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?