07 January to 27 January.. Tunstall tales continue..

27 January 2009
So we are victualling the boat again (sounds so grand doesn’t it!) it actually means shopping. And in our case generally lugging a lot of groceries in a pram/backpack/bus… etc A lot of time is spent living, especially as everytime you are in a new town, you need to find out where everything is again! And especially in a country where English is spoken so infrequently. Today I am going to upload this blog, and some photos hopefully, go to Lauro’s boat museum, go to the city museum, do the rest of the shopping.. sorry victualling.. finish off the clothes washing, oh yes and look after Lucy! Lucy will be walking in the next couple of weeks, and is such a little charmer it is ridiculous. She just brings such smiles to all of our faces everyday! So this will be the last news until Buenos Aires..

Ok last minute update, it is now 10:15pm and we are all sitting in the garden in the dark getting eaten by mosquitoes and using a rather weak internet connection! Cheers till Buenos Aires, wish us a good passage, and NO

24 January 2009
The morning after we arrived in Rio Grande – Andrew and I went for a run, and after the first turning we ran into the Italiano Circus. So we asked the first chap that we saw, who happened to be the ringmaster – Chico (who was Portugese, not Italian… go figure) when the show was on..

So this afternoon we packed our bags and headed off for the circus. It was all a bit too loud and exciting, so after she burst into tears, I went to sit out in the slightly seedy food stalls area, and Lucy promptly attracted her own usual crowd. So in about 5 minutes, she had her own personal off duty clown entertaining her!

The circus was quite entertaining otherwise, with no animals, as circus animals has been banned in Brazil (much to my relief).

23 January 2009
We arrived in Rio Grande after a 2 day passage which was – let’s be frank – freakin awful. The first day was rough and we were sailing into the wind and Mum and I did not feel too great being down below with chirpy charlie Lucy. I was actually physically sick, so were not loving life too much! Andrew and Dael had a rough time off it, as followed by beating into a swell, and 2 off colour crew, the wind on the second night blew very hard, and the wheel was too strong for Mum and I, so Dael and Andrew had to helm all night. Asleep (or not so asleep) in the forepeak, we felt the most of the weather, being thrown up and down quite roughly. Lucy is so funny as she just blissfully sleeps through everything (thank goodness). And then wakes up smiling in the morning wanting the world to entertain her. VERY HAPPY TO BE ON DRY LAND – that was my birthday present from Andrew!!

We came up the river 30km – that is the distance from Plett to Knysna, and it is really shallow. We were almost at the yacht club and we were hailed by a formidable looking character dressed all in white wielding a megaphone, ordering us onto his jetty, and directing a team of people up and down, doing this and that! Lauro, the gentleman in white, who is the director of the Oceanographic Museum whose jetty we are moored at welcomed us with open arms, with offers of free water, power, internet and the use of all the facilities. We were also welcomed in for supper where we joined a film crew who are here filming a dolphin documentary.

The Oceanographic museum also houses a rehabilitation facility for seabirds – mainly penguins and a huge sea lion. The penguins are Magellanic penguins, which are a first cousin – if not brother of our African/Jackass penguin at home.

Lauro seems to be the regular entrepeneur of note, he has also instigated a marine/life skills school for the underprivileged where 200 students are educated between the ages of 14 and 17, the school took 10 years to complete and is now only 1 year old, and is extraordinary, complete with it’s own boat yard where the students are taught were to build boats.

20 January 2009
Left for Imbituba, weather forecast should be about right, could be a bit bumpy on the first day.

19 January 2009 Tuesday
We could not get off the boat at all today, the wind was absolutely pumping. The plan is to leave tomorrow if the storm breaks. We can see the end of the break water and the open sea, and the fishing boats coming in. The waves are HUGE. I am VERY pleased that we are at our protected anchorage, and not out there.

18 January 2009 Monday
Discovered over the weekend that we were mistaken – there is actually a big town 3 km down the road – very worldly travellers we are… we discovered this when we asked if there was anywhere that we could get a pizza and the guy answered, not here, only in Imbituba… hahaha. So off we went down the road to Imbituba, where on the way we happened to pass a surf shop, where Dael and Andrew both found the surfboards they have been searching for, though I am not sure if Andrew could have missed his, as it is 9 foot long and bright orange!!

Imbituba has hosted a number of big surf events, so I guess it was a good place to buy a surf board. We and pretty much we can get whatever we need here, though we have left it a bit late, as we are planning to leave on Wednesday after the storm, and not sure if we will get another chance to get to the shops.

After our surfboard shopping spree, we headed back to the beach, on the way it started to rain, by the time we got back to the boat, the heavens had opened, and the storm that we had been waiting here, had arrived in full force. Unbelievable rain, absolute buckets falling from the sky.

We dragged our anchor at 11:30 pm, into a fishing net. Dael and Andrew on deck and sorted it out, moved closer to the other fishing boats in slightly deeper water. Well done boys.

17 January 2009 Saturday
Went for a walk in the little town, had a coke and ice cream. Went for a walk on yet another beautiful beach. Huge tanker wreck on the beach. I bet the snorkelling is probably great, not sure if we will get there though.

16 January 2009 Friday
Off to Imbituba – only a 3 hour trip, weather still not right to leave for Rio Grande, there is a big storm on the horizon, so we are just doing a quick hop down the coast to the last shelter to wait for the storm before heading for Rio Grande.

Arrived at Imbituba, seems to be a very small little village, slightly odd as there is also a huge container depot and port big enough for container ships to come into.

15 January 2009 Thursday
The plan is to victual the boat (that means shop for provisions in English), then move the boat around the corner of the island to an anchorage in front of an oyster farm, the owner who just happens to be a friend of our new friend Marina. What a lovely coincidence, especially for us oyster lovers…. Can’t wait!

