA in April!
He left for Pararty the next day, and we decided to spend one more night in Siteo Forte, before resuming our search for a two month mooring! Moored not far from us was a steel ketch, Rapunzal, which we recognized as the one belonging to the Author of the Brazillian Cruising
Guide , Marcal Ceccon., which I have been using, and quoting! Over coffee I bought his new updated 2008 version (I felt embarrassed,because my copy was a dog-eared photocopy of his 2002 update, given to me by an American cruiser!), and told him that his facts about checking in to Angra were wrong! He listened to my tale, and promised to correct it, starting with my
copy! He inserted the words "not so" into his line, "It is easy to check in at Angra"!
It had been as hot as Hades that day, and something had to give! It did that evening, and we experienced a seriously violent and frightening thunderstorm, which arrived very suddenly over the mountain. It upended our dinghy, with brand new 3.3hp mercury, and shredded our bimini
before we could do a damn thing! I was still busy putting the satphone, handheld vhf, gps etc in the oven(Faraday cage theory), and disconnecting aerials! The boats were swinging around alarmingly in the 40+knots, and while I was fairly confident about our 40mts of anchor chain out, and 35kg Bruce, I was worried about some of the other boats on swing mooring bouys.
The next day was spent stripping the engine and repairing the bimini, in the pouring rain which came with the cold front that pushed up from the South. The following day , we motored across to Frade, via the normally idyllic islands "Botinas", "Itanhangha", and "Paquettas". Sadly the
water was no longer the crystal clear greens and blues to which we had become acustomed, but chocolate brown, and full of broken branches and trees. We learnt that Paradise can get nasty!
We are in the process of booking our home visit tickets, for April /May, and will then go through the "Recita Federal" beaurocracy of "declaring the boat closed during our absence." With all the admin behind us, we will then make our way down to Paraty, where we are looking forward
to seeing the old Historical city, as well as some of the special anchorages. I wonder whehther our Garmen blue charts will prove to be any more accurate down there! It is not without reason that they stipulate that they should not be relied upon for navigation! So far my tracks have mown through three islands, and at least one headland, and I never even felt a bump! Given the poor level of detail in some areas, the inaccuracies we have found, and the chart prices we were forced to pay, in order to fit their excellent hardware, they should be ashamed!
We were alarmed to receive a mail forwarded by Chris Sutton, reporting the mugging of 7 Cape to Bahia crews in Salvador. We were also told here, of a Brazilian yachty who was murdered somewhere behind Itaparica not long ago. We have felt so safe, secure, and unthreatened down here around the islands. Frade is on the mainland, and has a 5 star Hotel and Marina, alongside a very poor neighbourhood.(Like Fortaleza?) Whether it was our imagination, or the effect of reading Chris' s mail, we found ourselves going back to our high security cruising rules for the night. Lift the dinghy, engine off and secure, security grates in place, motion sensor alarm on in cockpit .Then,just as we were turning in, we noticed two shadowy figures moving about on the barge boat moored 40 mts away. Moving with stealth, and no lights, and no talking, we watched them moving around the boat. When the boat swung, we saw a rubber duck tied alongside, with an engine that had not been used to get there. Through our bino's we decided that they were up to no good! Looked just like typical Hout Bay Skelms! I certainly did not feel happy about going to bed with them on the boat next door! I decided to see if a 1 million candle power spotlight directed at them might induce a change in their behaviour! I gave them a quick blitz, and we watched first their rabbit in headlight looks of alarm, and then their hasty escape via paddled rubber duck off into darkness! Reality check! We will try not to let ourselves become complacent again! More later!