Ca y est c’est parti … et seul !
Benjamin devait m’accompagner mais un impératif familial l’a retenu au dernier moment.
Musique
Quand à mon équipier polonais, je ne sais pas si sa femme se languissait ou un problème d’avion, il m’a quitté a Florianopolis.
Quel bonheur de retrouver la mer, surtout par ce temps de demoiselle: vent de nord est établi aux alentours de 10 noeuds.
Je viens d’envoyer le spi, grand largue speedo ente 6 et 8 noeuds; l’uruguay se raproche à grandes voiles.
mais je sens une question se dessinait sur vos lèvres: comment fait il pour dormir?
Je fais des quarts d’une heure … 55 minutes de sommeil, réveil, petit coup d’oeil, et retour dans la banette de veille.
Oui mais et les bateaux ?
Je suis equipe d’un systeme AIS: les bateaux de plus de 50 mètres émettent leur position, vitesse et direction; une alarme me previent s’ils sont en route de collision.
Mais, les bateaux plus petits?
C’est une bonne question.
Me reveillant toutes les heures, la distance parcourue correspond a la moitié de ma visibilité.
Voila le secret, reste les filets et autres objets flottants non identifiés qui veille ou pas veille, ne pourront pas être évités.
Attention, c’est une technique possible dans des eaux peu fréquentés, mais pas dans la Manche !
Cette nuit, pa exemple, j’ai croise un cargo et un remorqueur, alors que j’étais encore à une dizaine de milles des côtes
.
Aujourd’hui 27 avril, 6 h du main, 6eme jour de mer, terre en vue!
Il reste un peu moins de 50 milles jusqu’a La Paloma, ou je décide de m’arrêter.
La Paloma se trouve a l’entrée du rio dela Plata, et je préfére naviguer de jour, car les cargos se sont multipliés.
Je suis inquiet, j’ai encore resséré ma ceinture d’un cran; toutes les provisions de graisse que j’ai patiemment accumulé depuis des années, en prévision de ce voyage, sont en train de disparaitre !
Heureusement, je n’ai pas de balance pour contrôler.
Bon 6 jours pourr faire 600 milles, la distance de La Rochelle à Gibraltar, c’est pas une moyenne terrible, malgré les moyens déployés: grand voile , génois, spi …
Mais le vent n’était pas au rendez vous.
Bon, je prépare Enjoy pour qu’il soit pimpant pour son arrivée en Uruguay , et je quitte ma tenue gelinas*, pour une tenue plus respectueuse de l’autorité Uruguayenne …
A bientôt
Le capitaine
* gelinas: navigateur solitaire des années 70, se filmant dans des tenues allégées …
Archives mensuelles : avril 2013
En route vers le Sud
Ca y est faut reprendre la mer, les vacances au bresil se termine et mon visa aussi.
Musique
Presque 6 mois passe dans ce pays, et mon portugais est un tout petit moins precaire, mais rassurez vous pas assez suffisant pour emporter une belle equipiere bresilienne …..
Apres une longue escale dans les environs de paraty
, j’attend a Florianopolis, au mouillage de jurere, une meteo favorable pour parcourir seul les 600 milles qui me separe de montevideo.
Florianopolis on dirait presque l’italie , les pizzas sont excellentes et beaucoup d’habitants sont les descendants d’immigrants italiens.
Plus besoin de supporter la chaleur a coup de skol, antartica ou itaipava …
La technique de mise a l’eau des bateaux est rudimentaire , mais efficace !
Admirez le tracteur , construction unique en son genre.
Les températures se sont rafraichis, et oh bonheur, pour la premiere fois depuis le depart de marseille, je dors avec une couette et met une petite laine le soir !!
Que de souvenirs, je laisse ici !
Un grand merci a tous ceux qui m’ont rendu cette navigation bresilienne si agreable …
Rendez vous en Uruguay pour la suite du periple d’Enjoy
PS: Appel a equipiers , si une navigation de vacances en Uruguay / Argentine vous interesse, n’hesitez pas
Paraty – French BBQ and “La Cucaracha” cat.
Paraty – French BBQ and “La Cucaracha” cat.
