Jacaré, Joao Pessoa. English version

Dawnbreaker
Lars Alfredson
Thu 16 Dec 2010 20:11
 
 
Thursday 16 December
 
Hello,
 
Now we are moored at the Jacaré Marina just outside Joao Pessoa.
 
                     The Marina at Jacaré
 
 
On December 13th our galley was turned into The Swedish Yacht Bakery.
The Swedish Santa Lucia tradition requires Lucia buns which we made ourselves.
 
        
The Baker Boys, Lars,Eric and Tomas.                                 Lucia glögg, gingerbread cookies and freshly baked buns.
 
We met a nice swedish guy, Roland from Västervik
He was out on a single handed cruise and guess if he was happy to be invited
to the Lucia celebrations
 
   
        Roland and his L32, Octav                                             Natal skyline when we sail southbound
 
After a couple of days in Natal which were spent exploring
the endless beaches stretching in both directions we set sail for the last
leg on this fantastic trip.
The sailing southbound from Natal was close hauled in 20 knot wind.
We had one reef in the main and had to roll in a bit of genoa 2 to keep the boat upright.
 
Jonas had been wise and prepared the dinner before we took off,
an excellent Baeuf Bourgogne.
But the Brazilian wine we bought the day before was absolutely undrinkable.
(Life is too short to drink cheap wines !!)
 
 
As usual we made the approach in pitch black. We have succeeded to
make all our landfalls in darkness on this trip. (Sunset aleady at 5 PM). We met a big dredger
in the entrance to the harbour and had difficulties to identify all the lights
in the narrow channel, which is the mouth of a river as most harbours are in Brazil.
We managed to find our way in after all. Suddenly we saw a couple of moored barges
lying just in front of us in the river without any anchor lights.
We decided it would be unwise to continue up the river in darkness
as there were no navigation marks at all.
 
We dropped our anchor at 01.00  in 5 m and hit the bunks for a few hours sleep until daylight.
 
 
In the early morning hours we continued up the river. We kept in the middle
and watched the echo souder carefully
 
   
              Jonas and Eric on the way up the river.
 
Lars had pre booked a place and we were well received.
This will be the base for Dawnbreaker until after  New Year.
Nice with a fixed dock where you can jump ashore whenever you wish, water and electricity.
 
First the boat got a thorough cleaning with fresh water to wash off all the accumulated salt and dirt.
Then we went to the nearby town of Cabedelo to visit the Port Authority.
We took the local train which took 15 minutes at the cost of 25 eurocent.
The train was full of guards in black sunglasses.
We wondered why you have to clear in and out of every port that we visit.
Is anyone ever looking at all these papers ?
 
  
The way to the marina according to the Pilot book.           A walk in the heat to find nearest beach.
 
When the paperwork was completed we walked to the beach for a swim. Then a walk along the beach.
We jumped on a bus without knowing where it went. After a while we saw out mast
and got the driver to stop with screaming brakes.
A 20 minutes walk and then a cold Capirinha at the Marina Bar.
 
The evening was finished in a restaurant watching some kind of traditional show.
Nice to watch but we comletely missed the story.
 
   
Capirinha preparation.                                                          Jonas enjoying his drink.
 
 
 
 Traditional dancing
 
 
We just heard on the radio that it is snow chaos in Sweden and  - 10 to -15 C.
It´s hard to believe from here in the tropical heat.
We don´t envy you and keep enjoying ourselves, one day we´ll be back in reality again.
 
Best regards from The Dawnbreaker crew.