|
| "Oryx" anchored off Urca Beach in Rio de Janeiro |
RIO DE JANEIRO!
 |
| Sugar Loaf looms beyond the traffic. |
Sailing into Rio de
Janeiro from any direction, must be one of the most spectacular experiences in
the world. The ring of mountains form a backdrop to the bay, which has a myriad
of small islands many with fortifications. Probably the first sight, from a
distance is that of the outstretched arms of Christ the Redeemer atop Corcovado
as He extends His blessing in all directions. The crest of Sugar Loaf and its
trailing cable cars are a close second, verifying that this is indeed Rio de Janeiro.
There is even a slightly concertinaed Table Mountain like mountain lost
amongst the hills above Ipanema. Rio is a city of outstanding beauty.
Unfortunately one has to sadly acknowledge how polluted Guanabara Bay has
become. Still my heart overflows with suadade – that longing to return.
Rio is known as the city marvellosa and according to the tourism guide was
elected by the New York Times as the best place to go in 2013 – because the
whole world will be there in 2014!
 |
| These girls whizzed by as we sailed into Rio. |
Gaspar de Lemos was the
first Portuguese explorer to enter the bay. His entourage arrived in Guanabara
Bay on the first of January 1502.He mistook the immense bay for an estuary and
so named the place Rio de Janeiro. The Tamoio were the Brazil Indians living in
the area and the French settled along the bay in 1555, but were expelled by the
Portuguese in 1557.The Portuguese victors drove the Tamoio from the area in a
series of bloody battles. By the 17th century the Tamoio had been
wiped out by disease or enslaved. Other Brazil Indians were ‘pacified’ by
Jesuits. By the 17th century Rio became Brazil’s third most
important settlement, after Salvador da Bahia and Recife-Olinda. In 1807
Napoleon invaded Portugal. The Portuguese Prince Regent (Dom Joao VI) and his
entire court had set sail for Brazil, just weeks before. There was much
celebration on his arrival in Rio, (even in those days they liked to party!)
and Dom Joao fell in love with Brazil. Even after he became king of Portugal he
stayed in Brazil and declared Rio de Janeiro the capitol of the United Kingdom
of Portugal, Brazil and the Algarve. This made Brazil the only New World colony
to have a European sovereign ruling on its soil. To this day the descendants of
the Portuguese monarchy live in Brazil.
 |
| An ornate house on the sea front of Urca. |
Five years ago, when we
visited Rio on “Pelican” we anchored off Urca for the night, but were then
based across the bay in Niteroi, as Marina Gloria was a bit run down and
exorbitantly expensive. This time, however, we had met other yachties in
Arraial de Cabo, (Bruce and Jill on Daemon) who told us that Urca was a
safe place to leave our dinghy, during the day. So, as the sun began to set and
the daylight started fading we dropped our anchor off Urca beach, directly
below Sugar Loaf and with Corcovado visible against the backdrop of the night.
Urca is a small, quaint, well-established suburb of Rio de Janeiro. The lower
reaches of the cable car to Sugar Loaf is on Morro de Urca (Urca hill.) Lonely
planet describes Urca as a ‘village’ and whilst it is anything but a village,
it has an ambience of a close-knit community and an almost autonomous feel
about it. The streets are wide and leafy; there are small café’s, restaurants
and bars, a fishing harbour, a small, fairly expensive supermarket and a couple
of popular beaches.
 |
| Inner fishing harbour at Urca. |
Although Guanabara Bay is
polluted, swimming and a host of water sports abound and the two beaches of
Urca are crowded, especially on weekends. Landing with “Crake” is always a
challenge, but in Urca there were no surging breakers to contend with, but we
had to dodge around bathers and small children in the shallows. We found a spot
amongst the other dinghies for “Crake”, locked her oars, removed the rowlocks
and plug and usually she was left undisturbed. People tend to use “Crake” as a
seat, so we learned to invert her, to protect her.
 |
| Who is the Carioca? |
Central Rio is a short bus
ride away and the bus stop is conveniently close to the beach. On our first
morning we headed for the centre, to clear in with the Port Captain. Pete’s
memory of places visited is uncanny and we hopped off the bus at exactly the
right spot. We had hoped to visit the naval museum, but they only open in the
afternoons, so we earmarked that for another day. Clearing in takes a while and
once we were legal we headed back to the historical centre.
