15 March 2018 Jacaré, Brazil
I topped up our diesel tanks from a couple of jerry jugs. It’s quite nice to know that we’ve only used 50 litres all the way from St Helena. I dropped the empty jerry cans off at the marina and they will refill them for 4 Reals (£1) per litre. I also jerry-canned some water and filled up our water tanks. Glenys picked up the laundry from Carla, who did a great job. (She’s in the house with a big tree in the garden directly to the south of Jacare Marina Village.)
We spent the rest of the morning at the marina, using their internet, re-checking the adverts to sell Alba and other bits of admin. In the afternoon, I discovered that we can get internet on the boat from another marina, so we had a chilled out afternoon on-board, cruising the internet. I managed to publish my blog and photographs, which I wasn’t able to do on the slow internet at Jacare marina village.
An hour before sunset, we went ashore to the tourist area, where there are lots of small souvenir shops and cafes. There were hundreds of people milling about and a few musicians playing, so it was fun. Tourist boats were chugging around the river, all waiting for the main event.
Just before the sun goes down, all the loud speakers switch to the mournful sound of Ravel’s Bolero. A small boat is rowed past the crowds, with a single saxophone player dressed in a white suit playing the tune. The same guy has been doing it for decades. It’s very picturesque seeing him drifting past, silhouetted by the setting sun. Unfortunately, the effect is rather spoiled by the huge Tourist Boats that pick up moorings and block most of the spectacular sunset.
16 March 2018 Jacaré, Brazil
I picked up our diesel from the marina. I’ve found out that Miserable Nicolas is charging other cruisers 100 Reals per week and is charging me 125 Reals, so I’ve got the hump and decided not to use his facilities any more. He didn’t half pull a face when I only gave him 107 Reals instead of 125, because we’d only used his facilities for six days.
I worked on the wind generator, which was still not outputting any power. I spent a couple of hours being very disciplined and testing the whole system, without finding anything wrong. Then I decided to change the fuse again and blow me down, it worked. I’ve changed the fuse before, but I must have had two bad ones… Ah well, at least it’s working now.
While I was in electrical mode, I tested the batteries. After the problems with charging on the passage here, I suspected that there might be something wrong. Sure enough, the three oldest ones are completely trashed and need replacing. They’ve obviously been pulling the other three batteries down, so I’ve disconnected them from the circuit and we’ll just have to run on 300 AH of capacity until I can replace them.
17 March 2018 Jacaré, Brazil
We spent the day travelling to Olinda. It was a long five hour journey - train into Joao Pessoa; executive coach to Recife Bus Terminal; underground to Recife city centre and then a local bus to Olinda. The journey went smoothly and I’m quite impressed by the public transport system. The local trains and buses are a bit rough, but the two hour intercity coach was air-conditioned with on-board wi-fi. It’s easy enough to get tickets at each of the stations.
The intercity bus went to the Recife Terminal Integrado de Passageiros (TIP), which was a little frustrating because the bus passed within 8 kilometres of Olinda and then carried on to the other side of Recife - we then had to travel back 22 kilometres via the city centre. The alternative was to get off the bus at Abreu e Lima and try to get a local minibus to Olinda. However, the idea of two (old) gringos, who can’t speak any Portuguese, trying to get a lift from locals seemed to be a recipe for robbery.
The trip might have been long, but we had a good time watching the locals and getting a feeling for the Brazilian way of life. The Recife Underground is chaotic, with dozens of vendors marching along the carriages shouting out their wares “Agua, Agua, Agua” was the predominate cry. The local buses into Olinda (1972, 1983 & 1992), stop on the road outside the underground Central Station and are bone-rattling, but you get a good tour of Recife.
Olinda is a lovely colonial town built by the Portuguese in the 1500s. It’s built on steep hillsides and the narrow, cobble-stoned streets wind between brightly painted houses, opening up in squares containing baroque churches, convents and monasteries. The town is only 6 kilometres outside Recife and it’s a popular destination for Brazilian tourists.
