Vitória
Author: Shirlz
Monday, 14 March 2011
I am anchored just outside the Iate Clube do Espírito Santo. They charge R$7 per day for full use of the club facilities so it seems a good place to stay and wait for the next cold front and enjoy the luxury of showers, pool and wifi.
It was a windy and rainy weekend. The Vitória coastline is dominated by high rise apartment buildings.
On Saturday I strolled along the shore to have a look around. There is a nice rambla far enough away from the road and traffic leading to an area with lots of beach bars and a stage set up for music. Crazily amplified. I sat and absorbed the scene for a while. Most people are black. Many mixed couples. Mounted military police on beautifully groomed horses were an obvious presence but the atmosphere seemed relaxed. Further on there is a modern shopping mall. Hordes of people thronging about taking advantage of the air-conditioning. I had a nice lunch at a ‘por quilo’ sushi bar with a spectacular view overlooking the bay with it’s islands connected by graceful bridges. The rain was torrential.
Later that night the wind picked up strongly from the NE and I let out some more chain. Not sure how good the holding is. The bottom is very soft mud. Put the GPS on so that I could monitor how we were moving. It seemed we were OK.
The bad weather continued all of Sunday. Had to bail out the dinghy a few times to keep it afloat. Managed to save enough fresh water for a load of washing.
Wednesday, 16 March 2011
The rain dominates my life at the moment. I managed to do some running repairs to the sail yesterday morning which should see me through to Camamu where I’m hoping to spend a long enough time to take the sail right down and replace all the batten connections fore and aft. They have been placed on the wrong side of the sail and this seems to be causing the chafe problem.
A German couple, Helga and Peter came over for a drink in the evening. They have just arrived from Saldanha Bay on a Dean cat. Their first ocean crossing.