Lunchtime was
approaching, so we shopped for picnic goodies and found a leafy park in central
Rio. I spent several minutes following a bedraggled guinea pig like rodent,
which resembles a capybara but is much smaller. The poor agouti was camera shy
and had a bad prolapse, so I photographed a compliant duck instead and followed
Pete to a bench beneath a luxuriant tree, where we had our lunch. As soon as we
rustled our crisp packet several more agoutis appeared and I could snap away to
my heart’s content.
 |
| The compliant duck. |
 |
| The most photogenic of the agoutis |
Previously we had followed
Lonely Planet’s suggested walk faithfully, but this time we wandered around
more freely, discovering picturesque side streets and then heading for the
distinctive Petrobras building, which flanks the modern cathedral in central
Rio. Previously, we had admired the cathedral from afar, but this time we
headed inside. My thoughts were very much on my daughter’s pending exam and I
said a silent prayer for her, as I stood admiring the magnificent stain glass
windows. Evidence of the recent Papal visit abounded and the black-market DVD’s
had disappeared, perhaps in deference to him.
 |
| The distinctive Petrobras building alongside the modern cathedral. |
 |
| Three of the four stain glass panels within the cathedral. |
Vincente, our Brazilian
friend, whom we met in Macae, had left contact details for Paulo and Claudia,
who kindly invited us to join them for drinks on Saturday afternoon and then a
drive through Rio on Sunday. We had earmarked Saturday for a climb up Urca hill
and at first we thought of joining Paulo and Claudia afterwards, but then
decided we would probably not be fit company after a long hike, so we declined
the drinks, but gratefully accepted their offer of a drive
on the Sunday.
The weather on Saturday
was warm and mild and we set off early, shopping for our picnic bits at the
local supermarket. The start of the walk is near the cable car station and we
managed to get a map of Rio de Janeiro, as well as a couple of guides from the
Tourist Information Centre. We had been lugging around the Lonely Planet guide,
because the information centres had run out of maps during the Papal visit.
Fortunately, this information centre had restocked. We set off for our walk/
climb amongst a throng of eager Brazilians.
The walk starts near Praia Vermelha
and the climb is about fairly strenuous, but shaded by the encroaching Atlantic
rain forest. The path was steep in places and the packed earth was a bit
slippery after the recent rains, yet many locals climbed effortlessly in what
must be the Brazilian national footwear – flip flops!
 |
| Starting the climb up Morro da Urca |
We saw some Marmosets in
the trees and people stopped to share their bananas with the tiny monkeys. The
top of Urca hill is home to the lower cable car station and the view is
spectacular. One can see Botafogo, Urca, the two nearby beaches and the wide
expanse of Guanabara Bay. Wooden seats and tables are conveniently placed and
the only difficulty was finding an unoccupied set to have our lunch. Most of
the people were transient and many were tourists, having taken the cable car
up, so soon they set off to the higher reaches of Sugar Loaf itself. Pete had
taken me to the ‘tourist hot spots’ on our previous visit and we plan to show
them off to visitors next year, so this time we merely walked amongst the
tourists and browsed the shops before hiking back down to the shoreline, where
we completed the trail. Pleasantly exhausted we returned to “Oryx” for
sundowners.
 |
| Climbing up the hill below the lower cable car station. |
 |
| Some people climb up the hard way! |
 |
| Guanabara Bay and Praia Vermelho |
Paulo and Claudia arrived
at noon the next day and whisked us off in their car. We were going to the
Botanical Gardens to see the Genesis project exhibition by Brazilian
photographer Sebastiao Salgado. The traffic was heavy, but Paulo is a patient
driver. He is an oceanographer and Claudia is a conservationist. They have both
worked with Vincente on manatee and other projects and are avid sailors.
