Anchorages 9 to 17

Anchorages 9 to 17 I have not been logging the anchorages daily so have listed them below. I will post our position daily from now on. This you can see on the world map on the blog page itself. Anchorage 9 we were in Rio for the Carnival which you have all read about. We left Rio on route back to Ilha Grande and 3 hours out our chart plotter died. Although it is possible to sail without it we did not feel comfortable as it shows hidden rocks, other dangers ahead and the depth of the area we are in. Deciding we were more likely to find someone who could fix it in Rio we reluctantly turned back! Rio is exciting, the people friendly and helpful and for a city of its side incredibly clean. In all the time here we have seen one beggar and he was hiding in the subway that crossed under the street. The traffic is heavy and they drive as the mood takes them. Usually like cowboys on a racing track. The bravest has right of way! All over the city there are subways and bridges for pedestrians and cyclists to cross. Pedestrian crossings are also plentiful but one cannot assume that because the light is green to walk they will stop at the red light. But Rio is still a city, and we are not city people. Small doses of the hustle and bustle are enough. The other “problem” was it was still Carnival week and many businesses were closed. So we found ourselves once again anchored at Iate Clube Rio de Janeiro! Thanks for our friends we have made in Rio Lelia Winckler, her husband Armando Serra and Marcelo Dias our carnival buddy. We phoned them, explained the problem and asked who we could call. Not even an hour later they called back saying they had contacted and English speaking Raymarine technician and he would be at the boat the next morning! Ricardo arrived early (no carioca time) and quickly admitted he could not fix the plotter as he did not have spares in Rio and it would take a week or more to get it to Sao Paulo and back! L He told us the other Raymarine workshop in Brazil was in Angra! Whoopee!!!! Right across the sea from Ilha Grande. He suggested we sail to Angra dos Reis and give it in. We could then continue to explore while waiting for it instead of sitting in Rio.  He called the agents in Angra and organised everything. We were to meet the agent at Marina Verolme on Saturday morning. So we were once again on our way back to “our” islands! Anchorage 10 – Lagoa Azur We set sail early the next morning (Friday)  excited to be leaving the city and getting back to the Island. We arrived at Lago Azur early found a good anchorage and settled in for the night. Lagoa Azur is where I spotted my exotic pre-historic looking fish which I have since discovered is a Bat fish. Many thanks to Elmarie for finding the exact picture. The next morning we set off early to Marina Verolme which is an hours motor sail across the water to the Angra Dos Reis mainland. It is situated in the industrial area of Angra. The technician we were supposed to meet never arrived but Ricardo (from Rio) called him and organised we took the plotter out ourselves and give it in at their shop. Which we did. We then set off for Rio yacht clubs subsidiary in Angra where we have stayed before. (Iate Clube Rio De Janeiro subsede Angra dos Reis) That was anchorage 11. Anchorage 12 Praia Matariz We needed to get our dive cylinders refilled and we set off for the dive school we had seen on Ilha Grande at Praia Matariz. We found ourselves a private little cove 10 mins ride in the rubber duck from them. It was perfect!! We anchored, backed the boat into it then tied the back of the boat to rocks under water. The setting was perfect, we snorkelled and bird watched, (added a new bird to my list) then showered and set off to the dive school. It is owned and run by a Chinese Portuguese family. Although they initially insisted they didn’t speak English, one sentence of our broken Portuguese turned them and they were soon all chatting quite comfortably in English to us.  It was the owner / dive master who identified my fish for me. They have a small hotel attached and the whole establishment is beautifully decorated. They also have a “tame” turtle that lives in their bay; she has one front flipper missing after a tangle with a motor boat. Anchorage 13 -  Praia Passaterra From Matariz we went back to a favourite anchorage at Praia Passaterra. The first time we went there and picked up one of the floating buoys to anchor on the owner came out to help us, much to our surprise. We were expecting to be chased away. This time we managed to meet Julio. He was the CEO of the Chile airlines and after suffering two heart attacks was told to retire to a quiet place. He had owned the little beach cottage at Passaterra for many years and on his ex-employers advice turned it into a restaurant. He made the lady who had been working for his family for 26years the proprietor and cook. She now employs him. He spends two weeks n the island then goes to Sao Paulo for two weeks to see his wife. They alternate visits so she gets to spend two weeks a month there. He made us very welcome. They filled our water tanks with fresh mountain water with their hose pipe for free. Their hose is about 50 meters long to reach the boats. We had lunch there and learnt some new Portuguese. Thank you Julio. We will be back! Anchorage 14 - Marina Verolme The next morning it was back to Marina Verolme as we had an appointment with the refrigerator mechanic who had worked on the freezer in Rio. The thermostat he had put in wasn’t working and nothing was freezing. To cut a long story short it took him 2 days to get it sorted out and we ended up spending the night at the marina. Carioco time in Angra (that’s like African time but worseJ) Marina Verolme is clean and very well organised. The staff are friendly and very helpful. When we got stuck with Portuguese they start up their computers and we use Google Translate. The marina manager befriended us and organised us a free stay  at Marina Passaterra in Angra where we could shop. That stay and the following birthday you have already read about. The busy horizon out of Rio. Popped over from London for the Carnival. We sent our best back to Queenie with them J Praia Matariz our private cove! Tucked away! Dive school My fish Marina Verolme

