Salvador
s/y Miss Blue
Bengt/Ritva Björlin
Mon 29 Mar 2010 00:07
The time had come to leave Suape lagoon and we found our way out together with another boat, friends from Cape Town. We went at almost high water and had barely enough of water under the keel. It was a relief to come out and we anchored in the far end of the Commercial Harbour for the night. However the harbour authorities didn´t want us there, we were in the dredging area, so they escorted us to a safer place where we could stay for the night only. Early next morning we started motoring out of the harbour and at the entrance we were suddenly hit by a heavy squall. Luckily it didn´t last so long, so up went the sails and we got a nice sailing to our planned destination Tamandaré. Entering this anchorage we had to have the lighthouse in 340 degrees to pass between two reefs. It was a bit scarry as we were entering in high water and you couldn´t see the reefs. We came through and found us a lovely anchorage with clear water and a nice little village. The reefs gave good protection from the sea, specially at low tide when they were visible and you could explore them with the rubber duck. This is what the south africans say when they mean dinghy.
We stayed for 3 days and then we made a night sail to Maceió. We anchored off the boat club but the water and the beach was very filthy. However, we managed to fill up with some water by making two trips to land with the jerry cans. We took a taxi to a supermarket for provisioning and could also fill up with 40 l of diesel. This was perfect for our next sail down to Salvador. We motored out of Maceió harbour and after three hours we had good wind and could sail all the way down to Salvador. We had choosen a good route and had all the fishing boats on our starboard side. In the morning of the third day we sighted the big city of Salvador in clear blue sky. Suddenly the sky went grey and we had some heavy squalls over us before we reached the marina at the fort of Sao Marcelo and at the foot of the Elevador Lacerda which takes you to the Historical Center of Pelourinho (the old town).