We walked up to the Pousada do Amparo, which is a small hotel and very nice. After dumping our bags, we went for a stroll around town, finishing at the top of the hill next to the Ingreja de Se, which is the centre of activity at sunset. There’s a great view of the town with the city of Recife in the distance. The square is packed with Brazilian tourists, strolling about, drinking cocktails and eating snacks cooked on the street stalls.
The local favourite snack is Tapioca. Dozens of small stalls were making a kind of tortilla from cooked Tapioca powder and then filling it with various savoury or sweet fillings. We found ourselves in a small bar (just along the street from the Observatory), where a lady dressed in white was producing Tapioca concoctions - we had one filled with Bacalhau and Cheese - very tasty especially when washed down with a cold beer.
For dinner, we selected a small restaurant (Nayle) just down the hill from our hotel. It was Glenys’s deferred birthday, so we had a couple of Caipirinha, which are Brazil's national cocktail. They are very simple to make - lots of crushed limes, ice and cachaça, which is 40°Proof Aguadente made from cane sugar - knocks your head off.
18 March 2018 Jacaré, Brazil
After a leisurely breakfast, we walked around Olinda. We’d found a walking tour of the town on the internet, which gave us a route and descriptions of the various sights. Our first stop was the Monastery of Bento, where the Benedictine monks have a special service at 10:00 every Sunday morning. The Gregorian chanting was lovely, but we could only take 30 minutes of the formal Catholic service.
The rest of the morning was a blur of churches, convents and monasteries, most of which were built in the 1600s and are still populated by very religious orders. One convent is occupied by the Sisters of Dorothy, who shun all contact with the outside world. The town is a very interesting place with lots of history.
We retired back to our hotel and had a siesta in the cool of the swimming pool and our air-conditioned room. Later in the afternoon, we visited a few more churches and strolled back up to the Ingreja de Se to see the sunset and do some more people-watching. Being a Sunday, many of the restaurants were closed, so we went back to the Nayle where we shared a fabulous Fish Stew and a bottle of wine.
19 March 2018 Jacaré, Brazil
After an early-ish breakfast, we caught a bus from Olinda to Recife city centre, where we walked to Marco Zero Square, which is supposed to be one of the “must-visit” places in Recife. We were disappointed - it’s a big square with lots of tourist guides touting for business and a large sanitised tourist souvenir shop, so we didn’t stay long. Instead we walked to the Mercado de Sao José, which was a bustling local market and interesting to stroll around.
At about 11:30, we caught an underground from the Central Station and returned to Jacaré. It took us six hours to get back to the boat because we had a long wait for the intercity coach, which then got caught in a traffic jam. However, we had a good short break and saw a lot of the Brazilian way of life.
20 March 2018 Jacaré, Brazil
We’ve decided to leave Brazil on Saturday 24th, so we walked into the main street of Jacaré to do some shopping. After checking out the three supermarkets, we walked a little further to the beach on the other side of the peninsula. We went for a short stroll along the beautiful white sand beach, but we were soon defeated by the beating sun.
After a double trolley shopping spree in the supermarket, we caught a cab back to Brian’s dinghy dock, which only cost us 9 Reals (£2.25). The afternoon was spent stowing food and chilling out.
21 March 2018 Jacaré, Brazil
Having experienced the slow process of clearing into Brazil, we decided to start a few days early. We parked our dinghy at Brian’s dinghy dock and walked to the Immigration, which took about 25 minutes. We arrived just before 10:00 and were kept waiting for 40 minutes until someone saw us.
The immigration officer was painfully pedantic and checked every stamp on every page of our passports. He then triple checked everything else before printing out two copies of the Exit (Saida) form, which he checked four times before signing it and handing it over. The process took a mind-numbing 40 minutes.
We had planned to catch a bus into Cabadelo, but it was 11:35 by the time that we walked to the main road and we knew that the Customs wouldn’t see anyone after 12:30, so we called it a day and walked back to the boat. We spent the afternoon chilling out.
