20:39.323S  040:28.632W

26^th May 2011 – Guarapari

We lifted our anchor at 05h00 on the 24^th leaving Buzios behind. We had enjoyed our stay but it was time to move on. Buzios lies just below the “bump” of mainland that seems to be the line where winds change. We realised if we did not take the gap and round the bump we may be stuck in Buzios for another week. So off we went.

The trip was uneventful, we were even able to sail some of the way. The wind was either too light or from the wrong direction but we sailed; motor-sailed and motored to Guarapari. It took about 36hours. It was our first overnight with just the two of us and went well although we were quite tired the next day. I am sure on longer trips we will get used to the routine of 4 hours on and off in th day and 3 hours at night.

The area from Sao Tome to Guarapari has very heavy traffic, ships lots of fishing boats and the oil rigs about 50nm offshore. We sailed between the rigs and the shore and had to keep an eye open for fishing buoys and ships.

The guide books say Guarapari is a “fishing village” we were surprised to see a city skyline with huge buildings crowding the shore. So much for fishing village!! We arrived at 17h20 last night waited for Iza who arrived about an hour later then after a quick dinner fell into bed. It’s a beautiful anchorage off of Praia do Morro, the well know “Black beach” of Guarapari. It is said to have black sand and is known to be healing as it is supposedly radioactive. We motored across to the beach this morning with the family Iza, black sand we are yet to see but the beach is very long and lovely. We walked along the shore to the old city which is across a bridge. Did some resupply shopping for fruit and veges then caught the bus back, much to the Zoe (7) and Nina’s (4) delight.

The weather looks right tomorrow, the wind supposedly coming from the South and we plan to leave early for Caravelas. We rae hoping the weather gives us a long enough window that we can stop there and get a dive tour to Abrolhos. It is known to be one of the best dive sites in Brazil. But we will see what the weather says when we reach Caravelas in 2 days. More news from the next stop.

I had just finished writing this and Andre was servicing the engine, there he discovered the bracket for the water pump had a stripped screw so it had to be taken out and rewelded. We dropped everything and shot across to the city as it was already 15h30. After walking about 5km as everyone kept telling us the place was “just around the corner” we found it. Bit it was meant to be as we also found 50 litre water containers at a scrap yard for $R25.00 each. Now the new 25litre ones are $R60 (R240) each. So we found a bargain and bought 4. J We were both very amused at the “bergies” looks we were getting walking back with them, especially after Andre also picked up a length of plumbing pipe too. We walked back laughing all the way.

So tomorrow Caravelas here we come. J

Leaving Buzios.

Excellent scenery J

The guy taking this photo for us gave us the giggles as it took him about 5 tries. J

Us and Yacht Iza family Leon, Nicci, Zoe and Nina.

On watch on the way to Guarapari.

I caught and reeled in my first fish! Made lovely baked fish for dinner.