Lying at anchor a few hundred metres from a marina did not last long , so we decided to check into Marina do Engenho and treat ourselves to their facilities for a while and restock the boat . The marina is situated across the bay from the historic town of Paraty with a long walk between the two , but we decided we needed the exercise so off we went to town.It is one thing looking across the bay at the town in the far distance but walking there in the heat of the day around the shoreline took a lot longer than we had anticipated.
As it was our 32nd wedding anniversary , we decided to celebrate it in style and after a long night out , walking back to the marina soon lost its appeal.
We walked into the first car hire outlet we found and a few minutes later we drove out in a brand new little Chevy straight out of the box . It took a few kms to get used to having a gearstick in my right hand, turning right instead of left and going around circles anti-clock instead of clock but soon we arrived in the historic part of Paraty.
We fell in love with the place immediately with its narrow cobbled roads , unique architecture and at night it has an incredible ambience with people milling about its streets with more restaurants and shops per square metre than l have ever seen. There are no cars allowed in the town , so you either walk or go by horse and cart .
Up until 1976 , the only way you could reach Paraty was by boat . One unusual feature of the town is when the tide is high the sea floods the streets and the water table normally is literally just below the surface . Instead of me going into huge detail about the history of this amazing place , Google it as it has a very interesting story to tell about its past .
That evening we found a very quaint restaurant/pub/club place with a great young Brazilian band playing wonderful jazz/blues music and settled in for the night . When they found out that we were from South Africa they played a beautiful number called Mama Afrika and when it ended the guys had beaming smiles on their faces while the young woman on vocals blew kisses at us . Eish , that gave me a lump in my throat . It was one of the nicest wedding anniversary's that we have ever had , great music , great food all washed down with too many caiparinis .
We really enjoyed our time in Paraty and will definitely head back there before we sail for Northern Brazil.
Allan & Ursula Ward: Port Owen, Cape West Coast, South Africa.
Shearwater 39:
- L.O.A. 43ft (13.22m)
- L.O.D. 39ft (12m)
- L.W.L. 34ft (10.3m)
- BEAM 13ft(3.9m)
- DRAFT 6ft(1.8m)
HOW IT ALL BEGAN .
I placed my order on Nebe Boats on the 19/10/1992 for what was initially planned to be a complete factory built yacht that l would sail home to Durban from Capetown once she was completed. Unfortunately due to the demise of Nebe Boats in the early days of her construction it did not turn out that way, so l decided to truck her home to Ramsgate on the KZN South Coast to finish building her in our garden at home.
For many years we could proudly boast that we had the most expensive piece of garden furniture in town, but at the time l had no idea of how massive this project would turn out to be. As anyone who has built a blue water cruiser will tell you, particularly if she is kitted out with all the systems and the equipment that a modern cruiser has onboard these days, it is a daunting task . Looking at the positive aspects of this project, l know the boat intimately in that l designed and installed the systems, so from a repair and maintenance perspective l have no issues carrying out the work that is necessary from time to time.
The big day arrived on the 29/8/2008 when we craned her out of the garden onto a rig to truck her through to Durban for launching . What followed was three months of preparations to ready her for the maiden voyage to our home port in Port Owen on the Cape West Coast.
We had a fast passage down the South African East Coast including a storm off the notorious Wild Coast and arrived in Port Owen in dense fog. Windward had passed her first test with flying colours and since then we have enjoyed some great sailing on the West Coast.
We had a fast passage down the South African East Coast including a storm off the notorious Wild Coast and arrived in Port Owen in dense fog. Windward had passed her first test with flying colours and since then we have enjoyed some great sailing on the West Coast.
The master plan has always been to go cruising, so our plans are to leave for Brazil via Luderitz and St Helena Island at the end of February 2014. So far everything is on track although the “To Do“ list still grows each day.
The purpose of this blog is to record our adventure for ourselves, family and friends. Although it will probably end up being a brief summary of events while we are cruising, we hope you will enjoy and share some of our experiences with us.
LIVING THE DREAM .
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Sounds like you had a great time I also now make the cairpirina s at home had Brian snd Jen over for dinner and made them all the beautiful Brazilian drink
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