Arrived

Here we are, safe and sound in Jacare.  This is a very tropical place, palm trees and mangroves all around and very hot.  Luckily there is also pleanty of wind.  We have found a nice marina with good frinend (Dreamweaver) right next door.  We plan to be here for about 3 weeks.

Fish 2, Balaena 0

Lots of fish around the boat yesterday. We had several strong bites and lost first a lure and then the whole line - the 80kg line snapped like a piece of cotton, we try to imagine the monster that took it!

With only 150M to go we have had a noodie and a booby, both outside their normal range. Especially the noodie which usually stays within 50M of land and returns to the nest at nigh. She arrived at dusk and made herself comfortable on our solar panel. Despite the motion she seemed to sleep well. Before dawn she spent 30 minutes preening and flew off when the sun arrived. Perhaps she will return tonight

Home run

We definitely feel as though we are almost there - get those caiparinas cooling. The fishing line is out for our last fish, hopefully it won't be one of the small tuna (about 30cm long) that have adopted the boat and fed on the flying fish we disturb. Last night we had a noddie fly around, a bit off course but a good sign hat land is not far away. VERY HOT

Getting close to Brazil

We have seen a few more ships (4 in 10 days) and one or two birds. Must be getting close. Still lovely downwind sailing, though the stronger wind makes us roll a bit more.

A bit more wind

The wind is a little fresher so we may arrive a bit earlier - that makes Clemencia happy. Still plenty of flying fish, but tiny little ones, only a few cm long. We have a few birds too, Boobies that don't normally stray this far from land.

Good sailing

Now were are counting the days to our arrival. Less than 1 week.

Passed half way

We are on the home run and hope to arrive in about 1 week. All well on board, lovely weather though rather hot by midday!

Slow but steady

The winds continue light and we make around 120M per day, which is fine progress and it is gentle sailing. We eat well, read a lot, prepare good food and play backgammon and rummy-Q. Clemencia is knitting hours every day with the nearly $500 worth of wool she bought in Cape Town.

Steady winds

This is not such a fast passage as in the Indian Ocean but winds and sea are much more friendly. Today we are baking fresh bread.

Big tuna

We have had some heavy fish get off the line. Last night as we were about to eat dinner we caught a big tuna, about 10-12 kg. So big we decided we could not eat him all and let him go. Lucky Tuna.

Steady winds

We have all our sails spread out and sailing along nicely at 5-6 knots. Yesterday we had two heavy bites on our fishing lure, probably enormous fish so it was as well they got away.

Fair winds

The trade wind has been very light since leaving Namibia. It varies between about 8 knots which is only sufficient to move and 15 which gives us good sailing with all sail setting. Today we have 15. When it is light the boat is not steadied by the sails so it is actually more uncomfortable and we roll more than with the fresher wind.

We collected some nice fresh fruit and veges at St Helena so are eating very well. No fish yet, though we still have some tuna in the freezer.

We are getting excited about Brazil and hope to see a bit of carnival.

Farewell St Helena

What a wonderful place, a true pearl of the South Atlantic. Friendly interesting people, lovely scenery, perfect weather and to top it all the anchorage is one of the best places in the world to dive with Whale Sharks, which Andy did for 40 minutes while Clemencia watched.

The internet was expensive so we will wait until Brazil to upload our photos.