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American Spirit II - Day 422; Last Full Day in Fortaleza; & a Farewell Party and Dinner; Wednesday, March 4, 2015



I woke up again early, at 4:32 AM. Don't know why. Maybe Joel went to the bathroom and the head electric pumps woke me up when he flushed.

Heidi is up at 6:00 AM; and at 6:40 AM she takes off with Vlado from Civetta II to go running. Impressive.

Joel and I get up at 7:15 AM. Breakfast is at 8:15 AM after morning coffee. Eggs, potato, chilled peach halves and brown bread. One of the refrigerated eggs I crack open is bad. The reason I crack one egg in a bowl by itself is that if I crack it in a bowl with all the other eggs, like I used to do, then one bad egg makes them all bad. When I crack an egg if the yoke is intact the egg is fine. If its not intact, it might be bad. I then give it the smell test. This egg not only had no solid yoke, it looked bad and smelled bad. Adios! This bad refrigerated egg is the first bad refrigerated egg I've had on the Rally in 13 months.

Heidi has dishwashing duties and has impressed me with her speed. There are two big water users on the boat: washing dishes and taking a shower. The former is more of a water hog because we wash dishes twice per day, plus rinse out the coffee press a half dozen times per day; and a few other items. Under sail we use the salt water pump to wash and rinse off food from the plates and pots and pans. But in an anchorage or marina the water is dirty so we can't use the salt water pump. Therefore, we use more water washing dishes when not under sail. Under sail, on any given day, no one takes a shower. We typically shower every other day or every third day. Depends on how hot it is; how sweaty you get; how bad you smell; and how rough it is. Some people don't like to take showers standing on their head (its wavy or rough out). I don't care about that. At any rate, by being a fast dishwasher, Heidi is more economical using water to wash dishes than others who have washed them on the boat. 'The enemy of good is great.'

Joel from Rally control conducts the net at 9:00 AM. The clearance process is supposed to start at 9:00 AM but the officials are not here yet. I guess we're on 'island time.' Joel announces that he will let us know on VHF channel 72 when ALL the officials are here. At 9:40 AM I head up to 'internationally' clear out of Brazil. There are 7 officials from the Brazilian government here to clear us out: the Federal Police; Port Captain or Customs; and Immigration. Only one of them speaks English. It is a slow and laborious process. If we had to clear out of Brazil ourselves, we'd have to go to 3 different locations in the city; and we wouldn't have the advantage of having Rally control help us. We find we're lacking one piece of paper because the Port Captain took it when we cleared into Fortaleza; and we need numerous copies made, which because we're in a hotel is easy to do. And Johnny from Rally control speaks Portuguese well enough to be understood by the Brazilian's, who speak Portuguese, but its a different Portuguese that Johnny speaks in Portugal. Who knew?! I'm finally cleared out by 11:05 AM. An hour and 25 minutes. When we're done we shake everyone's hands. But before I can depart, the one official not in uniform shakes my hand, then he takes his left hand and grabs my left shoulder, and takes his right hand and puts it over my heart. Then he hugs me closely and forcefully. I'm not sure what this means, but I think its a good thing. Perhaps a way of saying, 'My heart is with you!'

Joel 'waters the boat' (fills the main water tank) when I'm gone, using the charcoal filter to do so. The hose fittings on the dock don't fit ours, so he has to borrow a spare fitting from Civetta II to proceed. Civetta II also waters their boat after draining their tank, and uses our filter to do so. Jack says that the water tastes better after filling up their water tank using our hose and charcoal filter system.

I go to the grocery store with Vlado, Jack and Lupo from Civetta II for one last provisioning. We're all paying cash, because we're trying to get rid of all the Real we can before departing Brazil. However, we're saving some small bills and coins for children and grandchildren. Our final grocery bill is 322 Real, or $113.61. I actually find some Skippy Peanut Butter for Joel, as he's been using an inferior brand for a couple of months now. And I buy a can of shaving cream and an aluminum pan that you cook a turkey in. There items are part of the 'costume' that I'm building for Heidi when we 'Neptune' her when she crosses the equator in our boat. She has given us a green light to do a 'medium' initiation; not a full one. So I'm starting to put together her 'make up' and outfit. Yes, we WILL take pictures!

We stop at the outdoor McDonald's on the way back to the boat. Pigeons and sparrows fly and walk by as we eat at our outdoor table. Amazing.

The Skipper's Meeting is held at 3:00 PM in the hotel; and it is conducted by Joel. A pretty straightforward 1,700 miles to Grenada. He covers our route; the daily communication's net; the marina in Grenada; the weather; our GRIBs; and our schedule in Grenada and St. Lucia. Its a good presentation. It looks like Sunday we'll have some strong winds hit us for the day. In looking at the current screen, it appears that the Amazon river, as it empties into the Atlantic, will have two currents - one against us and then with us. By staying far offshore, we hope to miss this counter current. Charlie from Celebrate was affected by the Amazon river current 150 miles offshore. Wow!

We learned during the Skipper's Briefing that the start of the leg will be a 'rolling start' between 10:00 AM and 10:20 AM, instead of 12 noon. We're happy with the schedule being moved up.

We're back on the boat by 3:40 PM. Joel then hops in the water to check our boat bottom, to see if we need to brush it before starting for Grenada. The bottom looks fine; however, he sees that a rope has attached itself to our propeller shaft, so I get a knife for him to cut it off. The rope didn't appear to be a problem, but it had to go. After getting out of the water Joel showers and shaves on the boat. (We have plenty of water now). 

From 4:00 PM to 4:55 PM I type one log and some emails; then go to the pool area to use the internet to send the log and emails out. I then go back to the boat to put the computer back on the navigation table. I use a large, red dry bag when transporting the computer off and onto the boat, as we're using a dingy tied with 2 ropes to go back and forth from the pontoons to our boat. Joel and Heidi have already left to go to the Rally pool party at 5:00 PM. I join them at 5:30 PM. Besides free drinks, the Rally provides 'finger food.' Its a good gathering, even with only 5 boats in attendance.

At 7:10 PM we head to the hotel restaurant for a buffet dinner, which costs 45 Real ($15.78) and includes one drink. A good deal. Four of the five boats are represented, at least in part: us (3), Civetta II(4), Festina Lente (1) and Chicka-lu (1). Plus Joel and Johnny from Rally control. We're back on the boat by 8:45 PM.

At 8:50 PM I type one log and a couple of emails. Joel has Heidi put on 1/4 of a Transderm patch, for sea sickness. Heidi doesn't get seasick, but better safe than sorry; as tomorrow we're beginning an 11 day passage of 1,700 nautical miles.

Heidi is in bed reading at 9:45 PM.

My overall opinion of our facilities in Fortaleza, is that the dock is dangerous and needs to be improved upon greatly. However, on the plus side we had power and water. Plus the fresh water pool, with its water fall, was fantastic; we had internet at the pool; the internet at the pool was fast; there was food and drink service at the pool; the two hotel restaurants were good; at least one person at the front hotel desk spoke English fluently; taxi's were always available at the hotel; and the hotel's location was adequate. Since we always took a cab, being 10 minutes away from the heart of the city wasn't a problem. The biggest negative was that since almost no-one spoke English, we couldn't set up a half day or full day tour of the city. I understand that the Rally isn't coming to Fortaleza next year, and that Brazil is a conundrum. The lack of English being spoken is a real disincentive in coming here; as is the crime here.

Brian Fox




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