Shopping done, packed up at Alastairs, SO grateful for their hospitality, what awesome people. Then met Marina and clan on the beach for them to join us on the short hop around the corner…. Hhhmmmnnn, not so short, the wind was not blowing in quite the direction we anticipated. Our new crew were feeling a bit green sadly (Marina apart) and did not enjoy the trip quite as much as we had hoped, but once we got into the calm waters of the lagoon, they all perked up quite a bit. We arrived at the oyster farm and were welcomed by Paulette, who came armed with a bag – I kid you not of about 6 dozen of the hugest, most spectacular tasting oysters I have probably ever tasted. So we sat on the side of the lagoon, with a beer, and proceeded to eat our way through a dozen oysters each… oh my hat…. very very tasty.

14 January 2009 Wednesday
Alastair kindly drove us into Florianopolos city to go through the drama of a checking out of the country, but we failed miserably. We arrived at the Capitanero dos Portos, where we go through the first 4 stages of checking out of the country, (immigration), which theoretically is followed by a quick visit to the Receiver of Revenue, the Health Department and the Policia Federal believe it or not. But after arriving at Capitainero dos Portos, the head honcho on duty decided that it was impossible to check out of Brazil directly from Florianopolis if we were sailing to Argentina and we would have to go to Rio Grande to check out, which is a tiny town on the border of Brazil and Urugauy, on the edge of a 300km lagoon, and you have to travel 30 km up a river to reach it. Anyhow, as we all know, there is no arguing with the administration, so guess what, no Buenos Aires for us yet… Off to Rio Grande we go. On the positive side, this means a shorter passage, and I am not sure if I am quite up to a 4 day passage yet.

After having been given the boot at ‘Capitanero dos Portos’, we went looking for a spot to have an English breakfast. En route, Alastair spoke to his friend Marina, who promptly invited us to her house for breakfast, we needed no second invitation. After meeting the larger than life personality of Marina, her 2 children Tommy and Valentina and her lovely sister Sandra, devouring an English breaskfast, followed by a visit to he toucans in an aviary ( the first we have seen), followed by a sail on a traditional canoe across the lagoon at her garden gate, followed by a risotto, followed by the best beef we have had in Brazil (though this beef was great, it is not really saying for the rest of the meat in Brazil – as it is pretty foul), followed by…. No that’s all for today folks! Except for an engagement to sail with us to move the boat around the corner the following day. Wow, the people here are just so amazingly hospitable and open, we have just been overwhelmed by good will in Brazil.

Alastair then took us on a tour of the middle of the island to show us some more of the same beautiful lagoon, and some other extraordinary beaches. Brazil can certainly boast about their beaches freely!






13 January 2009 Tuesday
Mum, Lucy and I walked to Lagoa do Peri, which is fresh or ‘sweet’ water lake. Lucy loved splashing around in the shallows. The walk took us about an hour, even though it was only a few kilometres, it was extremely hot, and I had Lucy in my back in the baby carrier, which she loves. Whereever we go carrying Lucy in some funny contraption we get huge attention as it seems that carrying babies on your back is not something that is really done in Brazil.

12 January 2009 Monday
We are spending a few days on dry land with Alastair and his family – Marianna, and daughter Thalissa, which is super. Really great to be on terra firma for a while. And extra awesome is the use of a super large washing machine and a hot shower – yes I now I do go on….we hauled cargo loads of washing back from the boat, and it was such a relief to see it all coming out of the machine smelling like roses, instead of musty boat!

Went to a funky restaurant in Pantenol de Sul with people writing notes on paper all over the wall, so it looks like a laundry (I think I have washing on the brain) with hundreds of little hankerchiefs hanging out to dry. The beach (again) was beautiful, and had some of the finest sand I have ever come across.

10 January 2009 Saturday
Spoke to my cousin Alastair Thompson who lives on the island, who we have come to visit. He is going to come through tomorrow with his family and join Andrew and the boys to take the boat down to the south of the island. Mum and I are going to then drive Alastair’s car down the island to meet the boat at their house. The interesting part of all this being that we will have to be driving on the wrong (or should I say right) side of the road! Lucy’s car seat will come in handy for the first time in a while.

Dan and Rupert came to visit, great to see them, they will help sail the boat down south. It seems that the island is really nice, as they have been meaning to leave for the last week and not managed too! They have been doing some ‘couch surfing’ – which seems like the latest buzz fashion. Basically you join up onto a website and say you need a couch to sleep on in X spot – and then hopefully you get an offer from someone! It seems as though Dan and Rupert are having it quite good with their couch offerees and are living it up at some fancy spot, having the time of their lives.

Was very happy that Mum and I drove down the island as when Josephine arrived in the South at Armacao, the crew had a bit of a rough trip down. The good news was though that it was very exciting as they had caught a skipjack tuna (Bonnito) on the way down. It was about a 12 kilo fish, so plenty for seared tuna for supper for everyone – nyumm.



07 January 2009
We left the island of Ihla Bella today for Florianopolis, which is a passage of 2 nights and 3 days. The weather was very mild, so we sailed a little and motored quite a lot. Which made for quite a pleasant passage, it is quite challenging with Lucy as one has to be down below a lot more than you would choose to be if you did not have a baby on board! Brings a whole new meaning to those triangular stickers that you see in the back of motor cars “ Baby on Board’! Saw a lovely school of dolphins and an albatross. The albatrosses are really beautiful the way they glide above the waves, hardly beating a wing. We arrived in Praia Jurar the north of Florianopolis at a fancy pants yacht club, where they had hot showers – YIPPEE, my goodness, it is amazing how quickly you revert to Mazlow’s hierarchy of needs!