Claudia has worked for Green Peace and her current project on Albatross
conservation was just ending. They have lived throughout Brazil, but are
currently based in Santos, where their son is completing his schooling.
However, luckily for us, Claudia who is a Carioca (native of Rio) has just started
working in Rio and she and Paulo were spending some time there. Both speak
English very well and Claudia is fully bilingual. The photography exhibition
was astounding; I’ll let the pictures speak for themselves. The exhibition is
called Genesis and it is worth looking at on the Internet.
https://www.google.com.br/search?q=sebastiao+salgado+jardim+botanico&biw=994&bih=458&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ei=VQEuUoW2G4762AX0hYGYCQ&ved=0CAcQ_AUoAQ
.jpg) |
| Sebastiao Salgado's Genesis Project |
 |
| For my friends in Riyadh - can you believe this is Saudi Arabia? |
The Botanical Gardens are
immense. They are situated against the hillsides adjacent to Corcovado and near
the National Park da Tijuca. They stretch over many acres and are said to
contain over 5000 varieties of plant. They were designed by order of the Prince
Regent Dom Joao in 1808. Obviously we didn’t have time to explore the entire
garden and will return on subsequent visits to Rio. We had coffee and cake at
the little café and then returned to Urca.
Another excursion took us
to Copacabana, Ipanema and the immense saltwater lagoon Lagoa Rodrigo de
Freitas. Pete was keen to walk the 7km trail around the lake, but I wanted to
see Ipanema beach, so we compromised by taking the bus to the western side of
Copacabana. Copacabana is separated from Ipanema by a small headland, which
lends itself to a decent point break on the Ipanema side.
The beachfronts here
are reminiscent of Europe, with wide, paved walkways, cycling paths and
intermittent fitness centres. There are of course also the very Brazilian beach
bars. We walked along Ipanema until we reached the canal, which runs from the
lagoon. We had hoped to picnic in a park, but found the park has given way to
some frenetic building of additional metro lines, to link the beaches with the
centre of Rio, probably in time for the World Cup in 2014.
 |
| Ipanema beach |
 |
| Favella just visible on the slopes beyond Ipanema. |
We continued on our hike
and found the beautiful lagoon, which at Christmas time hosts the world’s
biggest Christmas tree. We found a shady spot and had our lunch as we people
watched. It was a weekday and a lone disabled water skier practised his art as
we looked on.
 |
| Splendid yacht club on the lagoon. |
Further along the walk we saw several beautiful parrots, nonchalantly playing on the lower reaches of a tree. The walk back to Urca was a long one and we spent some time looking for a supermarket that does not exist. We had to backtrack to one we had passed and as usual weighed ourselves down and headed home.
 |
| Norwegian Blue? |
Urca had an added
attraction; Ella and Milly on board “Muneera” had cracked the log in
process to a wifi hotspot. Bruce and Jill on “Daemon” had shared the
information, so we had free, high-speed Internet access on board. Thanks to
them I managed to publish the blog painlessly, but with errors on the page.
Ella is in her early teens and Milly is twelve, yet they managed to fudge the
site without much knowledge of Portuguese. Nick and Andrea are from Melbourne,
but bought their boat in the Seychelles and have been sailing with the girls
for a few years now. Obviously the home schooling is effective.
 |
| The exclusive Rio Yacht Club lies beyond the Urca anchorage. |
IHLA DE PAQUETA
 |
| The fast ferry from Rio to Niteroi crossed our bows as we sailed to Paqueta |
The small island of
Paqueta is at the top end of Guanabara Bay and is a popular tourist spot. One
can take a 70 minute ferry ride for R$4.50, but we obviously chose to sail
there. The wind in Guanabara bay was fluky, as usual, so at times we had to
motor. We sailed beneath the immense bridge which links Rio to Niteroi and
through a fairly industrialised area, with a plethora of oilrig supply boats
and many other ships of all sizes.