Ok! Mamangua is great but humans are social creatures and need more than dingo to talk to.
Music
We sailed to Paraty town and on the way met good friends of Olivier anchored off the beach just before Paraty. To our delight we were asked to join them for a BBQ. What a treat – Fresh steak – medium rare, on the bed of rice with green salad, followed by cheese and Italian tiramisu desert. That is what I call luxurious. We have met the Sailing Cat who could sleep on the beach than jump in to dinghy and come on board. He co-owned the yacht and acted in dog capacity checking on all intruders. There was an extra advantage we were told; having him meant no cucarachas on board.
Pirates of the Paraty
We have arrived in Paraty on the 31st March. It was Easter and it turned out that all local bars and restaurants had WIFI connection. First, you go to the reputable place (recognizable by the prizes and typical bon ton clientele) ask if they have WIFI. This is usually follow by affirmative – “Of course, we have it, sir”. Than you ask what is the Password? This is given to you with no objections. Than you sit down open your laptop, iPod, iPad, or OrangePad (local fruit of the swindle market) order your beer while trying to connect – only to be told that the WIFI is temporary (last two years) out of order – follow by 10 Euro bill for your 25gram pitiful glass of piss.
There’s A Awful Lot Of Coffee In Brazil yet one Espresso at 4.50euro.
We had a lot of shopping as we were going to non-stop sail for next few days. Carrying the supply on the way back to the boat we have stopped for coffee in one of the local bars. Two espressos set us back nine euro (sorry did not feel like tipping the waiter). By the way it was clear to me that pirates and Frank Sinatra go hand in hand.
Pirates lined-up to get unaware tourists for “A ride”
Easter in Brazil
Both Easter Sunday and Easter Monday were spent either on boat or wandering streets of Paraty eating in Kilo-restaurant where the food is sold per kilo rather than quality – but at least you do not get ripped off. Paraty is a typical holiday town and judging by the restaurant prices – well overpriced.
It made much better sense to by lots of lovely fruit and vegetables at the local markets and stuff ourselves senseless on board rather than try sleazy bars or restaurants downtown.
Olivier departs for Rio on the bus
On the 4th of April Olivier went back to Rio to pick long awaited Wind Generator from his friend who has brought it from Europe.
During his absence more boats from France arrived – but there were no more French BBQ’s. One of the boats consisted of Philip on his yacht AZAD which I have met in Rio.
Hi had brought with him his girlfriend and apparently they took long time getting to Paraty. It was simply explained that they stopped on every nice beach on the way there. Not blaming them as the only beach we visited was flooded with rain.
I personally think there were some other reasons beside beaching.
Return of Pink Panther
Olivier returns with his new Turkish Friend ( wind generator ). Celebrating with ACAI in local sugar palace. We promised ourselves to feat it and go – would it work????
Waiting for the northerly wind
Sorry sight – lovely “enjoy” sitting, doing nothing, and as the famous proverb say: ” no money – no problem, no work – no problem, no women – no cry, NO WIND – BIG PROBLEM”.
Drink my passion fruit – Cachaca
Tonight we have all the local yacht crew (all French) for an Apero. Somehow – maybe it is my name all crews got the notion that I am the best Cachaca drink maker in Southern Brazil. Normally the said drink is made of distilled sugarcane liquor mixed with squashed limes (do not confuse with
Limy’s ). It is very heavy in alcoholic octants and since we have came across passion fruits we started adding them to this cocktail. To make matters short all our guests asked for re-fills and some were spotted still circling their boats by early hours of the morning singing La Marseillaise in Polish (wonder why?).
The Cachaca Special
Sailors with brollies!!!
In the evening we went out to the local bistro for good bye evening with Philip and his girl.
Pleasant evening and some rain to see us out of the bar. The girl would not move without the umbrella so Philip went back to their dingy to fetch it and Olivier borrowed one from the bar owner. The streets were flooded because of high tide the rain drizzle and two best sailors in Atlantic walking to their “dingo” full of rainwater under one seriously broken brolly. What a sight,,,
Off we go
It’s morning low tide but we take some fuel and off to the south.