Every evening just after dark, we’ve been getting these loud tapping noises coming from the hull. When we first heard it, there was only one or two things tapping and I was convinced that a rope or something had caught on the anchor chain and was banging against the hull in the strong current. We pulled up the anchor a little and motored forward to try to dislodge it without any luck.
I now think that our hull is covered by big barnacles or the noise is caused by shrimp or fish biting things off the hull. I’m going to have to go down underwater and investigate, but I’m not looking forward to it. The water is a horrible brown colour and the current rips by at over 4 knots at times, so I’m going to have to time it well.
22 March 2018 Jacaré, Brazil
At 08:15, we caught the train into Cabadelo to visit Customs. We’d been told not to get there before 09:30 because the custom officer’s boss wasn’t in until that time and he has to sign the paperwork. However, we thought that we’d get there early to get a head start. We walked into the office at 08:45 and to our astonishment, we were walking out at 08:55 - it’s a miracle.
Unfortunately, the next train to Joao Pessoa wasn’t until 10:15, so we walked to the little bus station and despite the unhelpfulness of the guy in charge of the office, we managed to get on the correct bus. The cost of the ticket was 3.55 Reals, which is 7 times the cost of the train, but being only £0.80 each, we decided that it was acceptable. The buses have an incredibly robust turnstile just past the driver, which is very narrow and strong, so it’s a challenge to get through it, especially for some of the predominantly large Brazilian ladies.
The driver was a maniac. He roared off as soon as the last passenger was through his door, accelerating through the gears, while using one hand and half his brain to give change to the money offered. There are bus stops along the route, but it would appear that they are just a convenient place for stopping to let passengers off.
Anyone can flag down a bus anywhere. Upon spotting a potential passenger, the driver accelerated towards them, slamming the brakes on at the last possible moment and veered to the side of the busy dual carriageway. The passenger scurries on-board, hanging on grimly as the bus roars off again. It wasn’t very restful, but great fun.
Miraculously arriving in Joao Pessoa in one piece, we dodged the heavy rain showers and walked to the Port Captain’s office, where we were processed within 15 minutes - God is obviously on our side today.
We strolled across town to the Centro Cultural de São Francisco which was a Convent built in 1589 and has been restored to become a religious museum. It’s only 6 Reals to get in and the ticket includes a guided tour. It’s all in Portuguese, but the place is astounding with four chapels, which are beautifully decorated with gilded carvings and frescoes. One of the chapels is dedicated to St Francis of Assisi, who (I now know) was the first saint to be given stigmata by the angels.
With time to spare, we called in at the zoo, which only cost 2 Reals each (£0.50). There’s a lot of building work in progress and the animals are in depressing 1960’s cages and concrete enclosures, but the grounds are pleasant and it was a nice way to pass an hour.
After a lunch of rice, beans and chicken, we strolled to the market where Glenys bought various types of beans. We caught the train back to Alba and then invited Stephen and Alex from “Christiana Pearl” over for a few sunset drinks.
23 March 2018 Jacaré, Brazil
Our plan is to sail tomorrow, so at slack tide, I donned scuba gear and went under the hull to investigate the extent of the fouling. I was pleasantly surprised to find that the antifoul paint has been doing a good job and there were hardly any creatures on the main hull. The propeller had ¼” of barnacles and soft growth, but that was soon scraped away. I even had time to swim around the boat and scrub the water line, before the current picked up.
We walked into Jacaré and did a last food shop at the supermarket. After a taxi ride back, I dropped Glenys off at the boat and did two runs ashore to lug 120 litres of water back to the boat. Brian let me get water from his Jacaré Marine boatyard for free, but I had to lug the heavy jerry cans 100 metres back to his dinghy dock. It’s so frustrating knowing that our water maker produces 170 litres and hour, but I can’t use it in the river because of all the sediment.
We chilled out in the afternoon and then went ashore to the Praia do Jacare to do some tourist watching and spend the last of our Reals on tourist crap and a few Caipirinhas.