04:33.75N  049:08.50W

 

We left Fortaleza on Friday 17 Feb at 6pm. The refrigeration technician did not arrive – typical Brazillian Manyana attitude, so we went with Plan B.

Sailing out we had a stiff breeze but the more offshore we went, the wind got lighter and lighter. Eventually the following day, we had to switch on the motors. A day later we were into the Squally Equatorial conditions, a little wind, and then lots of wind and rain. Wish I had a rain catcher – it pours down in huge warm droplets, and a ton of it comes down. The radar alarm keeps going off, alerting us to the next incoming squall, and only once it’s been a ship since we left Fortaleza.

We’re sailing roughly along the 2000m contour, as the current runs here at 2.5 Knots, which adds 50 miles to our distance covered each day. Abeam the Amazon River, I was astounded that even at 200 miles off shore we could feel the effects of the river outpouring. We had to sail due west, to make our desired track north as the river outpouring was pushing us further east (and we were not going north at all), and seeing that we’ve only had this whilst abeam the Amazon, there can be no other explanation.

Today I’m baking biscuits and fabric painting the Trinidad Tabago flag.

All fine aboard and looking forward to Trinidad. We should arrive on Sunday or Monday in time to enjoy Carnival which is mainly celebrated on Tuesday 28 Feb.