Maceió to Jacaré
Author: Shirlz
Thursday, 22 March 2012
I spent a week in Maceió moored close to the busy, colourful fishing boats. There was always someone eager to give me a hand dragging or carrying the dinghy up the beach to the club gate. At low tide it’s quite a long haul on the wet sand. Lots of boat maintenance happening all around.
A short walk after turning right outside the club gates took me to a green and shady path along the shore.
The reefs form an enormous natural swimming pool and rows of jangadas wait on the beach to take tourists out for a sail. The two looming cruise ships provided plenty of customers. The jangadas look like little more than a raft with some boxes for sitting on and a small sail. They can sometimes be seen quite far out to sea – not with tourists but busy fishing.
Walking in the opposite direction would take me into town. A partially restored historical area with eye catching street art. The town itself has a busy shopping area with crowded pedestrian malls. I tried unsuccessfully to find a replacement for my defunct inverter. No luck. Stopped for a coco gelada in a shady square.
One morning, while sipping my first and most important caffeine-fix in the cockpit I noticed an enormous house-boat-type catamaran that seemed to be aground on the beach. It looked very low in the water. The tide was falling and it was later revealed as the Leão do Mar which I had seen launched a few years ago in Jacaré. It had started taking in water while pushing on hard into the wind from Salvador. Later that day they managed to refloat it.
After topping up the water and buying some groceries there was nothing much to keep me in Maceió so I set off again heading for Jacaré, about 200nm further up the coast. I took a long southerly tack to get offshore and then was able to lay the course for an easy fast sail to Cabedelo.
It was a strange feeling making my way through the reef and into the Rio Paraíba. I couldn’t help comparing it to the first time I came here after 2 weeks at sea from Ascension Island in 2002. Then I had battled to find the entrance. Utterly exhausted after having had no sleep for 36 hours. The boat leaking badly. Engine unusable. Cat protesting loudly. I had to tack upriver and only arrived at the anchorage after dark. This time it went smoothly and soon I found a good place to anchor. Not too many other boats around.
Saturday, 24 March 2012
Yesterday I moved Speedwell into a berth at Peter’s marina, Centro Nautico Jacaré. Sinbad was delighted and leapt ashore to do some scouting around. I had moved in so that I could have the chain and anchor sent off to Recife for re-galvanising. 60m of 8mm chain plus the anchor weighs about 100kg so it was quite a job getting it off the boat and up to the road. Some marinheiros helped with a wheelbarrow.
I don’t really like being cooped up in a marina but having shore power for a while will give me a chance to do a lot of necessary maintenance jobs. Maybe put a new coat of paint on the deck. And the dinghy needs attention. It’s going to be a busy time.
Tags: cruising