Jacare Village, Cabedelo, Brazil

A hundred yards upstream lies Jacare Village. The tourist hot spot of the area, renowned for its sunset cruises, accompanied by live saxophone playing. The sax player, over many years has made the village popular and profitable. There are numerous shops that cater for the visitors, only opening from 4 pm - 6 pm, 8 pm during the weekend, selling clothes, souvenirs, jewelry etc. There is the Treehouse bar & restaurant, sometimes we enjoyed it, sometimes it was too busy and noisy. My favourite shop was the House of Nuts, no guesses for what they sell! Unfortunately Alison banned me from going there after a €45 spend. You would think nuts would be cheap in Brazil.....think again....not even in the supermarkets.

Every evening the sunset cruise boats would pass close to our pontoon, dancing, singing and very loud music. The people on board always looked like they were having a great time. The boats were our cue for our favourite alcoholic beverage Caipirinha (sugar cane alcohol with limes, ice and fake sugar for me).

Tazacorte delay

When we arrived at Tazacorte and moored next door but one to our 'neighbors preferes' Pilhaouer, we noticed that they had some nice planks of wood attached to their stanchions and extra fuel cans attached to the wood. Copy time - we thinks! the planks are of triple use :-

1.  For a passerelle (gang plank)

2.  To put outside of your fenders when mooring next to piles etc

3.  To lash fuel cans to 

Philippe & Imelda had hired a car and took us to the wood shop where we bought 2 planks of Iroko ( after a measure up of course). Here they cut and trimmed them to size. Back at the boat I drilled some holes and chamfered the edges. They are attached to the stanchions with super strong French tie wraps which need a hand ratcheting devise to tighten, courtesy of our neighbor. Apparently the wood needs no varnish etc...we'll see!

Philippe has two crates to support his fuel cans, also tie wrapped and has put a band of webbing over the top to secure. We had to think of a different solution. Tried webbing with plastic click on fastenings but found them not to be strong enough (good yank broke them loose). I had downloaded a useful knot application on my tablet and after perusing the lashings section was able to secure the cans allowing zero movement. This took a lot of rope, luckily we already had some which came with Artemis. There was also space for the life raft which we previously stored on the cabin top (reduced visibility from the cockpit). For this installation we used 2 very strong webbing straps with locking mechanisms which we borrowed from spare safety harnesses.

Whilst at Tazacorte we only saw one other British yacht 'Flycatcher', aboard was a nice young couple we had a drink and chat with. Most of the boats here are German, French and Dutch.

We had planned to leave to La Gomera with our French neighbors and had paid up at the marina the night before so we could have an early start the following morning. That afternoon I (Miles) slipped on the cockpit sole and almost dived headfirst into the saloon. Stopping myself, I crashed down onto the companionway injuring my rib cage. That was me out of action! I have damaged ribs before and recovery is usually about 2 weeks. Michael, the German man next door heard about my accident. He called to see us as he is a doctor and gave me a full examination. Good news, possible fracture but not a complete break. He recommended rest and ibuprofen. Thank you Michael & Stephanie! It took a bit longer to recover. Four weeks later we sailed to La Gomera.

We left Tazacorte early in the morning whilst it was still dark and motored out of the marina. Did I say dark? Read pitch black! No moon, no stars nothing. We had put on the running lights and the tricolor so that small fishing vessels with no lights could definitely see Artemis. After dawn we had a pleasant sail, or should I say motor, as the wind was either too light or too strong and in the wrong direction. The acceleration zone doing its thing.

No rain forecast. What's that then?

Somebody got wet hee hee!

Getting nearer, La Gomera looked like that creepy island out of the King Kong movie (The one with Jack Black in it)

Tazacorte La Palma

After our week recovering at Santa Cruise we set off for Tazacorte on the other side of the Island. Go via the North or via the South was the choice.

We chose South and think it was the right choice. We were more on our game this time and had a beautifully controlled sail south and when the acceleration zone tried its best to shake us we were ready for it.
Just after passing the Southern tip of La Palma the wind died dramatically and mist hung over the water. A little further on and there was a breeze against us as we had expected and we motored the rest of the way past miles and miles of Banana plantations.

We arrived on schedule at Tazacorte Marina and moored next door but one to our French friends.

