One year ago today:
"Day 51; Giant Tortoises; Land Iguanas; & Swimming with Flightless Cormorants; February 23, 2014. Our first event of the day was a hike at Urbina Bay on Isabella Island. Located at the foot of Alcedo volcano. We were transported to the island on the panga's from the M/V Fragata. It was a 'wet landing', meaning that we had to exit the dingy in the surf. We did so on to a steep, volcanic, black sandy beach. Upon exiting the dinghies, we observed an area of green turtle nesting mounds, which was off limits to us. Upon walking on a trail on the island, we came upon the skull of a male sea lion. You could tell it was a male because of the bony ridge at the top of the skull. We then observed a giant tortoise walking down a trail. He stopped and retracted his head and legs once he became aware of our presence. After we left, he continued walking down the
trail, hoisting his body 8 inches above the ground and walking slowly and deliberately, one leg at a time. When I passed him he dropped to his belly and hissed loudly."
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Below is an email received from the boat Celebrate. Charlie and Cathy have already pushed on to Grenada, and the conditions they encountered getting there are described below. Very helpful information. Another advantage of being in a Rally.
Greetings World ARC Fleet...
(Please pass this message on if I have missed anyone)
Here are some notes on the conditions we encountered on our passage from Salvador to Grenada where we expect to arrive Monday morning, Feb 23rd. We are enjoying lots of sunshine and a fast passage with no day less than 200nm.
Our course along the northern coast was approximately a straight line from 04 16.0S 035 19.7W to the Northern tip of Tobago keeping well offshore to avoid local fishing and shore-induced weather.
WEATHER FORECASTS:
I found the Brazilian marine weather forecasts to be accurate and useful (and in English). Areas GOLF and HOTEL are the areas of interest. You can see the forecast page at:
http://www.mar.mil.br/dhn/chm/meteo/prev/meteoro/boletiming.htm
You can have the page emailed to you every 24 hours by sending the following email (this works for sailmail and I believe it works for any email carrier):
TO:
[email protected]SUBJECT: [Anything]
MESSAGE:
sub http://www.mar.mil.br/dhn/chm/meteo/prev/meteoro/boletiming.htm
To cancel, send the same message with "cancel" instead of "sub".
WIND
We saw winds which were higher than predicted in the GRIB files...more in line with the Brazilian forecasts.
Winds were lightest (ENE-NE 15G20kts) at the beginning of the passage and slowly built to 20-25G35kts. Wind direction was consistent even through most squalls and our apparent wind was between 90 and 120 degrees (stbd).
Wind gusted to 45kts several times near squalls.
CURRENT
Great News...current was with us on average 2 kts throughout the trip. There is some variation in current and there were a few tide-rips. There is a good current-speed GRIB file available from the RTOFS forecast model.
Interesting note: the water changed abruptly from blue to green and there was a 10-degree current shift and tide-rip at a point where I presume the Amazon waters join the Equatorial Current. We were about 150nm offshore at the time.
SEAS
Starting at 3-6ft building to 9-12ft 6 sec on the beam or the stbd quarter. Sometimes things were pretty rolly and occasionally a steep wave would slap the side of the boat for a good dousing. Often a cluster of tall waves would come during a generally 6ft sea.
SHOWERS/SQUALLS
We got a daily rinse-off, sometimes quite heavy. Wind speed was more erratic (10G45 kts) near more violent showers but direction remained consistent. We never saw lightning.
I hope you all have a safe and rapid passage up to Grenada and Cathy & I look forward to seeing you soon!
Charlie
S/V Celebrate
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At 12:20 AM I decide to take a shower up in the restaurant area. A big mistake. I am greeted by 3 barking dogs; two of which are tied so they can't get to me. But the 3rd is not, and he/she comes up to me, growling and showing nice canine teeth. Fortunately its only a medium sized dog. The dogs barking wake up someone sleeping on a bench in the outdoor restaurant; and another person upstairs in the 2nd floor. Sorry about that. A short while later I run the 'dog gauntlet' again.
Up at 7:30 AM. Coffee. Breakfast at 8:45 AM. Eggs, potato, chilled canned plums, and brown bread. Jeanine has an orange and a piece of bread.
Jeanine showers at 9:15 AM in the restaurant area while Joel re-tapes two hatches. I then winch him to the top of the mast to check on our forestay. The top of the forestay, which broke in the Indian Ocean, looks fine. We then lift the dingy out of the water and put it on the dock; finish cleaning it and emptying it of pebbles; then deflate it and put it back on the boat on the V-Berth floor.
Around 11:00 AM the crew from Civetta II and us jump into 2 wooden (ferry) skiffs that pick us up at our dock; and we head across the channel to go to a cafe that has internet. The trip is about a half mile. The boat I'm on has a workable motor. The boat that Vlado, Lupo, Joel and Jeanine are on does not, so they are rowed across the channel; with the current. In the internet cafe we order drinks and a snack and then try to connect to the internet. I download a book on my Kindle, and Joel orders a flag, flag staff and some sandals; but most of the others can't connect to the internet. So much for 'free Wifi.' Its amazing the difficulty we have in using the internet as we travel around the world.
Around 1:45 PM Joel and I take a water taxi back to our marina; while Vlado, Lupo and Jack from Civetta II take a taxi to the Rio Mall, along with Sigi and Jeanine. Back on the boat, Joel and I have a Captain Morgan and then relax for the afternoon. A rain squall passes thru, and I take Jeanine's laundry off the life lines before it hits us.
Jeanine returns from the mall at 4:55 PM with the Civetta II crew; and at 6:15 PM we have dinner: BBQ ribs that I cook in the propane oven; home made French fries cooked on a skillet in the galley; and corn. While preparing dinner I go to fetch some potatoes hanging on our transom, and the mess bag they're in, which has a hole in it, jettisons 5 potatoes into the water. Since the water isn't clean (think sewage), bye bye potatoes. So we have one more potato that I'll cook for breakfast tomorrow morning, but I'll have to buy more before leaving Recife tomorrow or else find a substitute for the breakfast menu for the next 4 days. The BBQ ribs we have on the boat is the first time since leaving Florida that I've cooked them on the boat. With the instructions on cooking the ribs in Portuguese, its not easy trying to figure out exactly how long to cook the meat. I guessed right.
At 6:40 PM, the cat on the dock with the tail tied in a knot, passes by. I throw it a rib with a small amount of meat on it, and it grabs it as its stilly rolling down the dock and then runs to a sailboat, hops on and eats the meat off of it. Once done, its back for more; which I oblige. The cat has a rib feast that it'll hopefully never forget. Sorry dogs.
From 8:00 PM to 10:00 PM we watch a movie, 'Now You See me.' Or something like that. A magician movie. Not bad; but a complicated plot.
Joel and Jeanine are in bed at 10:15 PM while I type this log and some emails; then reading; going to bed around 11:30 PM.
Tomorrow is 'moving day.' We're leaving Recife to go to Fortaleza, about 400 miles away. The weather forecast is for lots of rain. We hope to be there Friday morning. But before leaving tomorrow, I have to go to the Port Captain's office to clear out of the state. We'll also have to clear back into Fortaleza when we get there.
Brian Fox