Gradually the anchored ships grew fewer and
the bay became more scenic, dotted with tiny islets and with majestic distant
mountains to the north and the city of Rio to the south.
 |
| Slowly industry gave way to small islands such as these. |
Paqueta itself was a
pleasant escape from the bustle of Rio. The island has well kept dirt roads,
but no cars, although there is a municipal garbage truck. The main form of
transport is the bicycle, with tourist tricycles and some horse drawn carriages
to complete the picture. In keeping with the 21
st century, electric
bikes abound. There is a rather disappointing ‘train’, which is drawn by a
tractor, and we felt a little cheated.
 |
| "Oryx" off Ihla da Paqueta |
 |
| Horse drawn carriages await the arrival of ferry passengers. |
We didn’t notice the
traffic sounds at Urca, but anchored off Paqueta we drank in the silence as we
sipped our sundowners. This is the life.
It rained heavily the first night and
we collected gallons of water in the dinghy, so before we set off to explore
the island I did the washing. We intended to walk the couple of miles around
the island and set off towards the yacht club. Out circumnavigation was
thwarted by a dead end at a stable, so we backtracked and took a detour across
the island to the other side.
 |
| The small yacht club at Paqueta |
 |
| Surrey with a fringe? |
We explored a shaded park and had our picnic
there. There were fabulous vistas of neighbouring islands, some with a solitary
mansion. We stopped for an ice cream before rowing out to “Oryx” as the sun was
setting.
.jpg) |
| Boat repairs |
 |
| Some of the weekend holiday homes |
 |
| The roads are spotless and the tables have tiled chess boards. |
.jpg) |
Private island with its lone mansion across the bay from the park.
|
 |
| A more humble abode. |
 |
| Look art the majestic mountains north of Rio in the distance. |
 |
| Even laundry looks good at sunset! |
We returned to Urca via
Niteroi and then spent another weekend in Rio before clearing out.
 |
| Recycled plastic used for mussel farming near Niteroi. |
 |
| So long Rio! |
We left in
the late afternoon, when a breeze was forecast, but unfortunately it never
materialised and we motored out of Guanabara Bay and until we had passed the
various little islands before Ipanema. The current was against us and we
couldn’t motor all the way to Ihla Grande, so we shut off the engine, drank in
the silence and drifted slowly by Ipanema at the incredible speed of 0,6 knots.
The evening was beautiful and Pete and I swapped watches, due to obstructions
and a fishing fleet, so the following morning I had the pleasure of greeting
the new day and the gentlest of breezes. We were on our way!
The passage to Abraao
should have been an overnight sail, but it took us longer and we arrived the
following night with the wind screeching and “Oryx” lifting her skirts, despite
her foul bottom. (not such a good image!) I always tend to fret about anchoring
in a busy anchorage in the dark, but Pete uses his binoculars and soon we were
anchored safely and efficiently.
IHLA GRANDE
ABRAAO
 |
| Abraao was the first place I landed with Pete after sailing from Santos. Is it any wonder I'm still popping the occasional Stugeron? |
The island of Ihla Grande owes its pristine condition to its varied history – it was a pirate’s lair, a leper colony and then a prison for dangerous criminals. The island’s unsavoury past kept developers at bay for many years. Consequently beautiful unspoiled tropical beaches and verdant Atlantic rainforest abound. The federal government protects Ihla Grande and it is one of the few places in Brazil that offers camping and hiking trails. There are still few settlements on Ihla Grande and Vila do Abraao is the only town of any size. It was a sleepy fishing village until about 30 years ago, but now is a bustling town with more pousadas (guest houses), bars and restaurants, than actual dwellings.
 |
| One of the many pousadas in Abraao. |
 |
| Dining al fresco with the sea lapping at your feet. |
Once again Ihla Grande
has no cars, except for the garbage truck, a fire engine and a delivery truck.
