Necessity is in Abrolhos, the reefs

Necessity
Eva and Jan Fr. Mack
Sun 14 Oct 2012 21:23
Our position is 17:57:74S 38:41:74W
The first day of our three day passage up here was pretty rotten. Seas were coming at us from all direction. The wind was inconsistent. Add to that a huge number of offshore/inshore oil installations intermingled with fishing nets floating around. At least you can see the first category. The fishing nets, however, you just hear and feel when they are in your propeller. Yes, it did happen to us, but by then the wind has filled in from the south. We ignored having a propeller stuffed with lines (it did still work a little). For 36 hours we had perfect sailing conditions reminiscent of good trade winds. When the wind died down a little, I went down to get rid of the fishermen's stuff. Not much fun with the boat heaving in a big swell. Diving equipment was out of the question with the current sea state. I was up and down to the propeller a few dozen times. Not all bad though.
The water is warm and the humpback whales were singing all around me. Even if I have heard that sound before, it is still a good experience.
At the time of writing we are at a mooring in Abrolhos which, if it is as bad as it looks, should never be used. We are, however, in 6 meters of warm water, so we should be able to take a closer look at its fundamental quality.
jfm 14.10.12

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