1 March 2011
I could happily stay moored here. There is always an easterly sea breeze just over the sea wall and apart from keeping the boat nice and cool it keeps the mosquitoes away, although I have to say that even during our stay in the Terminal Nautico Marina we were never troubled, neither surprisingly enough when out on the rios, in spite of the fact that they were thickly lined with mangrove swamps. It was in the upper city of Pelourinho that they were troublesome. But we have been advised that there is no malaria here but there is dengue fever and that can be a nasty thing to catch too. Recife once had a reputation of being a very dangerous place but much has been done to make it a safer place for visiting yachtsmen. All evening, as we sat in the cockpit, small canoes fished the waters round about us. We turned in early 8pm and locked up the whole boat just to be on the safe side. We slept like babes. In the morning we couldn't believe our eyes. The whole river was awash with floating debris of water hyacinth which grows prolifically along river banks like a weed. We had seen this phenomenon once before on the Rio Guayas at Guayaquil. Now we were surrounded by the stuff. It was obviously something to do with the state of the tide for within an hour it was all but gone. Brown Eyed Girl and Grand Filou were now also moored next to us having entered during the late evening and Ritchie gave David and Joe a lift over to the Cabanga Yacht Club for the check in procedures. Now why this has to be done again beats me. We are just over 400nm to the north of Salvador admittedly in a new region, the Pernambuco State as opposed to Bahia, but we are still in Brazil. I suppose I should be glad that it gives a few more bodies a job to do.
A metre in the mud....
This was how David summed up our berth in the Cabanga Yacht Club. At one hour before high water, on a rising tide we cast off our mooring line at Pernambuco Yacht Club and crept down the tiny channel, dredged to 3 metres, keeping strictly in the middle between the port and starboard hand poles, to Cabanga Yacht Club. At least if we got stuck on the way we would have the chance of floating free. I kept a lookout on the bow for the channel was awash with all manner of detritus, from the ubiquitous plastic carrier bag to a sunken tyre, a mooring buoy just under the surface. Manoeuvring into our allotted space we had to edge forward to a wall to throw the bow lines ashore, then drop back so that stern lines could be attached to the buoy mid channel. This allows us to lie in the deepest water of the marina. It was a tricky operation but with Paul and a team of marina staff, along with Suzana's fluent Portuguese the whole thing was carried out smoothly and stress free. In order to get ashore to a dinghy dock we are all required to use our tenders. Now safely secured fore and aft Voyageur's echo sounder read 0.5metres, the top of the tide. At low water she would be up to a metre sitting firmly in the mud. With her very substantial wing keel she should sit fair and square so it was not a concern. The only real downside to all this is that it is smelly mud and pongs especially at low water. While the actual berthing arrangements here leave a lot to be desired it is more than made up for by the yacht club facilities. There are two lovely swimming pools, poolside bars and restaurant.
My Kingdom for a Kindle
David is bemoaning the fact that there is no wifi signal from the boat. But I have my Kindle! It is quite the best toy ever. As long as I am within sight of the coast I can read the news, google any queries, read yacht blogs and books. And all for nothing! So a thousand thanks to Peter, my twin brother for kindly donating his old one to me.
Susan Mackay