Lyn's Log, 12th April 2006
Brazil, Fortaleza

Fortaleza, Brazil.
S3º42', W38º29'
8,452 miles.

We returned to Recife and Cabanga Yacht Club for ten days. We needed a chandlery, and were told of one on the other side of Olinda, to the north of Recife. We took a taxi to the old, touristy part of Olinda but could not find the chandlers. Eventually we asked the ‘tourist police’. They were most helpful, telephoning for a young officer who spoke English and could understand just what it was we wanted. He found out where it was and got us a taxi to take us there. It only took nearly an hour to organise!! Here we ordered a new depth sounder and the manager kindly delivered it to the yacht club in four days. We checked out with the police, customs and Capitainerie, stocked with food, diesel and water, and proceeded northwards to Natal.

Having now got a new depth sounder, the original one has been working perfectly, of course. Sixty eight miles along the coast we entered a river at Joao Passoa at three in the morning, and left twelve hours later. It was a beautiful peaceful spot.

We were looking forward to seeing Natal, a further 77 miles north as others had said how nice it was. But when we picked up the one free buoy, someone came out of the club and waved us off. No-one came to explain or help and we anchored as close as we could get without fouling other moorings. Feeling unwanted, I rowed ashore and had to break into the back of the yacht club grounds in order to reach the road. I bought some food and returned to the yacht. In the morning we left. On the other side of the river from the town, is Natal's holiday resort on sand dunes where beach-buggy rides are the main attraction. The sands stretch for many miles north from Natal. A long new bridge is being built over the river estuary and will be an easy landmark for identifying Natal from the sea.

Continuing north for another two hundred miles we had a very pleasant few days with moderate winds anywhere from the side to behind, and up to two knots of current speeding us on our way. This makes for comfortable, easy sailing. It was so hot we stripped off and threw buckets of seawater over each other. We had one downpour during the day when I had just shampooed my hair and the rain rinsed me off well. We arrived at Fortaleza in the early hours and anchored behind the breakwater. We had a cooling swim in the morning and watched a 350 foot four masted Spanish naval training ship, Juan Sabastian de Elcano, moor while their band played and the crew lined the deck in their whites.

From the Fortaleza breakwater, we motored across the bay to the marina and found a small area crowded with yachts moored stern-to on a rickety steel pontoon with ropes and anchors stretched out in front leaving very little room to move. Several of the yachtsmen already there started to shout conflicting instructions as to what we should do. We decided to drop a stern anchor and come bows into the pontoon in the one convenient gap, but almost immediately we hit bottom and it was still a long way from low tide. We pulled back retrieving the stern anchor, but it fouled one of the mooring buoys. Then as we tried to back clear it just went from bad to worse and we managed to get about three stern anchor ropes from other yachts caught under our hull, between the rudder and keel. One went around the propeller, and we were helpless.

Too demoralised to sort ourselves out, we were very grateful to John from Miyott who offered to dive under and free the ropes. All came clear without cutting, and two hours after our disasterous arrival we were at last tied up properly, though still a boat length off the pontoon. This was no real problem and we were not the only ones having to use the dinghy to cross to the pontoon. It saved the yacht from hitting the pontoon accidentally when they all surged around. We rewired our shore power cable to fit the local three-pin socket available, and there was also a hosepipe provided. The best thing about this marina was the fact that it was part of the five-star hotel complex. This meant that for £10 per night we had full use of the marvellous swimming pool, poolside bar, games room, restaurant, and wifi. The restaurant did an ‘eat as much as you like’ hot and cold buffet every evening for £6. It was very smart with lots of attentive waiters, and so air-conditioned the heat hit you as you walked outside!

We did the checking-in formalities and as usual there was one vital form missing. This time it was for customs, but luckily they were satisfied with visiting the yacht next morning rather than sending us back to Recife again. Then we had to visit yet another police federal (immigration) office and got our three month extension on our visas. There were only us, a family of three from Cape Verde and a Portuguese girl wanting extensions, but it still took two hours for them to process masses of paperwork and collect another £5.50 from each of us. Now we have to go back to customs to get the same for Sentinel. And then we do the whole round of federal police, customs and Capitainerie yet again, in order to leave. We have done a little sightseeing (there isn’t much to see except beaches) but mostly, after working on the boat, we spend the latter part of the afternoon around the pool and bar. Then, after dinner, we visit the games room and play table tennis and bar football. We had some pleasant tiimes with our new-found yachting friends; Erwin and Michel, two Frenchmen sailing alone, (Erwin we had met in Salvador and Recife), and Delyn and John from South Africa with their twin teenager sons.

Andrew took one of the rotting wooden dorade boxes off the deck while doing some more derusting, and then we had a couple of holes in the steel to patch with fibreglass after painting. We found and bought a small thick, sheet of polystyrene and put blocks of it under the dinghy seats for bouyancy should the dinghy capsize. I made some rain deflectors from PVC which stick out of the cabin windows when the mosquito screens are jammed in, and a cover over our aft cabin where we sleep so that the windows could be left open when it rains. The rainy season is definitely upon us (six inches one night) and humidity is between ninety and hundred percent. We have collected gallons of rainwater to drink and have now got a drain pipe from our awning to the main water tank.

We shall have been in Fortaleza just over a week. When we have checked out and stocked up again, we shall head off to Belém (a week at sea) and decide whether to go up the Amazon. We have started on the malaria pills and are hoping not to suffer from nasty side effects. We shall miss having free internet and Skype and may not find any internet from now on until Trinidad.