Birthday Boy!

23:06.38S  044:12.12W 18th March 2011 – BIRTHDAY We had anchored at the Angra dos Reis branch of Rio Yacht club and woke to a beautiful day! Perfect for my Captain to turn 50. J We motored across to the club, which has wi-fi, to keep a skype appointment for him to speak to the family. It was great to chat to and see them all. Thanks everyone.  While we were waiting I had organised for Orlandino the club manager to get their continental breakfast (bread and butter) coffee and champagne with orange juice which he brought through just as the family appeared online. So we were able to toast him in true fashion. After the chat we took a slow motor sail up the coast to Marina Paratus, which is just north of the Angra town centre. There we caught a bus into town to take the computer to be repaired then walked back. The marina has its own shopping centre so we took advantage of not having to carry groceries miles on busses and taxi’s and stocked up on the necessary items which are heavy, like beers. J As soon as we had everything aboard we set sail to Saco de Ceu. On the way I did the Jik dip of all items before they get packed away. This is to try and stop any cockroaches coming aboard. We anchored at Saco at about 18h00 and I took the duck across to book a table for dinner. The restaurant is very pretty I have posted photos from our last visit will add some now. Dinner of Paella and Caperinahs was thoroughly enjoyed. We were the only guests so had the whole place to ourselves. When I booked I told them it was André’s birthday and the owner asked if I wanted them to make a cake. Of course I said yes and was dying to see what they produced. When we had finished eating, the owner asked if he could bring “desert” wildly winking and nodding behind André’s back. I agreed and he brought out the “cake” J. It was a plate with a candle in the middle and they had made banana in a berry tasting sauce and green papaya’s with lime and coconut. Delicious! Thanks to everyone that emailed and sent messages for my true love’s birthday. In Brazil the “driveway” invariably leads into the sea, and the garage is big enough for the boat! Birthday Boy!! J Most of the islands have homes built on them like this one. You would pay about US$5 mil for one.  This is a church, all alone on the island. Naval Academy Another little Island get away! Dinner at Saco de Ceu. The “Cake”

Rio Carnival.

Carnival Rio de Janeiro We just made it into Rio to get to the bank before they closed at 4 pm. There was a buzz in the city that one could feel in the air. Friday, start of the Carnival and the start of a long weekend for most Carioca’s (local Rio dwellers). Most businesses would only open again on the following Wednesday.  There are two parts to Rio’s Carnival, the “formal” carnival which is held in the Sambadrome, or Passarela do Samba Stadium. This is the main site where grandstands and VIP viewing booths are set up. The tickets to this part are sold, and often re-sold at a considerable price, long before the time.  By the time we decided to go the tickets could cost between US$ 500 and US$ 5 000.00 each, per night! This is the Carnival you see around the world with the incredible costumes, fantasy floats and bands. More than half a million people take part, all in costume. They are divided into groups called “Samba schools” and compete against each other for the best in carnival. A King and Queen of the carnival are introduced the first night, always a little behind schedule as is befitting “carioca time”. Each Samba school has a chance to perform before the crowds. On the following Friday the champions are announced. TV’s everywhere are blaring Carnival and breaths held as the points are counted. Then there is what I call “the people’s carnival”. These are known as “Blocos”. These take parts in the streets and suberbs of Rio. These are the local cariocs, many dressed in costumes and they lead or follow open topped busses that carry musicians blaring samba music. These are followed by spectators dancing and drinking. It is amazing , considering the amount of alcohol consumed in these blocos we saw very very few people actually drunk. No one misbehaves, no fights just good clean fun. Our friend Marcello met us on the bus with 3 of his friends and we went off to the peoples carnival. We started in central Rio at about 4 pm. There we walked , danced and sometimes just rolled with the crowd for about 3 hours. That bloco then ended, many people just stay in the area making their own music singing and dancing. We caught a bus to Copacabana where the next bloco was about to start. That one we followed and stayed at until 3am. It rained permanently; a few people had umbrellas but most totally ignored the rain. The camaraderie is amazing, everyone loves everyone. The Brazilians are incredibly passionate people. In everything they do they seem to ooze a natural sensuousness. It is quite difficult to express the emotions of the carnival blocos. So for about 12 hours we walked and danced in the rain. I had holes on every possible point of my feet by the end from the wet shoes. The next day we joined Marcello and his friends again for another bloco. No rain this time. J I think the photos will say more than I can tell you. Enjoy! Many of the guys dress as women groups. Its hilarious!   Crowds! Even kids are dressed up. From little babies in prams are pushed along with everyone. Um ok!! Marcelo. Chee, Carla, Andre and ? Oops can’t remember. Refreshments, Vodka on tap! Yep I confess, crazy as they come! Then day 2: Beautiful strangers stop and do this all the time. Passion of carnival is catching. We were not sure what it is.

