Abraão
Author: Shirlz
Thursday, 6 January 2011
Arrived at the little anchorage east of the town at about 5pm. Harald’s boat ‘Akela’ had moved to a new spot and Hanibal was there and rowed over to greet me with his minuscule dog. Sinbad was rendered speechless but behaved well. We sat in the cockpit and shared a beer while catching up with news. Not much has changed.
The small bay was crowded with boats and I anchored quite far out. Towards evening most had left and I moved over to a better spot. Almost exactly where I’d spent the winter of 2008. A strange feeling of going back in time.
Friday, 7 January 2011
Took the path through the trees along the coast to the village. It was thronged with holidaymakers. Hundreds more being offloaded from the ferry. The heat was oppressive. I quickly stocked up with essentials and got myself back to the boat. Definitely the best place to be: floating peacefully on my patch of clear cool water surrounded by the forest that comes right down to the water’s edge. A strip of white sand. Only an occasional schooner powering past on a sightseeing trip.
Decided to find out what was wrong with the battery selector switch as it had been behaving erratically. Not always making good contact when both batteries were selected. Took it apart and identified the problem. Sadly, while I was putting the pieces together again a spring hopped out and disappeared somewhere in the bilge. I sweated away for nearly an hour looking for it and then gave up. Resolved to clean the bilge tomorrow. Tried to make the switch work minus the spring. It was possible. Then I overdid the tightening up process and with a spiteful crack the plastic casing fell apart. Beyond repair. I hope I can get a new switch in Angra. In the meantime I had to just make a hard contact to the battery so that I can at least have lights tonight. Outside, paradise continued undisturbed.
Sunday, 9 January 2011
Had morning coffee with Harald on Akela. One night, a few weeks ago, a schooner had rammed the stern of his boat and made an awful mess of his massive stainless steel ‘goalposts’, destroying solar panels and antennas and generally ripping things apart. Expensive damage. The bowsprit of the schooner was broken. It must have been a chaotic scene.
I have been taking Sinbad ashore in the early mornings when the beach is still deserted. He brightens up and enjoys prowling through the trees like a jungle cat. I leave him there for about an hour. When I see him sitting expectantly on the beach I row back and fetch him. He always seems happy to get back to Speedwell.
Wednesday, 12 January 2011
Took the lovely rackety old ferry to Angra today. It’s called the Itaipu and was built in New
Orleans about 50 years ago. It trembles and shudders as it’s massive old engine labours away. Maximum payload advertised as 1000. 600 of which would need to be standing. Nowhere near to capacity today and yet it looks and feels full. Mostly a young crowd of backpackers to-ing or fro-ing between Abraão and Angra dos Reis. Cool with their body-art and iPods. Endeavouring to isolate themselves from their surroundings by plugging in to their private music and feigning sleep.
A lot of local people taking the trip to Angra to buy food and drinks to restock the pousadas and beach bars for said cool tourists. Hot, crowded, noisy. I stood at the railings where I could catch some cool air and watch the magnificent scenery unfold.
Managed to buy a new battery selector switch at one of the marine shops in Angra. Not cheap. Only 4 hours to do everything before getting the ferry back at 3:30. Arrived at the dock early and waited on a shady concrete bench. Bought a few freshly pirated DVD movies from a vendor. (For a change they turned out to be really good quality copies).
Plan to leave for Rio tomorrow.