Weather could not be better. Sunny day with little breeze slowly turning in to steady 15 knots northerly.
Ideal conditions together to our next destination in about 3 day and nights of continuous sailing. We set the watch at 4 hour intervals.
Room with a view
Open Atlantic – what a view!!!
Big serf and consistent wind at about 15 knots drives us south towards new destination of Ilha de Santa Catarina and its main port Florianopolis.
Flying in the south direction at average of 10knots. No land in sight murky day but the wind too direct behind us pushing us further from unseen land.
15 Knots Landing
Today at 4,30 in the morning we beat the record. Enjoy went at 14.9 knots. For the sailing vessel it is a lot and the feeling of sliding off the waves with a bit of surfing quite excellent. Pity the hour was so early and we could not see much. By about 15.00 we got to the Club de Yates next to Marina Blue Fox on Ilha Catherine.
Florianopolis first visit
The first impression was rather disappointing. A few streets with usual European shopping centres. The Town Centre consisted of lots of little boot stores selling mainly rubbish.
Huge bus station and couple of bridges joining Catherine Island with main land. Both apparently too low to let our boat through. There were some lovely yellow churches and a few post colonial buildings (yellow). Somehow I could not find even one pretty postcard at newsagents. Well it isn’t always that the name pairs with the contents.
Jungle ski adventure
Jungle ski adventure
Good thing arriving from the “chat” with the locals was the info relating to the possibility of getting on foot and bus to Paraty – an old little port few hours sailing from Mamangua.
Music
To get there we left the “dingo” on the leash in someone’s backyard and set of on foot across mountain towards Paraty Mirim. The clime was not so bad but getting off on the other side proved my best skiing abilities. No chance for carving as the mud too slippery following week of non-stop rain. The new ski technique consisted of a slide from one tree to the next holding to anything within grasp for dear life. Couple of wipe-outs later we arrived in the middle of nowhere.
Mamangua from the Jungle above.
One closed church, beer kiosk and unmarked bus stop, that’s it.
There was a white horse, untied waking about and eating some sea grass, between two goal posts next to the beach. Not a soul in sight. Half an hour latter some people started appearing – good indicator of great event -ARRIVAL OF THE BUS TO HELL.
Bus ride to hell
Buses, as you might have noticed, are the only financially acceptable forms of transport in Brazil.
I have (touch wood) never suffered from the sea sickness but the ride on the bus through the jungle nearly change all that. The so called road was simply dried riverbed where yet another cousin of Ayrton Senna was trying to make a local dentist some clients by knocking our teeth out in record breaking time. How on earth these busses last for a year of such a “service” is beyond me. The family of local Indians have joined us at one of the “onibus” stops all dressed-up for their annual trip to the “Big City” of Paraty. First glimpse of Paraty town was rather short as we had to catch the creasy ride back. The bus managed to bring us back in one piece to our middle of nowhere and we were glad to be in our quiet bay of Mamangua.
Taking picture??? – mission impossible.
Sittin’ On The Dock of the mamangua Bay
I was convinced that good old Otis Redding must have got inspiration for his hit by simply sitting by the Lost world of Fundo do Saco do Mamangua and looking up to the 1200 metres peak covered by the dense forest doing nothing in particular.
XANADU – restaurant
Just opposite our “parking spot” there was some wooden structure with a big white banner hanging up-front. Using our best field glasses we could just made-up the name DADIDO. Driven by curiosity we explored it in a “dingo” who jumps over some huge (unmarked) rocks sitting right outside it, so to arrive in the weirdest restaurant ever.
A few wooden tables sitting on the wooden terrace on huge wooden pillars covered partially by wooden roof with a proprietor with a wooden leg and the wooden parrot seating on his wooden arm, selling some wooden models of the wooden boats used locally to transport wood from the woods nearby. That’s what one calls living with nature.
The fish served there was delicious as it was fresh and prepared in front of us. Drinking water to top-up our empty canister was excellent and free. Strongly recommended. While having our second pint (bear not water) we were told that at the end of the bay there is an entrance to the hidden river leading to elusive waterfall (Cachoeira in local).
Muddy Waters adventure
Next day met us riding our “dingo” penetrating dense mangrove forest at the very top of the Mamangua bay. The tide was high and we went in to virtually every accessible opening (so common with sailors) yet finding only dead ends as if the anchor was placed there preventing us to go anywhere further. After a few futile attempts we had to retreat (lol) as the tide was beginning to slack and we can get stranded there for hours in increasingly shallow water. It was a Mad adventure in very muddy waters. On the way back we had decided to visit one more place called Praia do Curupira, and guess “Watt”?(see next chapters)
Lost world of Mamangua rain forest.
Who has found the electrical BULB?
Great American scientist Thomas Edison was apparently not the first to invent the light bulb. It was an Englishman Humphry Davy who invented it but the person who founded it on Praia do Curupira was our Great French explorer Olivier Courtois.
The electric bulbs grow on trees and in the jungle can get to the incredible size of 60 WATTS. This we have found on our escape from the MUDDY WATERS. (by the way Watt is yet another famous name – simply the title of the album of the English band called Ten Years After – see “I’m going home”)
Rio Bravo e Vegetacao
We had a second go at our Didoda or Dadido host the same evening. By the time we had polished our third “Original” our Portuguese becomes Fluid or was it fluent. NOW we KNOW better. Avoiding the hidden rock, few fish nets we ride our Dingo safely to enjoy and pump him up for a good measure.
“Walk on the Water” by ApologetiX (see https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7lAh7P8kNYI)
Oli-gators, anna-kondas and paranohas
With a touch of headache we get on dingo first thing in the morning and (as the tide was at the low ebb) we get stranded in the middle of the bay.
Miraculously Olivier manages to Walk On the Deep Purple Water and finds a “shallow water diver” to ask directions to the Cachoeira. How could one have missed that? A simple set of Gaol !!!!! Posts. (after all we are in Brazil).
Hurray!!! We found the entrance and follow up the river with an incoming tide current. Well. I know it is not an Orinoco but next best thing.
Final leg we had to puddle. I kept mine (leg) in the dingo preferring not to call it the “last leg I had”. Did not trust Olivier when he assured me that the Alligators are not in Brazil (but Caymans are not only inhabitants of some far away islands of the same name, are they?). Nor did his explanation that all the local caymans were eaten by anacondas and anacondas vanished simply as the piranha had them, could persuade me to get my “leg over” the dingo – side. The final argument won, however, all mentioned beasts were eaten by tiny mosquitoes which are breeding in Brazilian Jungle thanks to the sponsorship of John&John’s Son, who in turn, are specializing in skinning humans there, by charging astronomical sums for mosquito repellents.
Na(igra)da Cachoeira = waterfall = Cascade
What an achievement; – we get there by mistake.
There was a banana tree forest so we got out of our mosquito infested dingo (what happened to the good all fleas??) and tried to knock them (not the mosquitoes nor the fleas) down but the bananas which turned out to be far too green for consumption. We have concluded that they would never get ripen on our boat ( c’mon we are not that bad – spelling wise). Best to ask local growers if they can sell us some.
Lacking three or four pints of “official” we were lost in translation again. Disregarding all efforts of the farmer or (watch dingo – I am still not sure which one) we picked a bit of passion (fruit) laying on the ground and followed THE SOUND.
The Waterfall;- sorry “the waterfall” turned up to be just a little fall of the
water from rocks but the reassuring knowledge that nobody was up the river allowed us to drink the water, bathe in it and so on. Some of the blue butterflies flying around were as big as my palm and I bet they feed on flowers surrounding the place, various fruit of the forest and definitely on mosquitoes (though I have still applied generous coat of mosquito repellent armour upon my naked body – thanks John&John’s Son). Olivier has commented that he is going to invest all his money in to developing another Brazilian brand of repellent as a sure business venture.
Local Blue Oyster Club (Olivier’s Temptation)
Never ending choice of colours and architecture (Something to do with Portugal I think)
To our surprise, one morning we had a visit from the local fisherman on his boat.
Surprisingly, he did not come to complain about us treading on his “Waterlogged Football Pitch” nor scaring his “hunting pelican” but to offer us some Oysters that he picked that morning. Olivier could not resist and bought a dozen.
Waterlogged pitch
Local football fan looking at the pitch – must be Brazilian football supporter or fishing pelican.
In the evening Olivier has admitted that those were the smallest oysters he ever had and promised to investigate the possibility of setting Oyster Farm in Brazil in the future.
Yes and the Oysters are from the Mamangua Fishing Club and you do not need soup spoon
Raining Cats and Dingos
Raining Cats and Dingos
We are settling in the famous Marina Pinda (nothing to do with Polish word pinda ). It is surely quite surprising to stay in the marina surrounded by the beautiful beach with no person around. It could be due to the end of season – or might be that people here do not like rain?
Most of the day we have spend trying to find parts for the dingy which slowed down to a crawling speed and was making some howling noises. We should really call it a Dingo.
Next few days
Rain and more rain
Mainly work on boat and its electrical system.
Brazilian “Cargo – Tango”
Decision has been made. Thanks to Southerly winds we have decided to do a bit of Brazilian Tango. You might recollect that in the first leg from Rio we made decent distance to Sao Sebastian in 48 hours (two steps forward).
Now we take one step back towards Rio, as Olivier is expecting the wind generator to be delivered there in ten or so days.
Loads of Cargo ships around – but they are all from China – not from Turkey.
Flying Dutchman club of Ilhabela
We have tripped over our feet and as the wind died down in the middle of the day and we found ourselves circumnavigating Ilhabela. Little that we know, in the bay called Saco do Sombrio were we planed to stay overnight on anchor the light appeared.
To our dismay there was a little bar (surprise, surprise) run by the Ilhabela Marina Club. No choice there, little 1kg fish and chips with our last bottle of “Chablis” and we are ready for ber
Long live Chablis
One bird with two stones
Set off at around 9am. There is very little wind and we have to motor the first part of the day. Well why not some fishing. The bite is an artificial fish and the line to withstand a fish up to 15kg (two stone). Flock of birds took interest in our bite. Brilliant dive by one of the blind ones, ending in hooking the poor old thing.
Quick action and we have managed to unhook and let him loose. Than (too late I suppose) we say – but what’s wrong with Margret de Canard for dinner?
The seabirds are black not white – must be something to do with South being North there
Averaging 10.5 knots
The promised wind did arrive right at noon (that is when the sun is in the north). We put the sails up and in virtually no time were doing some 10 to 12 knots. Visibility very poor and lots of cloud with thunder. By 21.00 we got in a vicinity of Ilha Grande.
Decided to take shelter in a very well protected bay of Mamangua. Few lights but quiet sea – scrambled eggs and of to bed.
Yet, the sun goes down in the usual West – Now tall us: WHICH DIRECTION THE BOAT GOES?.
Branch at Tiffanies.
New day found us dozing till ten in the morning. We have lifted the anchor and went down the Mamangua bay. To our port we have noticed little fishing village on Praia do Cruzeiro. The only place looking like being alive was of course the local bar. A few patrons already in attendance so why not to join in for a chat. Fish (probably frozen since the Ice Age days) arrived on the bed of rice. Washed down with couple of “originals” light conversation with a couple of aborigines and siesta. Who needs Tiffanies ?
Panorama of Praia do Cruzeiro
Loch Mamangua and Nessie.
The same evening I have noticed that we were joined by our friend from Scotland. Nessie had a little holiday and obviously visiting the Brazilian relatives. Her close cousin Anaconda is having her nest near by, so I was told by our friends at Tiffanies. Judging by the size of the fruits such as AVOCADO ( 1kg each) nobody noticed the rather large size of our Loch Ness monster – anyway she is considered as rather shy, and as not in the habit of swallowing the locals, she is left to eat all large oysters.
One needs table spoon to eat Avocado with in Brazil
I am not sure – was this the Avocado tree?
Leaving rio
Hello all,
Musique
May I first introduce myself:
My name is Wlodek as in “Vodka”. I am originally from Poland but have lived almost all my life in England. Now, I live in France devouring the best of food and company. My French language still leaves plenty to be desired.
Recently, by way of mutual friends I found out about this beautiful adventure of Olivier and his beloved Enjoy (though sometimes he addresses her in some other words).
Sailing for me is the next best thing to French food and English weather, therefore I did not hesitate to join the “Enjoy” for a while to see if I am worthy of her.
You, devoted readers of this blog, no doubt know that the initialisation of this trip began at least a year ago. The first stage of the trip was accomplished by “flying” over the “pond” (as the Americans would say) in 17 days…of which 4 were dedicated to fishing.
The”Enjoy” had a nice little rest in Rio de Janeiro and so has Olivier. Nevertheless, the call of the sea prevailed and at 21h00 on the 14th March my own voyage began.
1st day – Arrival
Ok, I was 5 minutes late from Paris to Urca beach mooring, but thanks to the local cab driver whose name was Antonio Senna ( brother of Ayrton Senna ) or something like it, we have made up most of the lost time.
2nd – Meeting new Friends
Following a proper French breakfast, Oliver introduced me to his friend Philip who travels the world on his own on the fine 43 foot yacht called “AZAD”.
We got an account of all the local gossip, then exchanged a few opinions on the recent local events taking place in the bay of Urca beach. SHOPPING TRIP the usual but visit of the Inca Catholic Church in the middle of Rio was quite something.
In the evening we popped in to our neighbours’ and as it happened stayed with our wonderful hosts Olivier and Patricia for the rest of the evening.
That evening will go in to the history books as “The Camembert Evening” . For bringing it in good order from France I have nearly landed myself the equivalent of the “French Order of the Empire”.
3rd – Lunch at Rio de Janeiro Yacht Club
Lay in bed a bit longer than usual. Philip arrives at 10 and we all set to work on a few problems on the boat of Olivier’s friend Paulo. He is member of the yacht club of Rio. Navi lights repaired and working, we were invited for a lunch in the club house (few minutes dinghy ride from Urca beach). The day being very hot (40 C) we accompany the local food buffet with a few cool drinks (no wine in sight). All this followed by the first real siesta. The evening ending with a Brazilian adventure film staring J P Belmondo with the pink Cadillac in green stars.
4th – Departure South
Start of the day with a proper French breakfast and supply shopping trip to the local grocers.
Big lunch at local bistro starring the usual trio and some crowd from Brasilia France and Poland join in.
Apparently Olivier got “Hero of the Empire” medal for rescuing some Polish woman in distress the previous week. Evening: the additional crew arrived in form of Benjamin and Pierrick. The run started at 21.00 on the 14th March when we went around the Sugar Loaf Montaigne and took direct south along Copacabana beach. Wind mostly north to north – east took us out of Rio vicinity and by 1.00 am the Corcovado has despair from our sleepy eyes.
5th – Passage
Lovely run of 24 hours with the full sail brought us by midnight to the vicinity of Illa Bella. The lighthouse mentioned to be seen for 15 sea miles never showed from the direction we came (heading 255). It is obscured by land and two little islets on the way: can become an obstacle to avoid at short notice ( This is an official warning).
Le film : De rio à ilha bella
6th – Fishing and arrival at Ilhabela.
The sunrise found us approaching the Ilhabela island from the Atlantic site so we can go around it towards the San Sebastian canal. There is a natural reserve at the very tip of the island yet further one can throw the line and try some fishing. Yes, we did almost catch it. A monster, at least 50cm, with a huge mouth was nearly landed but before we could reduce speed by reducing the sails, the line broke. This meant to put us off sailing but I am afraid the fish lost the contest and we got quite satisfied by having its cousin for dinner. That evening we saw our new crew off to go back to Rio.
7th – Hat Trick.
The transport on our side of the island is limited to two prehistoric buses running some undefined route between the ferry port and Villa . Our place of moorings is situated close to the former.
Last night Olivier left his new hat on the bus returning from the ferry port. You should have see his face when we found it lying next to the driver on the bus we took today for a trip to our favourite “Restaurant” in the mountains. What luck.
It rained silly all day – no wonder, start of the rainy season here. Visibility zero at sea as well as inland. Major repair done inside (the GPS working and at easy access). Closing the evening with fried eggs and another comedy on the video.