Still up the coast of Brazil

We left St Andre, healed and ready for the seas again, carrying on to some of the loviest places we visited in Brazil. Camamu and Tinharé Island with many picturesque places, with many old churches and simple living.

Salvador was a bit of a disappointment, very dirty and ugly. The historical town was incredible though. We took Moonwalker up the river to Maragojipe and thought Baia de Todos os Santos was very nice and welcoming. Itaparica had quite a sailing scene. Mostly of yachties that got there and never left.

We moved up the coast to the lovely surprise of Maceió. We had heard so many bad things about the place we were a bit aprehensive of visiting, and although the reports on the dirtyness of the anchorage and landing were accurate the town itself was lovely. We had a great time there with Valéria em and kids. My brother showed up as a surprise towards the end of the week and we had a lovely time together. This was good bye from them and we kind of managed to convince them that the next visit will be theirs to NZ. We need to keep our kids in touch! Valentina and Brisa got on like a house on fire and loved their time together. Brisa was her usual tick to Eryk and Valéria, she simply adores them! It´s quite amazing to see.

Now we are a couple of anchorages up the coast, passed through Suape and it´s brand new port and ship building facilities with cranes we could see over 15 miles out to sea! We are now in a place called Itamaracá, by the Orange Fort built by the dutch when they tried to claim a piece of Brazil, they actually managed to control parts of the coast for over 50 years. They left quite a mark around, not only buildings but plenty of blond kids and light eyes.

We are now heading to Cabedelo by João Pessoa (which is supposed to be a lovely city) and then Natal a city I haven´t visited in over 15 years! I am hoping to take Russ and Brisa on a buggy ride on the sand dunes of Genipabu. After Natal we are still deciding, but probably Fortaleza and Lençóis Maranhenses are in sight before we head to Devil´s Island in French Guiana.

The good news is that my uncle Tadeu is coming with his family to visit in Tobago! It will be awesome as he has done a circumnavigation over 15 years ago and has since settled inland with a lovely lady and has a 3 year old daughter called Helena Moana. Quite an honour to have him onboard! I am very excited!

As for Brisa, she is coping much better on the crossings. Sea state is still a bit unsettled but getting better as we head north. Wind still good, and we are all getting into the rhythm of sailing and adjusting ourselves to life on the go. Brisa is loving the warm water and is getting confident by the day on the water. She jumps herself into the deeper water and is unmoved about having her head under the water, but we still have to rescue her... a bit of a worry but nice to see how excited she is in the water.

Plenty of photos on the webalbum guys, just click on the photo of Moonwalker on the left side of the blog and choose the album you want to see.