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American Spirit II - Day 399; We Arrive in Salvador, Brazil After the Most Pleasant Voyage in 13 Months; Monday, February 9, 2015



Today a year ago:

"Day 37; The Trophy Size Blue Marlin That Got Away!; How I Log; Sunday, February 9, 2014. The story you are about to hear is a true fish story. Not to be confused with the 'fibber' fish stories that all fishermen make up. You know what I mean. The imaginary largest fish in the world that got away story. One of the differences between my fish story and others is that I had a witness. Joel Heyne. Joel was sound asleep at the time (he got off watch at 3:00 AM), but my yelling at the top of my lungs woke him up, which is a feat in itself. And though I have friends who would gladly alibi for me, Joel is not one to cross that line for a fish. Joel, did you see that whale that I hooked?"

To find out what happened, you'll have to scroll back in time on my logs to February 9, 2014.

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A word or two about the Southern Atlantic Ocean. It is the nicest, smoothest, least windy, least wavy, best weather, body of water we've crossed on this entire circumnavigation. 3,600 nautical miles or 4,140 statue miles of pure pleasure. And 3 things happened in that passage that were unique: we saw our first and only sperm whale; we swam with whale sharks in St. Helena; and we (Jeanine and me) saw the first blue sunrise flash of the entire voyage. Magnificent! And on this passage we used the spinnaker more than at any other time in our trip; and did more wing-on-wing sailing than any other ocean passage, also. The only thing that would have made the passage even better was just 2 more knots of wind. That's it. The weather was so good that we were able to grill out whenever we wanted to, which was a lot.

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I relieved Jeanine at 6:05 AM. Once up in the cockpit, we jibed the boat from starboard to port tack. Meaning the mainsail and boom were now on the right side of the boat.

At 6:27 AM the wind is 10/11 knots and we're motor sailing at 6.1 knots thru the water and 6.7 knots over the land. There are a lot of stars out, because its 3:25 AM local time. The moon is high in the night sky so the stars are not as brilliant as they would be with no moon. You can't have everything.

At 6:47 AM I found the Southern Cross. There is a 'fake' Southern Cross at the base of the Milky Way that many people, including me, confuse for the real Southern Cross. The real Southern Cross is about 20 degrees to the right of the fake one, and 40 degrees up in the sky. But the biggest difference between the fake and real Southern Cross is that the fake one is lying down in the horizontal position; and the real Southern Cross is vertical, like a cross. Go figure.

The sun rises around 8:15 AM. With a cloudy horizon, no green flash again.

At 8:39 AM the wind is 12 knots and we're motor sailing at 6.2 knots thru the water and 6.2 knots over the land. We're 51 miles from Salvador. Its a beautiful day for a landfall.

After the sun rise and its light enough out to read a book by, in reading a cruising guide about Brazil I came upon the following statistics:

*Brazil is the 5th largest country, by land mass, in the world;
*It has a population of 180 million;
*It has the largest concentration of Catholics of any country in the world;
*Amerigo Vespucci, a Portuguese navigator, discovered Salvador in January of 1500;
*North 'America' and South 'America' owe their names to Amerigo;
*Salvador is the 3rd largest city in Brazil;
*Salvador was, in the beginning, the capital of Brazil;
*In 2002 a Leftist was elected President, which was the first time in Brazil's history that the Left had controlled the government;
*60% of the population is white;
*Portuguese is the official language;
*The official currency is the Real.

Breakfast is at 10:30 AM and consists of bacon (ham, really); eggs; cut up potato; chilled pineapple slices; and brown bread...for Joel and me. Jeanine had bacon, oat meal, and honey with her tea.

Our noon position was 13 degrees, 9 minutes South; 37 degrees, 55 minutes West; and we're 30 miles from Salvador. We're 157 miles closer than yesterday; and traveled at a speed of 6.5 knots in the last 24 hours.

At 12:55 PM we try to send out a log and emails 3 times, but fail to properly connect with the satellite phone.

At 1:30 PM Joel says 'Land Ho!' He sees Brazil just north of Salvador; 30 degrees on the starboard bow.

I surprise the crew with a special lunch at 2:55 PM. Spaghetti and Meatballs; followed by Port Sausages and Baked Beans. Both of these are NOT homemade. They're canned, but good nevertheless.

At 2:51 PM the wind is light at 8 knots and we're motor sailing at 6.0 knots thru the water and 6.7 knots over the land. The temperature in the main cabin is 88 degrees. Its hot.

At 3:25 PM Joel's Verizon phone gets service 10 miles off shore. No matter what landfall we make, his phone always beats my AT&T phone in getting service first.

As we cruise along the shoreline of Salvador, the city is replete with hundreds of high rise condominium type buildings; plus barrios (slums), right next to each other and even on the water. Talk about expensive real estate!

At 5:00 PM a ship, the Da Peng Wan, a 351 foot tanker, is leaving Port Salvador and is on a collision course with us. We call the ship, but no one on it answers our call; which is a violation of international sea law. However, the ship does alter course to starboard, and eventually misses us by a mile.

We crossed the finish line at 5:42 PM St. Helena Start Time (2:42 PM local time). And we're at the marina at 6:42 PM after passing a multi-hundred year old port surrounded by water and next to our marina. Our berthing is 'med-moor, meaning we back in to a dock; tie two lines off the transom onto the dock; and then grab two mooring lines for the bow.

Joel from Rally Control, along with crew from Alpheratz and Nexus, are there to help us 'land.' Johnny,also from Rally Control, then shows up with a silver tray carrying 3 Brazilian welcome drinks for us. No kidding. I have a picture to prove it. Plus we receive a bag of goodies from the local tourism board. Thank you World Cruising Club. Joel from Rally Control then jumps aboard American Spirit II and I sign some paperwork and give him our passports for clearing in to the country. Rally Control will 'walk' our passports thru Customs, Immigration, Health Department and Port Security. Joel also goes over the local events planned for us this week in Salvador; and covers items like SIM cards, ATM machines, Carnival balcony reservations, laundry, whisker pole repair (ours is broken) and 'elevator' usage to go from the lower city to the upper city. We literally have to take an elevator that look like a high rise building to go from the marina, in the 'lower' city, up to the 'upper' city. Maybe 150-200 feet up. An amazing structure. And it cost .15 Real to ride. That's $.06.

About 6:00 PM local time Russ and Laurie from Nexus lead us to an ATM machine and then to a restaurant. We're back at the boat by 8:00 PM. Getting on and off the boat is a challenge because we don't have a plank to go from the dock to the boat. I jump and grab onto the transom flag pole, breaking it off; and Joel and I then help Jeanine aboard. I'm going to have to find a plank to use tomorrow. Jumping 4 feet from the dock to the transom is not going to work.

While Jeanine and Joel are in the cockpit, I'm typing this log and then going to bed. Its now 9:19 PM local time; but 12:19 AM body time.

Brian Fox


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