Botafogo
Author: Shirlz
Friday, 28 January 2011
The long range weather forecast is not looking good for me. Constant northerly wind which is roughly what I had expected – except that I thought there would be an occasional cold front passing through with SW winds to help me on my way. I’m told it’s a La Ninã year and this may have something to do with it. So it looks as though I’ll be in Rio longer than planned. I decided to cross over to the anchorage in Botafogo Bay which is more convenient for exploring the city. The water in the bay is too polluted for swimming so it’s a time for shore-based activities.
Monday, 31 January 2011
There has been so much publicity lately about social networking and the trivialisation of personal communications. After a day in the noise, heat and traffic of Rio I’m back on board Speedwell enjoying a lukewarm beer in the cockpit. My iPod is to hand. Wifi access is intermittent but I manage to check my emails. Glance at the news. Pay my credit card.
The noisy engine of a colourful fishing boat passing close by reminds me of where I am. Look up. Switch off. They are setting out nets right next to me. It’s hard work. The boat circles dropping the net as it goes. Floats mark the circumference. Straight away they start hauling in. Other boats appear on the scene also greedy for action. Frigate birds circle and swoop hopefully over the net. This is actual, 3D, surround-sound, smells-included reality. The sun is going down alongside Corcovado. The wind has dropped and the water provides a pearly reflection of the cumulus clouds. The fishermen shout across the water to the other boats. They have drifted a little way off now and the net is nearly in. Six men working at it. It seems to be empty. The birds have lost interest and left. The other fishing boats leave too. No fish for dinner tonight.
My new anchorage is in a little bay near Urca which is directly beneath the looming Pão d’Açúcar. It’s a good place. No charge for anchoring. Nice depth (5m), free wifi accessible on board. I can watch fishing boats in action, planes taking off and landing at Santos Dumont airport, the cable cars heading up to the top of the sugarloaf. Boats coming into the big Rio yacht club. I saw Prodigy, the first of the Cape to Rio boats to arrive, being towed into the yacht club this morning.
There is an old stone dock with steps down to the water. The tourist schooners use it for taking on passengers. When I approach in my dinghy there is always someone to help me haul it safely out of the water. A busy bus stop right at the dock. I haven’t found a place to get water yet so if it doesn’t rain soon I’ll probably have to head back to Charitas for a pit stop. Sinbad is not totally impressed. He prefers the club scene with it’s creature comforts.
Wednesday, 2 February 2011
Yesterday I decided to return to the club at Charitas to do some provisioning and fill up with water before heading north again. In the morning José came in on his boat, Hook. He had given me a friendly welcome when I first arrived so I rowed over with Sinbad for a chat. Pepe, a diver, was in the water fixing a problem with his mooring buoy. José is a delivery skipper and lived here on Hook with his wife Monica for two years. Now they live up on the hill in Santa Teresa. Sinbad explored the boat while we chatted. Went over to Speedwell later and Pepe did a quick cleanup of my hull. The water is full of ‘nutrients’ and my lovely smooth hull is rapidly turning into a floating reef. It’s a common problem here and the new eco-friendly antifouling paints are no match for the aggressive underwater life. Seems like the only solution is to get a diver to clean things up immediately before you leave. Normally I would get in the water and do it myself but this is Rio. The bay is a collecting point for all the runoff from the city. I feel that I’d rather pay a germ-resistant local to do the job.
Only about 4 miles across to Charitas. The afternoon breeze started and I was on my way. It was a pleasant little sail. Plenty of big ship traffic to be avoided. I stupidly got a painful rope burn on my hand when I executed a hasty gybe to put some distance between myself and two enormous tankers passing each other right across my path. Never a dull moment.
Friday, 4 February 2011
Took a quick ferry ride to Rio yesterday to buy a netbook. I’m planning to use it as a chart-plotter with OziExplorer. Its small enough for me to make a secure place for it on the chart table. Now I just have to find a driver for the GPS.
Tags: Brazil, cruising, Random Thoughts, Rio
April 23rd, 2011 at 00:57
I bought a USB GPS on ebay for AUD$39 use it with my Memory Map vector charting on my 9 1/2″ Dell Netbook.This was cheaper then connecting through a splitter to my Navman GPS.
Good FREE Apn. for your iPlod is WiFiFoFum which is a WiFi scanner,helps locate free WiFi
regards
Richard
p.s.give my regards to Sinbad