BRAZIL!BRAZIL!BRAZIL!BRAZIL!BRAZIL!BRAZIL!BRAZIL!

Samba bands, loud music , dancing, swaying hips, stamping feet, shaking flesh, bare flesh, bright clothes, colourful people of all skin shades. People in fancy dress, cross dress, no dress, undress, half dress, colours, flags and noise. After two weeks at sea we transitioned sharply to overwhelming sensory overload the pre Carnaval preparations taking place in Salvador., The streets were being prepared by the erection of stages and also protective barriers around fountains and buildings, samba bands were practicing and performing everywhere and the atmosphere was electric. When Carnaval officially started on Thursday 15th February many businesses closed for the holiday and chipboard was hammered over the windows of banks and other shops.

Salvador is built on a cliff and there is an elevator tower taking pedestrians up and down from the port areas. We explored the cobbled streets and side alleys of Salvador old town, the boutique shops and the many cafes, restaurants and street stalls as well as the church of St Francis of Assisi and the cathedral both facing each other across the aptly named Square of Jesus!

Both of these places of worship are decorated almost entirely with gold leaf, 800kg of 18 carat gold in the Church of St Francis alone, in an elaborate and ornate style, an extraordinary display of wealth and riches that I found dazzlingly hideous.

We wandered through the down town area beyond Pelourinha and Michael Jackson square, named because MJ recorded a video there. His effigy still haunts an upper balcony overlooking the square, a fact the locals remain very proud of despite the later slurs and dubious stories.

Past the old town were many old style buildings that were now derelict and falling down, incongruously, between shops that were actively trading and dwellings that were inhabited. These beautiful colonial facades and interiors dangerously decaying amongst the hustle of day to day life. It was very different and shocking to us that sometimes there was only a pile of rubble strewn with weeds and litter squeezed between a shop and a cafe.

A lot of Salvador is also a vast modern city with high rise buildings and modern malls similar and familiar to 20th century cities worldwide and we could view this aspect more clearly from the sea, as we sailed past.

I managed to organise a wonderful wreck dive, where we saw beautiful coloured corals, sponges and sea horses. These wonderful creatures are quite rare to find and see. We also enjoyed a day trip inland to visit the city of Santa Amaro where two famous Brazilian Singers Caeronia Velosa and Maria Bathania were born. Here we trailed through the local daily market and successfully purchased some spices and tried some unusual fruits with help from our guide.

The people were friendly but we had no hassle or hawkers and compared to Salvador, all was calm and relatively peaceful. A massive health promotion event was taking place in the square that day, so a plethora of mobile medical units such as X ray trucks, dental vans, general clinics and more were set up with waiting areas and big crowds in attendance. I am not sure if this was a unique event because the president had visited the day before. Next we went to another historic city called Cachoeria which was built in the baroque style and was the site of prolonged defence against independence when the colonial Portuguese held out against the rebellion for several months after the rest of Brazil had won its war of independence.

By now we were exhausted and welcomed the air conditioned drive up to a green, leafy and cool lunch venue in the hills overlooking the river at Sao Felix. After a delightful lunch we stopped to visit a cigar factory. I have seen coffee, tea, cocoa, sugar, salt, rum, port, whisky and wine productions but this was a first for cigars. It was very interesting, hardly mechanised except for the fascinating Drawmaster suction test machine to which every cigar was offered up by the supervisor. Some of the workers were smoking the cigars, which was allowed here, I have never visited a place where the workers are sampling the product but not the visitors! There was no tasting and we didn’t purchase even one cigar as they came only in tens or more and they were extremely expensive and we don’t smoke anyway, but a puff or two would have been interesting to try!

Back in Salvador we went to a folklore dance show which was magnificent and entertaining. We saw fabulous costumes and dances representing many aspects of life from African creation myths to a slave dance called Maculele and the world famous Capoeira which took our breath away with their high flying acrobatic tumbling and faux fight moves. A fast joyous samba ended the show on a buzz of adrenaline, brilliant colour and huge, huge smiles.

Then it was time for the big event, Carnaval in Salvador, which seems to be a festival style street rave that goes on all night for several nights, our area was anticipating more than one million people. Our rally members and crews had bought tickets to watch the parade from a “private balcony”, which was actually a massive venue housing 2500 guests sited along the beach road in modern Salvador. A series of taxis took the fleet to the end of the route which was closed and from there we walked through bustling streets lined with drinks and snacks stalls and dodged the massive trucks and oncoming press of people. We were searched and frisked before we arrived at the entrance to our venue, a platform which was level with the bands that performed on slow moving huge trucks. Inside the platform area there were various bars, food stalls, other stages, drink dispensers and on the platform a crowd going wild dancing and singing to the big name bands going past.

To avoid theft I didn't take my phone or wear any jewellery so no personal photos. This was a once in a lifetime experience for us and we made it into the early hours, some later than others, (Richard!), so a day of recovery was required before we walked into the old town to see their carnival the following night. This had a similar theme of crowds moving around the various food stalls and stages, but here it was on more of a village show scale and was family friendly compared to the million adults partying the the previous night. There were touring bands but on smaller floats towed by Volkswagen camper vans and the larger floats were routed outside the central area past the marina and frontage along the bay. We enjoyed our second night of carnival but were back before midnight, however the music, shows, dance and noise continued all night until about 0500 hrs every night so we were ready to leave Salvador for the peace and quiet of an anchorage in Baia deTodos os Santos, All Saints Bay!

