Well we left Cape Town with three extra crew on board, Christopher, Emily and Jonathan and what a delight to have such young and enthusiastic crew. Our destination Brazil almost 3600 miles away.

 

The Motley Crew

 

Celebrating a Birthday

 

 

The Toucan Recording Studio.

 

Music all the way

 

Lovely Sunsets

 

We were lucky to have a nice weather window on leaving Cape Town and enough time to get far enough North towards the Trade Winds. In the weeks before the new crew arrived we had been having regular winds of 50 knots plus at our mooring at the Royal Cape Yacht Club so it was a relief that nothing serious rolled in from the Southern Ocean to mar our departure. The sea state was reasonable with the odd big roller but with not so many white tops. For the new crew this was perfect to give them time to find their sea legs. As it turned out the Southern Atlantic was to be the Gentle Giant. Not once did we see more than 29 knots for the entire Ocean. What a contrast from the Indian Ocean and Marion and I could hardly believe it. Once again we were sailing in pleasant conditions with pleasant company, what dreams are made of.

 

Jonathan’s handiwork with Sushi

 

Notice the stripes on the Tuna and also on Jon’s shorts. Designer fish

 

Son Christopher, girlfriend Emily and a former CSC member Jon joined us in Cape Town and after taking in the sights such as Table Mountain and the vineyards of Stellenbosch and Franchhook we set off across the South Atlantic bound for Brazil. However there was a very special Island called St Helena on our way and as this island is one of the most remote inhabited islands in the world we had to visit it. St Helena is the Island where Napoleon ended up his days and the visit to his house and tomb was a real education for the entire crew. St Helena is one of the most charming oldie world islands that we have visited and surprisingly it still does not have an airport so the only way in and out is by boat. The population all speak English of course but some of the locals might as well be speaking a different language. Most peculiar to the ear. No natural harbour and no beaches, this island rises up from the bottom of the sea some three or four kilometres down and rises up to about 800 meters above sea level. The terrain and landscape mostly mountainous with small winding roads. Our driver, Robert, told us that it was almost impossible to get out of second gear on any road on the island.

 

 

Looking down on the capital of St Helena

 

Jacob’s Ladder from the bottom

 

Jacob’s Ladder from the top

 

Aimed at ‘Toucan’

 

Silly people on the Island Tour

 

Napoleon’s Tomb.

 

Napoleon’s bed

 

The House where Napoleon was imprisoned.

 

We spend three delightful days and nights exploring before setting off for Salvador, Brazil.

 

Our total distance from Cape Town to Brazil was 3600 miles which took us just over 4 weeks to do. What a contrast from the Indian Ocean. Sailing the South Atlantic was a dream and our most relaxing and rewarding ocean sail so far in our sail around the world. Helped of course by the lively crew.

 

Just about every street had music and dancing and costumes.

 

The Marina with the Port Captain’s building behind

 

The Fort at the entrance to the Marina.

 

We arrived in Salvador just in time for CARNIVAL. And how the Brazilians like to party. Forget health and Safety, forget decibels, the music was constant for seven whole days and nights. The costumes were fantastic, I wish I could say the same for the music. No matter which street we chose to visit there were float after float or band after band marching with a myriad of different music styles all with the same beat. Nonetheless a delight to experience.

 

The special crew flew home from Rio and currently Conor and Marion and ‘Toucan’ are making their way up the South American Continent to be back in St Lucia hopefully in time to meet son James and partner Natalie in April.