Anchorages 5 - 8

Anchorages 5 – 8 Lagua Azur - Anchorage 5 (Blue lagoon) The rain poured down at Lagua Azur that night and we were able to fill our tanks with clean fresh water and fill every bucket for washing etc. However it didn’t stop that night and continued to rain. It had let up to a soft drizzle in the morning and I took the rubber duck out for a row, hoping to see close ups of the birds I had been listening too. Not much luck, for some reason they refused to come and sit on a branch close to be to be observed. How inconsiderate I say L After breakfast André and I packed in snorkel gear and went exploring. There is not a huge amount of different fish but it is interesting to see. It was on this snorkel dive I found my “discovery”. I am totally fascinated, if not obsessed with finding out exactly what it is we saw. Most frustrating is we didn’t have a camera with us at the time. “My” prehistoric fish looked as follows: It was about the size of a dinner plate. From the top it looked more like the outline of a huge bullfrog; but its head ended in a short trunk of about 2 inches long. It had no front legs but its back legs were well developed and looked strong for its size. Short “thighs”; with strong joints; to short thick lower leg ending in large frog-like shaped feet that were actually strong fins. It was walking on these fins. Its body ended in a pointed short sting-ray like tail. It was a brown colour. We went down and disturbed the water close to it but it just kept very still and didn’t try to swim or make any different movement to get away. On the few moments I have been able to get onto google I have tried to find something / anything about it but no luck. I am convinced we have seen a species that was thought to be extinct. I am trying to convince my Captain we need to go back with the camera and find it again. On route to our next anchorage we found a beach called Praia de Freguesia de Santana. It has the first church built on Ilha Grande on it. We went ashore to see it. Although it was locked we were able to climb the mountain to see its view. Saco de Ceu – anchorage 6 (Bag of sky) The call it this as the stars reflect in the water at night. This anchorage is almost completely land-locked , there is a small entrance between rocks and then it opens out to this huge bay.  The bay consists of about 3 coves in the shape of a clover. We anchored in the quietest one. The others are home to many of the day trip boats. It is very pretty and although the rain didn’t make for good photos you can see the beauty. We went across to the small restaurant in our bay; it is beautifully done the smartest of those we have seen, obviously a more up market one. Although they were closed in the morning they invited us to look around. They also told us of a climb up to the top of the mountain behind them were we could see the whole bay. It poured all the way and we waited on top to get a photo of the view. Beautiful! Abraao – anchorage 7 (The Capital of Ilha Grande) They have maintained the “sanctity” of Ilha Grande, there are no cars and no formal roads. The same in Abraao! Everything is pushed around in carts, on bicycles or on foot. Abraao is very busy I think every tourist that takes a trip to Ilha Grande, goes to Abraao first. It is a real back-packers town. The ships arrive twice a day and spill people onto the jetty. It was wonderful to sit and watch the characters who have settled in to town and the visitors. It seems many people came to Abraao for a visit and stayed. It was the place we found the most English spoken. When we stopped people in the street with a “Bon Dia, fala ingleis?” (good morning, do you speak English?) It usually prompted a switch to English with various accents of UK; German and USA descent. Having taken the rubber duck over to the beach and chained it to a tree outside a beach restaurant, we spent the afternoon wondering around the town. We sat at one of the café’s watching the people come and go until dinner. It was back to the beach restaurant for coffee the next morning before setting off for Das Palmas. Thanks to HSBC’s efficiency, it was necessary for us to return to Rio to collect bank cards.  We had been informed they were there and with the rain and the upcoming carnival weekend we decided it was a good time to set off back to Rio. We took a slow trip back to our first anchorage at Praia dos Mangues and spent the night before getting an early start for Rio. Carnival fun to follow: