Lyn's Log, 19th January 2006
Brazil, Recife

Recife, Brazil.
S8º04', W34º52'
6,692 miles.

After four lovely days we decided it was time we set out for Salvador, but the wind was still not free enough to sail straight there, so we were heading for Recife. Three days later we arrived in Recife and picked up a buoy a little way inside the harbour wall just as dawn was breaking. After lunch there was enough depth with a rising tide to go to the recommended yacht club at Cabanga.

This proved to be a wonderful place at a very cheap rate. The yachts are secured to a buoy at the stern and two long ropes from the bows to the marina wall, and although it is not possible to step ashore, there is a water by each mooring, though unfortunately not electricity. A good breeze blew through much of the day so the wind generator provided most of our power needs. On shore there are two swimming pools, one with flumes, a sauna and gym, bar-b-que areas, tennis court, an area for washing and drying sails, a restaurant and bar, and lots of helpful staff. All this cost around £4 per night.

The old town of Recife and the port area are too far from Cabanga to walk, but the taxis are cheap and make travelling around very easy and at a bearable temperature. To check into Brazil we had a mass of paperwork to sort. We started with the Federal Police branch inside the port gates, then the Customs in a building opposite the police. The police did not take too long and gave us papers allowing us a three month stay in Brazil. Customs had us filling out similar forms again which the officer then had to transfer to fill in his new computer forms, a task with which he was clearly unfamiliar, having to refer to the manual page by page for every answer until complete and printed off. An hour later he was ready to give us our paperwork. He said that we must return when we left, and as that would be in three days we asked to have our leaving papers as well to save us a return trip. As the weekend was approaching he agreed, and without taking too much longer. We then rushed around to the centre of the old town for Port Control. This was a magnificent naval building into which we were ushered and asked to wait. A junior official came to see us, speaking only Portuguese. He looked through our sheaves of collected paperwork and eventually we understood we should have visited port health as well whilst in the port area. So the next day we visited the port health to fill in forms asking us if we had any rats aboard, had any of our rats died, had we had any burials at sea, etc. The lady in charge was married to a Scotsman and had only been back in Brazil a year. We had a long talk with her as it was possible that her husband could have taught Andrew’s stepson medicine at university in Scotland. It was then back to the port control and eventually we thought we had all the papers we needed.

We spent a few days sightseeing, including the extraordinary Brennand tile-works (pic above shows just one tiny area), and then left for Salvador on Thursday 19th January.