THE CITY OF FLORIANAPOLIS

ARRIVING IN FLORIANAPOLIS

MAY 27, 2015

After a 5 ½ days off-shore crossing we arrive at the north end of Santa Catarina, the island off the coast of Florianapolis at 12 am.  Florianapolis is the capital of the state of Santa Catarina and the hub of all government and its workers. We spend the night at anchor off the No. coast at Jurere International and than head around to San Antonia de Lesboa, an early settlement by the Portuguese of the Azores.   We anchor after many attempts, the holding is very hard clay. Spending the day doing clean up and resting we awake early in the morning and find the anchor has slipped and we are drifting.  We head across the bay to search for better winds and holding and the contact that Josie has researched from the states to fix our dinghy, which has a slow leak.  

 Workers from Pier 33 up the Biguacu river come out to the boat and pick it up.  Another day without getting off the boat- it has now been 7 days.  Next day it is fixed and we go to shore where we meet English speaking Mauricio who is the representative for B+G Instruments, headquartered in NH.  We meet the owner of the Marina, Jackson and he shares with us his 30 day Motorcycle Rally of the whole coast of Brazil.  He has a brother who lives in Boston and has offered to crew with us if we need it. Thanks to our Brazilian friend Josie who had contacted the Marina ahead of us.  With dinghy back on board we head back to San Antonio de Lesboa.  We decide to pick up a mooring and feel secure in leaving the boat.  I am at the helm and manage to run over the line just as a squall is coming thru.   An hour later the boys have found the line and we are secured on a mooring where we will spend 3 days.

SAN ANTONIO DE LESBOA ANCHORAGE

 Time to explore the town of San Antonio de Lesboa:  A small village with many wonderful restaurants (mainly a tourist destination) 1 minimalistic grocery, small anchorage with about 40 boats.  The value of the dollar is great, 3.40 reals to a dollar, but there is a 37% tax on everything.  We stock up on some essential perishables and have fresh oyster on the beach front and take a bus to Florianapolis to buy a new line for the boat.

Next morning a local boat sails by captained by a very nice Brazilian named Umberto.  He spent a year in NH, Dublin to be exact.  He speaks good English and wants to practice on us.  He is Brazilian but owns many hechtres of land in Paraguay where he farms cattle, and his wife, Elvira was a cardiac nurse. We meet up at the oyster shack and over oysters and beer he offers to be our guide and drive us around to help us check in with Capitania and customs the next day.  The check in process takes a full day as we travel to Policia Federali,  Capitania, and Receita (version of IRS).  We and boat are allowed in the country for 30 days, and must renew before it ends for a total of 90 days.  Boat is allowed to stay in the country for 2 years.

The next day we invite Umbert to visit our boat and he offers suggestions for what to do up the coast.  Than ready the dinghy and speed off to a nearby river and get in on the full moon high tide.  We marvel at the new bird life we see including a giant blue heron, much larger than the giants we have in Dover on the upper Bellamy.  There are also some very colorful king fishers and several other new birds we have never seen before.

We were going to rent a car to tour the island of Santa Catarina and Umberto and Elvira offer to be our tour guides.  We leave @ 8 am next morning and spend a full day touring all the beaches from the north end to the south.  We have a wonderful lunch, beachside, and stop to pick up groceries at a major Mercado.  It is a 4 day holiday, St. Christoper’s, and traffic is abomidable – government workers leaving the island to head inland and mainlanders coming to the beaches.  We get back to the boat @ 8 pm and the marina gate is closed so Marc and Umberto walk down the beach to retrieve the dinghy.  We leave the next morning @ 8 am to head to Porto Belo, a 4 hour sail continuing on our northern journey.

OYSTER (ostra) FARMING

WOOD WORKING OPTIONS FOR JAMIE

LEAVING PIRIAPOLIS

LEAVING PIRAPOLIS,  MAY 

22, 21015

 

So much time has passed since we pulled into Piriapolis with Doug and Jill on Campanera, and Max and Sandy on Volo right behind us.  It was the end of our Patagonia journey with our sailmates whom we had met in Ecuador and had meetups with in Peru, Chile, the Falklands and Argentina.  They have since visited us in NH by boat.  We now leave Piriapolis after 2 years on the “hard” (out of the water for you landlubbers)..

Our Goddess of Piria, Uta, came to the boat with fresh bake goodies of apple cake and almond torts.  A fellow boater just knows what you need to start a 5 day crossing off right.  Many thanks to all of the vendors who worked on the boat.- Laurence, Diego, Diego. As usual for So. America some projects were done well, others less so (more later), but never done on time….

We had not been able to test the watermaker in the Marina (dirty water). Once on sea we realize we have a problem and Marc is now down under (5^th class passage as he calls it) replacing an intake valve. He asks me to watch for the water release off the side of the boat and we realize the bilge is releasing water much too frequently.  Like any Captain worth his “salt” Marc mentally retraces all the work that was done on the boat- we can’t figure out where the water is coming from.  Final trace to the bow, under the front cabin where the mechanic had worked on the bow thruster.   Out comes containers filled with wine from Argentina 2 years ago and suitcases.  The workers had removed a drain plug that was situated just above the waterline.  They had not replaced it.  Problem temporarily solved til we reach Florianapolis with “SNOT”, a marine grade putty or what we call clay.  This event put the watermaker project on hold until tomorrow.  And the bow thruster work that was done is now inoperable due to the salt water damage.  Incompetence x 10.

Next day watermaker is up and running after Marc has to dissemble a major part of it, put in a new pump and reassemble it all at sea. 

As I sit on the bow deck and write we are coming around the point of Uruguay, Punte del Este.  In 7 hours we will be heading North and by tomorrow mid-day the southerly front will bring rain, cooler weather, and our much awaited wind.   I reminisce about the past 3 weeks we have prepped the boat and enjoyed (not) the melodious clings and clangs of being in a marina/boatyard, and enjoyed many social gatherings and met many new friends.  Many ex-pats from many countries are making Uruguay, especially Piria their home.  It is curious but we note that many have incredible conspiracy theories to share with us about just all sorts of things.  Many are just too far out to share here but suffice it to say that in ex- pat land there is an abundance of stories to tell about the homeland.  Land lots are inexpensive and everything is paid in cash. (no mortgages here). In 5 -6 days we arrive in Florianapolis. Brazil.  Time to switch from Spanish to Portuguese and from Pesos to Reals.  Time to put on our Samba shoes.