By night everyone congregates at the dock and the beachfront and it can be
frenetic, but escape along the hiking trails is a few hundreds yards in any
direction.
 |
| Start of the 8.6km hike to Dois Rios. |
I joined Pete on “Pelican”
just after Christmas in 2007. I had spent Christmas with Eurika, a friend of
many years and with Faye, who at that stage was a new friend. We had indulged
in all the trimmings and delights of London at Christmas. Sipping molten
chocolate at Harrods, pre show dinners, post show drinks, a lavish Christmas
dinner at my local pub. Consequently, I was fairly heavy and very unfit. Our
first landfall after leaving Santos was Abraao and our first hike in Brazil was
from the Abraao to Dois Rios. The walk is along a dirt road, up the mountain
and down the other side to the old prison and the beaches of Dois Rios. It is
also 8.6km one way and one has to return. I think I managed the walk there
fairly well, but almost died on the way back. My calves and thighs ached and
there was no option, but to go on. To survive I said a mantra to Annie and
Shirley and a few other brave women, all of whom are slightly older than I am,
but I thought had survived such hikes with Pete. Now Pete tells me that he and
Annie never walked to Dois Rios – it was still a prison and anyway it was 1994
or somewhere thereabouts!
 |
| What remains of the prison at Dois Rios. |
This time I knew what I
was in for, I am five years older, but much fitter, thanks largely to Pete and
our healthy diet. We set out eagerly and were soon retracing our steps along
the dirt road. The weather was also a little cooler, which was a boon. As we
strode along we heard an unearthly noise. It was something like a deep guttural
growl. We stopped, astounded. Jaguars? It was Brazil, after all.
 |
| Sebastiao Salgado's jaguar. |
Then we
chuckled at our silliness, more likely Maseratis! As we continued fearlessly we
came to the conclusion that it was Howler monkeys, which we later confirmed on
Google. We didn’t see any, though, which is apparently a good thing, because
they tend to hurl faeces when frightened and Pete armed with a camera can be a
little intimidating.
 |
| Beach Dois Rios. |
The return trip was
buoyant. I couldn’t believe that I could hike so far without a single mantra!
To celebrate we had ice cream at the fabulous Finlandia ice cream shop. They
have many exotic flavours and the fig is amongst my all time ice cream
favourites.Shopping on Abraao proved
remarkably inexpensive and some of their fresh produce was cheaper than on the
mainland, although the beers were pricey.
 |
| Astounding views like these make the hikes on Ihla Grande worth the effort. |
We next set off from Ihla
Grande to explore the islands to the east. We anchored off a small fishing
village the first night and went ashore in the morning. The sky was grey and
soon after we landed the heavens opened, so we sheltered with of the fishermen
under nearby porch. The fishermen were friendly but hardier than we and soon we
were left cowering with only the dogs.
 |
| Sheltering from the rain on Ihla da Marambaia |
The islands around Ihla
Grande are said to number 365 and it certainly seems as if this can be true. I
will not give you a blow-by-blow account of each little anchorage or every
island, suffice to say that each one is almost more picturesque than the next
and once again the yearning to remain became strong. Fantasies of living on a
little island were curtailed by reality – the islands around Ihla Grande may be
paradise, but the wind is fickle and the sailing is not always ideal. Anyway,
we do live on an island of sorts – it is called “Oryx”.
 |
| Ihla Jaguarim |
 |
| A Fix'er upper on Ihla Jaguarim |
 |
| We landed near this beach on Ihla Jauguarim |
 |
| A beach retreat on far side of Ihla Jaguarim |
 |
| Yet another paradise island. |
 |
| A hotel on an island across the bay from Itacaruca. |
ITACURUCA
 |
| Anchored off Itacuruca |
My daughter’s exams were
ending and we headed to the mainland to a town called Itacaruca (eat a cruiser)
in search of Skype. Itacaruca doesn’t get many cruisers and much of the time
spent in the town was spent in the Port Captain’s office whilst they devoured
our papers and after a couple of hours and checking with Macae, they finally
cleared us in. As always the officialdom were friendly and polite and some of
the young sailors had a smattering of English, which smoothed the way. There
was no sign of cannibalism (sorry, couldn’t resist it), but some kids had
dragged “Crake” into the water before realising that her plug was out, we found
“Crake” grubby and muddy but otherwise unscathed. Some little urchins lingered,
but although I questioned them sternly in limited Portuguese, their smiles were
endearing and soon they were waving delightedly to us as we rowed back to
“Oryx”.
