S/Y RAPTOR: 2014

Saturday, November 15, 2014

Lençóis, Bahia, Brazil

We anchored in Lençóis, another small fishing village (S 01.20.631 W 44.53.703) in 2m of water at low tide on 15th November 2014. Our last stop in Brazil.

Beautiful anchorage with the white sand dunes in the background.

Soft white sand

Can you spot Raptor?

Walking back to our dinghy

Raptor at high tide

Local houses

Simple houses in lovely sand dunes

We've got a little garden growing on our hulls

Kids on Raptor at lowtide

Seriously low tide! My favorite way to clean the hulls

Mini homemade fishing boats - So detailed with fishing nets and all

The kids and guys off to get water supply

Awesome dunes

Footprints in the sand

We took the opportunity to clean our hulls at low tide and some local kids came by to help.

We also managed to get some fresh water from a well 400m away. It was definitely hard work for the guys.

We departed Lencois for French Guyana (~650 nm away) on 23rd November. We enjoyed our week's stay in Lencois very much. Finally off to a new country after 5 months in Brazil.

Luís Correia, Piauí, Brazil

We anchored in Luís Correia, Piauí, Brazil on 11th November 2014. Just 68 nautical miles away from Jericoacoa, we should've known that the anchorage here (S 02.51.013 W 41.38.785) was also blowy and rolly, although slightly better than before (Jericoacoara). Not much fun on a rolly anchorage.

Two days later, we departed for Lencois.

Jericoacoara, Ceará, Brazil

We arrived in Jericoacoara (also known as 'Jeri'), a small fishing village in Ceará, Brazil, about 300 km northwest of Fortaleza on the 9th November 2014.

It was a 339 nautical mile passage from Galinhos. Unfortunately due to strong winds (25 kts) and poor anchorage (S 02.37.698 W 40.32.141), we departed Jeri for Luís Correia 2 days later.

Galinhos, Rio Grande do Norte, Brazil

We departed Cabedelo, Paraíba after clearing out on 1st November 2014. Unfortunately our plan to visit Fernando De Noronha; the beautiful archipelago of 21 islands & islets located off the Brazilian coast was cancelled because when we cleared out, according to Customs, Raptor had overstayed her visa! 💔

We've always been very diligent about our visas, so this really caught us by surprise. We blame it of course on the language barrier, afterall "nós não falamos portugues". No doubt Customs must've informed us about this at some point? But when, where, how? We'll never know..

Broken hearted, we headed off to Galinhos.. another small town in north Brazil.

It was a rough passage. 60 nautical miles northeast of Galinhos we had winds blowing at 17-20 kts. At the entrance, we had 30 kts of wind and had to put the engine up to 1900 RPM.

Rough, but we made it! Anchored off Galinhos (S 05.05.830 W 36.16.379) on 3rd November. Lots of donkeys in this village.

We took the dinghy to explore up river, where we found a salt mine.

We also found a huge wind farm.

Salvador, Bahia, Brazil

SALVADOR (photo taken on Raptor)

Salvador (just a days sail from Itaparica) is the capital of Bahia state in Brazil. We arrived at the Terminal Náutico da Bahia Marina on 15th October 2014.

Salvador is divided into 3 parts: a lower city, an upper city and seaside area. Looks pretty from afar doesn't it?

We didn't have a good impression of the lower city (mainly due to safety) but was pleasantly delighted with the upper city (called Pelourinho) the historic centre of Salvador, the old city.. a mix of derelict and restored colonial residences colourfully painted and churches exhibiting its Portuguese architecture.

View from the Upper Level (the lift on the left)

Streets of the Upper City aka Pelourinho

More of Pelourinho

Alex & I

View from the Lower Level

SALVADOR! (at the top lift landing)

Nice view of the city from our berth at the Terminal Náutico da Bahia Marina (S 12.58.515 W 38.32.161). It is considered one of the nicest harbours in the country.

Raptor at Terminal Nautico da Bahia

We departed on 18th October for Recife.

Itaparica, Bahia, Brazil

Anchorage at Itaparica

We anchored on a sand bank in 0.5m of water in the northern tip of Itaparica island, 10 miles away from Salvador (S 12.53.457 W 38.41.133) on 2nd October 2014. It's a calm sheltered anchorage just opposite the marina in a little town with white sandy beaches and pristine waters.

We stayed 13 days here and really enjoyed it. The view of the sandbanks at low tide is beautiful.

Some locals walking with their horses on the sandbank

The horses were up to their necks in water at high tide but did not seem to mind. The town of Itaparica is laid back and peaceful.

Itaparica

"Treehouse"

Alex standing in the middle of a "football field"

Locals caught a green iguana on the street

One of the weirdest looking creatures we've ever seen

View of the sandbanks

Cleaned the hulls at low tide

Of course it wasn't all play and no work in paradise. We took the opportunity to clean our hulls at low tide, made a new clip for the WAECO fridge door and fixed our ICEER fridge door too. As you know, we fix and repair things at exotic locations. That's what we do!

Galeão, Valença & Cairú, Bahia, Brazil

Map

A short 50 nautical mile ride from Camamu, we anchored in 5m of water with 35m of chain on 23rd September 2014, outside the small fishing village of Galeão (S 13.23.871 W 39.02.295) in the Taperoa Channel.

One of the many ferry boats

From here we were able to catch the local ferry boats to Valença, a Brazilian municipality in the state of Bahia which has an estimated population of 82,000. It is the largest city in the Dendê Coasta. Another fishing town and one of the livelier towns in the region.

The Una River

Dried fish anyone?

A view of Valença & the Una river which divides the city

Nossa Senhora do Amparo Church

One of the derelict houses along the streets of Valenca

We also visited Cairú, a another small village said to be the first village built in 1501 after the discovery of Brazil by the Portuguese. Here we had some Brazilian-style burgers and fries.