Well it's been three weeks now and we think that we've started to get acustomed to the way that things happen here in Brazil now, we hope.
My second and third gigs went a bit better - last Saturday we went out to an old lighthouse in the North of the city where there was a nice little set up of a few friends throwing a party. There were dj's playing a variety of sounds and a bit of live music too and I played the last set of the night. This led to being offered a lift to my next gig by a couple of very lovely people who gave us a tour of the city from the safety of the back of a car. We saw churches, views, grand buildings, secret coves and a heavy metal music bar.
We had such a lovely time that we got quite waylaid and ended up arriving at the last gig too late and they wouldn't even let us in for free (don't they know who we are?).
We are getting the boat ready for a spot of island hopping around Salvador in the Bahia do Todos Santos over the next couple of months then we will think about heading North to the Caribean at a very leisurely pace.
Well, we've been here for two and a half weeks now and are just starting to get the hang of it now. Apparantly it's a bit quiet here now as everyone takes a month off partying after carnival to recover - makes us almost glad to have missed it if that's the size of the hangover!
Even so we have followed drum bands and Copoeira dancers through the streets, been to outdoor samba concerts, a few clubs and bars but strangest of all was a full on punk gig set up outside a bookshop. At one bar the noise police came to turn the soundsystem off that was set up in the street outside, so they just moved the whole PA down the road twenty yards and set it up outside another bar which hadn't been warned about the noise. That's the way to deal with authority!
The place is starting to warm to us now as we are getting more used to the Brazilian ways of doing things but the language barrier is still quite hard to overcome. We are slowly learning some Portuguese but not fast enough.
I had my first DJgig last Sunday and lasted half way through my second record when they pulled me off saying the music was too hard - oh well, nevermind hey! I also had my watch ripped off my wrist on the way home last night but nobody was hurt, well worse things happen at sea.
We have fitted the new bottlescrew for the forestay so are free again to sail off, it may take a few days to get the energy to make a decision as to where we aer going to sail to though as it's still far too humid and hot.
Well it´s quite a long story so I´ll just plough ahead and get it over with:
At 1800 hrs on the 25th January 2004 Andy and Christina set sail for Brazil aboard Oceana, aiming to reach South America in time for Carnival, but we should have known better than thinking that plan A would be actually seen through.
We spent three days floundering in fickle winds (but enjoying the dolphins and phosphoresence) in search of the trade winds. We caught our first Golden Dorado and settled down into our routine of eating, sleeping, sailing and baking cakes.
On day 4 we finally hit the trade winds and off we went sailing in clear skies with sunshine and steady winds.
At 0550 on day six whilst Andy was on watch there was a big bang as the bottlescrew holding the forestay to the bow of Oceana brokeThisos meant that there was no longer a bit of wire holding the mast up at the front of the boat, but luckily the wind was behind us so there was not any immediate danger of the mast falling down.
After some hasty lashing and nervous manouvreing we had the storm jib hoisted to take the weight of the mast and got things as sound as we could in the dark. We waited till first light and after a strong cup of tea, a bowl of porridge and a hefty slice of banana cake set to rigging up something a bit more substantial. We bodged up a few bits out of the spare parts box which would hold until we made Cabo Verde and altered course.
We still had 350 miles to go to Cabo Verde which took us 2 1/2 days, but were jusrelieveded that it happened before passing these islands as it would have been pretty hard to turn back after them. So we sailed into Mindelo de Sao Vicente for a couple of weeks of rest and repairs and a couple of cold beers too.
On the 15 February we set sail for Brazil again after taking on more food and water. We got waylaid again by light winds where the trade winds were supposed to be blowing at their strongest. The next four days were spent drifting in the light winds, not wanting to motor in case we needed the fuel for the Doldrums but becoming increasingly frustrated and agitated in the sun, heat and humidity. Night gave some relief from the heat but we had to keep a constant vigil for ships often seeing 2 or 3 a night. On the night of the fifth day we caught a monster from the deep on our line - a huge squid (not quite as big as the one which attacked Captain Nemo in 20,000 leagues under the sea, but big enough to scare you in the dark) then saw a school of dolphins and at last the wind picked up a bit.
