Posts Tagged ‘Canamú’
A move to Goió
Tuesday, September 6th, 2011
Wednesday, 24 August 2011
Lots of rain yesterday to fill the tanks. First thing this morning I washed my hair using the perfectly clean water collected in the dinghy. Jens had stood in it when he came aboard yesterday but his feet must have been clean. A quick shopping trip ashore while I waited for the tide to turn. Said goodbye to Sinbad’s butcher and bought him a last piece of steak. Just after one we set off. Very slow at first as There was hardly any wind but soon we were going along nicely with the wind mostly behind us. A few gybes to cater for turns in the river. At 4 pm I anchored in the same spot as before off Ilha dos Tatus. It was as beautiful as I had remembered. Good to be moving again. I had stayed a little too long in comfortable Maraú.
Thursday, 25 August 2011
A cloudy, squally day. I had to wait until about 11 for the tide to be high enough to get ashore without wading through sticky mud. It was worth the wait. Sinbad leapt out of the dinghy onto the white sandy beach as soon as we were close enough. Happily rolling around on the clean warm sand. I sat and watched him. A bit further along the beach a man climbed nimbly up the long stem of a coconut tree and started dropping green coconuts to the ground. He shimmied down and got busy hacking the top off one with his machete before offering it to me to drink. It was delicious. I was given another to take back to the boat. Some fishermen arrived in two long dugouts and there was a nice friendly atmosphere. Sinbad started panting from the heat so I rowed him back to the boat and then went across to Ilha dos Tuberões to pick up some water from the well.
Saturday, 27 August 2011
It rained enough to fill the dinghy during Thursday night so I did a big load of washing on Friday. Nice to have a clean towel again. I also spent some time underwater trying to clean the hull. It has become very overgrown with weed and small barnacles. Some very difficult to scrape off. My mask leaks badly which doesn’t make it any easier. Did the best I could and at least made sure that the prop was clean in case we have to motor.
This morning I set off early heading for Ilha do Goió and Sapinho. We made good time with the tide helping us along and by 08:30 I was dropping the anchor in the channel behind the little island. Quite busy today as it’s the weekend. I’m near to a nice sandy beach which I might be able to use for drying out and a quick antifouling job. Will have to get to Camamú to buy paint.
Thursday, 1 September 2011
On Tuesday I got up early and rowed down to the wooden jetty before the sun was up to wait hopefully for a boat heading for Camamú. At 05:45 one chugged up to the dock and I hopped on board. I recognised the driver from when I had been in Campinho. It was an extremely high spring tide and we were able to make a beeline for the town without worrying about rocks and sand banks which were all safely submerged. I would have been able to make the trip in Speedwell. Arrived at about 7 with the shops still closed so I wandered about and found a place to have a cafezinho. Top of my list was the antifouling paint. The woman who’d given me the quote was happy to see me again and I bought 6 litres of Tritão. I hope it lasts better than the stuff I used before. Luckily they had red. I lugged it back to the boat and then went to do the rest of my shopping. There are no shops in Sapinho so I needed to stock up. It wasn’t a market day so there wasn’t much fresh fruit and vegetables available. A friendly barrow boy helped me to get it all down to the boat. Such a contrast to shopping in a big city. Here there is no enormous parking lot filled with shoppers’ cars waiting to be loaded up and driven off – instead a kid with a wheelbarrow will eagerly offer to take care of your purchases and trundle them along the cobbled waterfront to the ferry. Happy to wait if you need to pop into other shops along the way. Then he helps to load it into the boat where I can safely leave it and know that it will still be there when I’m ready to go aboard after wandering ashore again. The accepted fee for this service is R$2 but I will usually add whatever loose change I have on me.
Scheduled departure time for the return trip was 11:30 but as everyone was on board before 11 and the tide was still running out the driver set off early to catch the last of it. By this time the water was very low and the channel just a tortuous murky trickle with all rocks and sandbanks clearly visible. Now and then I felt the boat shudder a we touched the muddy bottom.
We made it safely back to Sapinho and someone came down to help me load my heavy purchases into the dinghy so that I could row it all back to Speedwell.
Saturday, 3 September 2011
The wind dropped completely yesterday morning and I took the opportunity to row all the way around the island. Sand and mud banks extend for a long way off especially on the SW side where there are also lots of rocks which would be submerged at high tide. Definitely an area to be avoided. I rowed gently along in not much more than 15cm of water. The oars kicking up puffs of mud. I was also on the lookout for the best possible place to dry out. A flat area of hard sand in front of the beach bar on the island looked promising. Close enough to people if I should need a hand. Nice and flat and smooth. I’ll wait a few days till just after the next neap tide when the tides start getting bigger again. I’ve never wilfully gone aground in Speedwell before and have a horror of getting stranded high and dry. I suppose I could start my own little beach bar. There is a dog that belongs to the island but I’m sure that Sinbad will be able to cope.
Sunday, 4 September 2011
Yesterday a nasty cold front moved through and I was thankful to be anchored in one of the best protected anchorages in the bay. I took down the cockpit awning and Sinbad’s hammock as they were threatening to self-destruct. I made sure that my second anchor – a very handy Fortress – was ready to deploy if needed. But the holding was good and with 40m of chain in 5m of water we had no problems. In any case I don’t think that the wind was gusting more than 30 knots. It’s just that I’m not used to it any more after months of balmy weather. Snug and safe below I decided to reread Herreshoff’s wonderful book ‘The Compleat Cruiser’. It’s always good to be reminded of the proper way to do things. A paragraph caught my attention and seems worth sharing. Small cruising boats were being discussed and the ‘romantic’ character of some boats was explained..’when a thing is out of the usual and pleasing to contemplate it is romantic. When an object is nicely proportioned and has retained some well-proven ancient quality, or is romantic looking. I suppose to a sailor a romantic vessel Is one that looks like a good sea boat, one which has good sheer and nicely proportioned ends: in short a vessel he falls in love with at first sight..’. Seems to describe my feelings for Speedwell very nicely.