Posts Tagged ‘Maragojipe’
Rio Paraguaçu
Monday, December 5th, 2011
Wednesday, 30 November 2011
I waited until noon for the tide to turn and then left Itaparica heading for the mouth of the Rio Paraguaçu about 14 nm away in the NW corner of the bay. My patience was rewarded and I enjoyed a wonderful, fast sail up to the lighthouse at Alembique with wind and tide rushing me smoothly along at 4 to 5 knots under full sail. A scattering of stately saveiros were going casually about their business. Some with perfect white sails, others, motley blue or green or tan. All moving smoothly along. My course followed a wide curve leaving the extensive shoal area to port. Always a wary eye on the fishfinder. The wind had strengthened a little by the time we arrived at the entrance and we raced past the anchorage at Praia da Barra and on up to the massive boatyard with oil rigs under construction. A sobering reminder that life carries on regardless in the real world. I dropped the sail and motored in to the secluded little anchorage behind Ilha do Monte Cristo. It seemed like a good place to spend the night. I had a quick cooling swim and then relaxed in the cockpit enjoying the surroundings. The view of the boatyard nicely hidden behind my towel which I draped over the rigging.
Thursday, 1 December 2011
Yesterday I waited until after lunch to have the tide in my favour for the next hop up the river to the anchorage at São Francisco do Paraguaçu. The wind was blowing fairly steadily from the east. I raised the sail and set off. Three saveiros were also heading up river. It was quite a thrill to be sailing alongside them. They gave me the thumbs-up as they slowly but inexorably drew ahead. Much more adept at handling the vagaries of river currents and wind shifts.
I had recently made a stop at the old ruined church/monastery of São Antonio with a friend who had come out from England for a short visit. We had been given a very interesting guided tour of the site. This time I was content to stay on board and enjoy the scene while sipping my sundowner.
Sipping had just started when I was shaken out of my reverie by the raucous arrival of a small dugout canoa with raggedy sail and 5 or 6 small and enthusiastic kids partially in control. Sinbad watched with interest from his safe refuge under the dinghy, which was still on deck, while I tried to answer their questions. Soon enough they were swept along by the strong current. I kept an eye on them and was happy to see that they had no trouble getting back to their little beach.
My plan had been to spend the night anchored off the ruined church and then set out early this morning at about half tide hoping to make my way through the shallows leading up to the narrow upper reaches of the Paraguaçu and so on to the town of Cachoeira. However, after a closer look at my sketch chart with it’s scattering of spot depths I realised that with the neapish tides currently prevailing, it was going to be rather too uncomfortably close a thing. I really ought to be sensible and wait a few days for the full moon and a generous tidal range.
So instead of ploughing on into the mud I backtracked slightly to Maragojipe to wait patiently for the right conditions.
Landing at the pier in Maragojipe with it’s slippery concrete steps used to be quite an exciting exercise, but now to my delight, I found that they have built a wonderful floating dock which really simplifies getting ashore.
Sunday, 4 December 2011
I rowed ashore at 7am yesterday to go shopping at Maragojipe’s famous Saturday morning market. I’m sure that on previous visits it took place in and around the old buildings close to the jetty. Now it has moved into a partly undercover area in the centre of town. A wonderfully colourful and confusing display of fresh fruit and vegetables.
I wished that I had a big boatload of people to feed so that I could justify buying more of the deliciously tempting and sometimes mysterious things that caught my eye.
Everything seemed very cheap. Luckily I had managed to exchange a R$50 note into a bundle of more negotiable 2’s and 5’s. Most things seemed to be pegged at R$1. I was soon heavily loaded down with bags of oranges, mangoes, pineapples, bananas, cashew nuts, some earthy-looking roots which were sold with a lip-smacking, live demonstration of how to peel, cut up and cook. Small sun-ripened tomatoes and a big bunch of basil for a delicious salad. An artistically laid out selection of many different varieties of chillies had to be sampled. I was wilting under the weight of my backpack and big shopping bag. A juicy watermelon couldn’t be refused. I staggered to the wheelbarrow rank and began bargaining with the barrow boys who started by demanding 10 Reais for the trip to the jetty but immediately backed down to 5 when I expressed shock and horror. A bright young kid soon had my shopping loaded up and we trundled jauntily down the cobbled street to the boats. I was at leisure to enjoy looking at the colourful buildings along the way.
Back on board I got the stuff stowed away as well as possible, hanging the bananas out on the stern where any creepy crawlies would hopefully fall off into the water. Then a quick cooling swim in the river and I settled down to read my book for a while. ‘The Worst Journey in the World’ by Apsley Cherry-Garrard, describing the unbelievable hardships experienced on Scott’s last Antarctic expedition. His description of the ‘winter journey’, a six-week side-trip taken by Wilson, Barrows and himself (Cherry-Garrard) to visit the Emperor penguin rookery is awful beyond all imagining. Pulling sledges in perpetual darkness, trying to avoid crevasses in temperatures down to -77 deg F with clothing frozen solid. It puts any little discomfort caused by the heat where I am at the moment into perspective.