After working out how to gut a squid and which bits you could eat we turned it into a delicious red Thai curry.
Days 5 and 6 passed uneventfully except for the capture of our first tuna by Christina (steaks one day and pasta the next day). Now the wind was picking ufurtherer and we were bowling along towards the doldrums with lightning and thunder in the distance and big black clouds giving us rain and gusty winds.
On day 9 we hit the doldrums - or at least the doldrums hit us! Suddenly the wind rose, changed direction and blew us 2 miles back in the direction that we had just come before we could get the sails down and under control. We also had 2 1/2 inches of rain in 1/4 of an hour. Then just as suddenly, there was no wind again, no waves, no clouds, just endless sun heat and humidity. We had to endure 2 days of motoring, steering by hand in the relentless sun and heat. There was no respite below decks as the hatches to the engine had to be left open to prevent it from overheating so the noise and heat from the engine filled the cabin as well. Our bodies were covered with a layer of sweat day and night and we had to ring out the bedclothes on changes of watch. The onlredeemingng feature of the doldrums was the beauty of the sunsets and sunrises. The whole sky would be filled with every colour imaginable, reflecting on or shining through clouds of every shape and size and all of this being reflected in the water.
On day11 at 2200 GMT we crossed the equator 3 times.
We didn?t mean to, but we had a big party planned with tuna steaks and roast potatoes and music and all. We´d even showered and shaved and got our party clothes on. We judged that we had time to eat our meal before opening our wine and making offerings to King Neptune as we crossed the line. Then Christina checked the GPS to find that we were actually crossing the equator at that moment. Disaster - no cameras were ready notes from speaches were still being edited and the wine wasn´t poured. There was only one thing for it, we turned North again crossing the equator for the second time, then turned South with cameras and speaches to hand for the "Oficial Crossing".
After another night of motoring the alternator shook loose from it's bracket and the nuts fell under the engine. We had to sit slopping about for 2 hours until the engine had cooled enough for me to spend the next 2 hours grovelling about in the grease and other detritous under the block searching for, finding and fitting the nuts back on. When this task was finally completed we tuned the engine on to get underway and the wind filled in enough to sail!
We were back to sailing again now in the SW trades, catching more fish and killing seabirds. Ooops! not on purpose though, the wind generator (the Beast) ate 2 birds that flew too close to it so we had to switch him off at night when we had birds roosting on the coach roof. We spent the next few days rushing along spirits high and stating to measure the miles to Salvador. On day 13 we made our best ever 24hr run of 151 miles.
As day 16 arrived so the wind started to drop again and for the second time on this passage we had to alter course around the back of a big merchant ship on a direct course for us. We had another 3 hot and steamy days in variable winds causing moral to drop with our speed. Fresh food was starting to run out or go mouldy in the heat and we were down to tins, onions and potatoes.
On day 18 we almost lost all hope as the last of the eggs were going off at a rapid rate. This could cause real disaster as with no more eggs we would be forced to try and sail without tea and cake through those long hours of the night watches.
As we approached land on day 19 we looked forward to our last night at sea before cold beer, beefsteaks and gin and tonics with ice and a slice. Luckily we found a recipe for cherry flapjack instead of cake and sailed under a beautiful full moon lighting our way.
At 0640 we sighted lights and let out cries of "Land Ahoy!!!!!!"
So 19 days and 23 hours after leaving Cabo Verde and 2178.1 Nautical Miles later we arrived in Salvador de Bahia, Brazil to be welcomed by an old friend from Las Palmas - Nick in his Sparkman and Stephens - with a cold beer (or 3) HOOOOORAYYYY!!!!!!
Since leaving the Canaries we had spent a total of 28 days and 8 hours and 3072.1 Miles at sea, averaging 107.5 Miles per day and 4.5 knots. Our best run was a whopping 151 miles in one day at 6.3 knots.