After a couple of quiet nights in enjoying home cooked food and watching Netflix, and sheltering from the massive thunder storms that swept over the entire country, we set off on our own heading north to our final destination in Brazil, Cabedelo. We motored upwind back through this huge bay with its many islands past the sprawling city of Salvador and the Barra lighthouse where we had arrived eleven days earlier at dawn. It was now 1800 and sunset, Carnaval was still clearly visible and audible on shore which distracted us from the sea ahead where the tide had kicked up big overfalls, or waves, at the entrance to the bay. Richard secured the boiling pasta pan before it went flying and I navigated through the unexpected maelstrom. As darkness fell the wind was still on the nose and we continued to progress slowly under engine power until the revs dropped and it died. Banging through the big breakers as we exited the Bay had shaken up dirt or fuel bug that blocked the fuel pipe and filters causing fuel starvation and the engine to lose revs and stall when we turned it on. This was a dangerous situation as we needed engine power to stay clear of the the lee shore and for manoeuvring into the tidal rivers at Recife and Cabedelo.

We turned around to return to Salvador, where we could safely drop anchor without an engine, we set the sails and I managed to get some speed up and keep the boat sailing parallel to the shore while Richard had a preliminary attempt at clearing the debris. Working on a marine engine in a cramped, hot, awkward space whilst being thrown around like you are on a fair ground ride is not easy but he managed to get the engine working and as the wind was now suitable for sailing we decided to continue northwards under sail. So we gritted our teeth and set the sails for an uncomfortable upwind journey northwards. Leaning over at 45 degrees, being thrown about is very hard work, plus there were numerous squalls, so we were reefing and releasing until the wind moderated and the sea calmed down the following day making conditions on board slightly more tolerable. We had envisioned a few days of pleasant cruising up the coast but the reality was there were few places to stop and the tidal harbour entrances needed planning and correct timing. Also, any marina visit required check in and out paperwork at the offices of the Federal police and the Capitinerie, which is time consuming and hard work. After ten months of travelling we are starting to feel weary of constantly moving on, changing places and the repetitive administration, not to mention keeping the boat afloat! Our four on and off watches were exhausting at first but conditions settled and we sailed nicely through day two enabling Richard to drain and clean diesel pipes and filters completely. What a hero! Our second night on board was calmer and we saw a beautiful fingernail of new moon setting between Venus and Jupiter. We had a pod of dolphins come to play in the daytime, which is always cheering and a night a noisy mob of birds roosted on our solar panels, bimini and rails leaving their guano gifts when they flew away in the morning. Finally the wind died and the engine went on and ran with no problems for the final 12 hours to Recife where we picked up a mooring ball of a very run down looking yacht club.

In the morning we dropped stern to onto the rickety pontoon with our anchor dropped in front. Some other Rally boats had arrived and we helped them to berth in a similar fashion. All seemed secure so we caught an Uber to the quaint town of Olinda. Carnaval was over and stages were being dismantled but many of the decorations remained among the Painted houses, artisanal shops and small shops. We found a restaurant with a view and enjoyed lunch accompanied by a bottle of vino verde! Very Portuguese.

By the time we returned to Celtic Star the wind was pushing the boat at an angle and a protruding rusty bolt was threatening our transom. Pulling the anchor chain in didn’t help bring the boat away from the dock so we decided to drop off and pick up the morning ball again. Things started to go wrong when our shore line didn’t slip clear from the dock, so I threw it back to the pontoon for one of our friends to bring to Cabedelo. Then the anchor cane up with a many branched tree caught on it plus other despicable looking debris and garbage and I couldn’t clear it until we were securely tied to the mooring ball. All this activity was occurring in the same small deck area at the bow! Finally, tied on and tidied up and disappeared below to scrub our hands and watch Scott’s live stream show from a small N Wales venue. Needless to say we didn’t get the live stream, but enjoyed his video later. An early start was planned for the final 70 miles to Cabedelo and with coffee brewed I dropped the mooring line and gazed at the numerous Egrets perched on nearby boats and above Richard’s head on our bimini.

My contemplation was broken by his grim face and shouted expletives, the engine had cut out and we were drifting in a busy canal with in coming tide. Quickly I prepared the anchor, this time using a tripping line which enables the anchor to be lifted from a different angle if it catches on something on the bottom, called a fouled anchor! Richard cleared the pipe by blowing into it and the anchor was weighed easily so we set off with no further problems. We had a glorious upwind sail for most of the trip and motored the final few hours to our final port in Brazil, Cabedelo, where we have a new crew member arriving. Laundry, chandlery, chores and provisioning are all planned before the fleet sets sail on Thursday 2nd March across the equator back into the Northern hemisphere. Bye Bye Brazil it's been a blast!