The weather here is very different to the other side of the Island. Drier, sunnier and less wind, calmer sea. There is a beach close by and a mini market that has all the essentials. A short bus ride takes us to Tazacorte town and a couple of supermarkets that deliver. A little further there is Los Llanos, a large town with loads of shops.

We ordered a new autopilot belt from 'El Chopo' chandlery/fishing shop. The 2 brothers in there have lived in London and speak perfect English. Great.

On fitting the belt we realised why the old one, although still in good condition had snapped. A circlip that stops the steering wheel from going too far on the spindle had broken so the belt was getting twisted. Looking for the correct part - have put a jubilee clip on in the meantime. 1 inch dia. in a metric country problem again.

We accompanied Imelda and Phillipe on a couple of the fantastic walks/hikes here. Either our fitness is not what it used to be or the hikes were a lot further than advertised. A bit of both perhaps. After the first hike we could hard walk for a week - our calves were on fire.

The highest point of La Palma where the there are quite a few observatories.

A wine tasting visit

The long hike with Phillipe and Imelda

The finger

Cooling off

The second walk we were nearly hit by a rockfall.

I got a bit scathed scrambling out of the way.

We did see some fantastic scenery and vistas.

We particularly liked the prehistoric landscapes and the frogs and dragonflys.

Biscay or Bust

We were ready to leave France. 

It was just about the right time of year, according to the pilot books, but still the weather evaded us. 

Our French friends are keen weather watchers also and we were waiting for the perfect weather. 

Too much wind, too little wind, wind wrong direction, sea state too rough. The weather grib files gave us all the information. 

But to get 3/4 days of favourable conditions was proving illusive. 

Many yachts had arrived in Camaret with the same goal. Mostly German. 

We got chatting to two boats on our pontoon whom were travelling together. One man had circumnavigated and we asked his advice. 

Sunday 25th May was a possibility but only on the morning of a proposed departure, with the latest weather information would Norbert make a decision. Sounds sensible. 

The other German yachts looked to him as well. 

Sunday was written off due to a possible force 6/7 looming around Cape Finisterre. We had already decided against. Looks like we were like minded. 

Wednesday 28th looked good but the grib filed prediction, as usual, changed from day to day. 

Norbert thought that this was our best chance for crossing Biscay. Take a direct route, motor until the wind arrived, the sea would be relatively calm and no severe weather was looming. 

We agreed. 

Our French friends also agreed after some persuasion. 

We made final preparations. The night before, we tested our engines. 'Erminig' our French pals found a nasty vibration coming from their prop shaft. Could require a haul out. They weren't going. 

We had to make a decision - wait while they made repairs and then start looking at the weather again or go with the Germans and Erminig could catch us up. 

After much deliberation we decided to accompany the Germans. 

Due to the marina diesel pump being out of order just 3 yachts set out at the crack of dawn. 

S/V's Artemis, Eos and Pancho. 

We motored at a gentle pace to save fuel, the wind was against us. 

After 25 hours the wind arrived in a favourable direction. 

We switched off our engine. We didn't want to burn any more fuel just yet. 

'Eos' motorsailed and 'Pancho' put up their cruising chute. 

We couldn't keep up. The wind was almost backing us. We tried our genoa on its own, then gullwing. We didn't have much experience sailing down wind and weren't very good at it. 

Then the wind died. 

After a couple of hours the wind was back and we broad reached for a day and a half of very comfortable sailing. 'Artemis' loved it and we switched on the auto pilot. 

We could see the other two yachts on the horizon, they changed course for the Spanish mainland and then dissappeared. 

By now the sea was nearly 5km deep and the moonless nights very dark. 

Dolphins arrived and entertained us every so often, superb at night with the phosphorescent. 

We were sailing well so continued on a direct route. The wind increased so we put in a reef, then another. Hmmm... Maybe we are making up some ground here. 

The next morning the wind backed us again and the sea was more unsettled due the Spanish continental shelf so we changed course for the Spanish coast. At 1pm we sighted land and 'Eos' and 'Pancho' motoring slowly up the coast. 

Still under sail we intersected them, waved hello and followed them under engine. 

The swell and wind grew as we neared la Coruna but nothing compared to our previous November Biscay attempt. 

We arrived safe and sound at 7.30pm Saturday 31st May

Alison's Birthday tomorrow !