São Francisco do Sul to Paranaguá
Author: Shirlz
Saturday, 13 November 2010
The channel through the sandbar at the entrance to Baía da Paranaguá has a bad reputation if there is a strong onshore wind and an outgoing tide. I didn’t fancy taking a chance with breaking waves and big ship movement so the trip there involved a bit of forward planning. Yesterday afternoon seemed about as good as I was going to get. If I left São Francisco do Sul at 4pm I’d have the outgoing tide down to the entrance and then an overnight sail to arrive off the bar in the morning. There were two ingoing tides scheduled for daylight hours so it was a fair chance that I should make one of them. The weather forecast was for light Easterly winds, maybe some rain. Not ideal but it looked gentle enough.
The two old ladies, who had been carefully observing my comings and goings with the dinghy from behind and sometimes in front of their lace curtains, came down to talk to me this morning. Their house directly overlooks my landing place on the beach. They gave me some advice about anchorages in Baía Paranaguá which they seemed to know well. What I could understand agreed with the guide books.
So off I go. Slipping out with the afternoon tide. A heavily overcast sky meant that the lack of a sun awning wasn’t a problem. Outside the water was bumpy and confused after the tranquility of the protected bay. I used the unmarked North Channel to leave and it was fine with depths never less than 5m. Easy to see where the big sandbank was as there were little waves breaking along it’s length. Soon the sea sorted itself out and I was moving along nicely under full sail, just able to lay the course on a starboard tack. The baggy sail performing surprisingly well. My old flat sail would have been almost useless to windward in a bumpy sea but here we were, jogging along nicely at 3 knots.
I didn’t feel like bothering to cook so just had a bag of chips and a very small coconut rum punch for dinner. Need to stay awake all night as I will only be about 5nm off shore and there are some unlit islands along the way. The rule is to stay outside the 20m line to avoid them but my old fish-finder can’t seem to pick up anything deeper than 15m. So I will be relying heavily on the GPS. Thank goodness for the wonderful Brazilian Navy digital charts which are free to download and give lots of accurate detail.
It was a peaceful night and the wind stayed constant. Approaching the entrance to Paranaguá early this morning I counted 9 ships waiting to go in. The gentle breeze did an obliging 180 deg switch which was good as I don’t like approaching land with the wind behind me. I waited for an enormous ship to exit the channel and then motored in. It’s about 7 nm to reach the protected inner bay. I was glad to have the tide with me as even in those calm conditions there was a big swell pushing me along. The channel is wide and deep and well marked. The sight of rollers breaking either side seemed far enough away not to be threatening.
Once inside it was a different world. Bright little ferry boats, fully laden with trippers, were criss-crossing the placid waters between the mainland and Ilha do Mel. I rounded the corner at Pontal do Poça hoping to find a quiet place to stop and regroup before heading up river to the town. As my luck would have it there were about 15 powerboats – the kind that look like big plastic trainers – moving about. Obviously gathering for some sort of rally. Suddenly I was the centre of attention. I felt like a cat finding itself surrounded by yapping dogs. I had almost given up the idea of stopping there, despite the fact that I’d really been looking forward to breakfast and a quick nap, when they all suddenly pushed off. Someone must have given the signal to the pack.
The water was running out strongly now and it would have been slow-going to have kept moving. I had a much-needed break and when I woke up a few hours later the tide was with me again for the last 5 nm up to the town. It was almost too fast for comfort through the unmarked channel but it turned out to be deep (10m) and wide. The scenery on the riverbank was magical.
With the sun lighting the twisted roots and branches of the mangroves at low water. I would have loved to take pictures but had my hands full steering the boat. I raced past the yacht club ‘sub-sede’ at a barely controlled 5knots – the engine just ticking over to give me steerway just managing to avoid the mooring buoys scattered in front of the club. It looked like a nice place. Woke up in time to make a sharp left at a big red buoy marking the channel into town. Reminded me of my months on the ICW in the US. It was only a short way to the town and although this part of the channel is narrow and twisty and the current quite strong, it is well marked and there is a lot of traffic which helps to show the way. A few boats which had passed close by in the calm part of the bay waved and gave me a thumbs-up. Seemingly surprised that I’d made it this far.
I cruised the town waterfront looking for a likely place to anchor. Not very ideal. No one rushed out from the two marinas to wave me in. At the far end near the bridge I only avoided getting stuck in the the shallow muddy water with a very smart 3-point reverse manoeuvre.
It’s a busy stretch of water with constant ferry-boat traffic, pilot boats in and out and small open boats always up and down with people, fishing, shopping, living their lives on the water. Eventually in desperation I dropped the anchor a short distance off, in front of the Port Captain’s office and within easy rowing distance to the yacht club for showers and water. Seemed OK. A few hours later, just before dark, the Marinha do Brazil inflatable arrives filled with uniformed homems. Friendly enough. I can’t stop here. Must move along to the old part of town where the ferries dock. Sinbad jumps into their boat. He’s keen to get ashore. After a quick assessment he jumps back on Speedwell. Much amusement. I re-anchored further along and apart from not being very convenient for the yacht club it’s a much nicer place to be. And at least I know I won’t be chased away again. I’m looking forward to getting ashore tomorrow to do some wandering about.
