Bye Bye Brazil...

Yesterday morning at 1100 we left Fortaleza and are heading now for Tobago, maybe we will stop in Suriname. The coast of Brazil is almost one big beach and lots of surfing is going on here. They have almost everywhere a good beach break and millions of peoples are hanging out on the beach with lots of football and volleyball games. Principally its a perfect place with its sunny, hot coast. The downside is the violence in the big cities and nowadays also outside on land. Everybody is telling you not to take your watch, camera, backpack with you and not to go out by night. Every Brazilian can tell you a nice story about how they robbed him and that doesn´t taste good. If you want to leave your boat, you have to find a protected marina.

During our time in Brazil we had no problems thanks to Brazilian friends we made in Recife (Naide) and Fortaleza (Doris, Luciano, Otto and Wladie) who took care of us and drove us safe to the nice places and beaches of Brazil. Thanks to them also from here.

Our plans for now was sailing to the Amazon and cruising up the river for a bit. But this we canceled after we talked to some Locals and Sailors. Its rainy season at the moment what means that large masses of vegetation and large tree trunks float downstream what is a serious danger for us. Beside that are the several serious attacks to sailors in this area. It would be a dream, but too much risk is involved.

Now we have 1500 NM to go to Tobago, probably 11 more days. We will pass the Doldrums (ITC-Zone) in around 2 days what means tons of rain and no wind for around a day.

0930, 28.6°C, 02°15S, 40°09W, Wind: SE 15 KN, Speed: 6-7 KN, Course, 303°, Average Speed 6 KN, Log 123 NM, 1472 NM to Tobago.

Axel

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