Date: 2 December 2010
Position: São Francisco do Sul 26:14.594S
048:38.468W
After a lazy day in Ilha Bela we set sail on Tuesday for
the two day 235 mile passage to São Francisco do Sul. We were sailing along about 40 miles
offshore when into the cockpit swooped a massive moth. As it fluttered around,
the drunks went berserk waving their arms around and shrieking like a bunch of
girls. Anyone would have thought it was a vampire bat. When it settled
underneath the sprayhood for a bit of a rest Lawrence said “Why don’t we put it
in a box and stick a pin through it” but we left it alone until it took off
again and flew out to sea to an almost certain death.
Monster moth comes to
visit
This particular part of the coast is renowned for its
lack of wind but we were lucky enough to have sufficient breeze to sail most of
the passage. But it remains cloudy and cool and once out of the sight of land it
was, as Richard said, pretty much the same as sailing across Lyme Bay. Pleasant
enough nevertheless.
São Francisco do Sul, 10 miles up a wide river, is one of
the oldest towns in Brazil. Settled in 1660 by whalers from the Azores, many of
the buildings, particularly on the riverfront are old and attractive
reminders of the town’s colonial past. It has been made a UNESCO World Heritage
Site and the buildings are being slowly renovated. We arrived in torrential
rain, anchored off the riverfront and went ashore in the dinghy for a long and
rather good lunch of moqueca (fish stew) to get out of the rain.
We are now in the build up to Christmas and the very
green town council has adorned the riverfront with elaborate illuminated
Christmas decorations all fashioned from discarded plastic water bottles. They
included, rather incongruously in a place where the average temperature on
Christmas day is about 30ºC, delightful little snow men standing on beds of
artificial snow.
São Francisco do Sul and their Christmas decorations made
from recycled bottles
The drunks have taken to caipirinhas in a big way on
health grounds. Tom, the dentist, said that in the quantities they were
drinking, they would be provided with their five-a-day, the sugar would provide
them with all the energy they needed, and there would be little chance of
contracting scurvy. They needed no further encouragement.