 |
| Small mainland town of Itacaruca |
 |
| "Ship shape" residence near Itacaruca |
 |
| A new harbour on the mainland beyond Itacaruca |
There was an Internet café, but they had no Skype so we cleared out swiftly, explored a few more anchorages and made use of a fine breeze to return to Abraao and its numerous Internet cafes. We arrived after dark and had a late dinner. Pete rowed me ashore and after a few fruitless attempts I managed to speak to my daughter and then to my son. All was relatively well.
 |
| We anchored off Ihla do Martin's fishing village for lunch. |
 |
| We abandoned this lovely anchorage to harness the wind back to Abraao |
ABRAAO
There were three South
African boats in the anchorage and before we could row over to say ‘hi’ and
swap books, the couple from a catamaran called “Witblitz” called and invited us
for cocktails that evening. “Witblitz” is a 44’ Dean Cat and it is so spacious
that Peter and Chanay had a large BMW trail bike in their saloon. Also invited were
Chanay’s parents, Wayne and Tracey, our Belgium friend Luc and another German
South African singlehander called Harold.
As the evening unfolded we found out that Wayne and Tracey too have a
motorbike on the deck of their 34 footer Moody “Margaret Anne”. Pete’s friend
Nick Skeats has motorbike in bits on board “Wylo II”, but this was the first
motorbike we had seen in a saloon. Am I allowed to ask if South Africa has an
abnormally high percentage of eccentrics? Anyway, the evening was pleasant,
beer and Cachaca cocktails flowed and the conversation was interesting to say
the least. A couple of nights later Peter, Chanay,Tracey and Wayne joined us
for drinks. “Witblitz” is heading to Uruguay and “Margaret Anne” northwards to
the Caribbean.
Tracey told us of a source of spring water on Abraao and Pete topped up our supplies.
 |
| Cruising isn't always cocktails at sunset. Here Pete returns looking like a shrimp cocktail after cleaning the bottom. |
We planned another two hikes for our stay on Abraao. The first was a short circular hike to a nearby waterfall. We followed the path to the right, starting off with a visit to the ruins of an old prison called Lazareto. It was a small, converted farmhouse, now moss covered and inruins. It was used as a prison and also as a quarantine station intermittently between 1884 and 1954. The emperor od Brazl ordered all European immigrants to go into quarantine here, to prevent the spread of cholera. Joshua slocum was one of the many people to be quarantined here and he mentions it in his book "The Voyage of the Liberdade."
 |
| The claustrophobic cells |
 |
| Ruins of Lazareto. |
 |
| Another 'black beach' but here you can see traces of the minerals. |
The mystery of Brazil's black beaches was revealed by an information board on Ihla Grande near their Praia Preto: there are traces of magnesium, aluminium and magnetite and biotite amongst the quartz which gives the beaches some discolouration. We had our picnic at the waterfall and witnessed this couple abseiling down the cachoeira.
 |
| Rogerio came alongside in his recently launched Tiki 30 with his friend Rui. Rogerio is a skateboard 'n surfboard builder. |
ANGRA DOS REIS
 |
| This little chapel is on the island of Bonfim near Angra dos Reis |
 |
| The three kings blessing Angra dos Reis is a new addition since 2008. |
 |
Bye bye Brazil!
|
The next morning we set out towards Uruguay.
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Cruising-Guide-Coast-Brazil-Part-ebook/dp/B00IT3L64E/ref=sr_1_1?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1394734579&sr=1-1&keywords=a+cruising+guide+to+the+coast+of+brazil
.jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg)
No comments:
Post a Comment