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.


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 .

Monday, September 14, 2015

MORRO DE SAO PAULO & THE RIO JEQUIE . WHAT A CONTRAST .

After enjoying the solitude of Camamu Bay , Morro de Sao Paulo was the re-awakening . The moment we stepped through the historic arched entrance into the village we felt the buzz.

A very popular tourist village on the Ilha de Tinhare it is one of those fun in the sun kind of places with beautiful beaches lined with dozens of pousadas and small upmarket hotels . This place is totally car-free and wheelbarrows are used to cart everything from the ferries to the various establishments throughout the village . We really enjoyed the vibe with its holiday atmosphere and with live music being played from various beach bars it must really rock in season . We were fortunate to be there out of season as in peak holiday time the number of tourists triples and it must be sheer madness with jammed beaches and packed restaurants , not our kind of fun . Judging by the number of surf shops and dive operators trading in the village there is obviously a good wave and good diving on offer as the Atlantic side of Tinhare has many beaches stretching for forty kilometres .

After a couple of days we upped anchor and headed up the Rio Jequie to the village of Galeao not too far from Morro . What a contrast from an upmarket resort village to this rural fishing village a few miles away . The locals are very poor but really friendly and it reminded us of places we have visited back in Africa . Most of them own a dugout canoe and it was one place that l saw these traditional canoes being sailed with amazing skill . How they keep them upright when the wind is gusting l have no idea .

Something that we have enjoyed in Bahia State that we have never done back home in South Africa is eating out in the taverns with the locals . We have always felt comfortable sitting amongst them enjoying the distinct flavours of Bahian food which is unique to this state and at times it was easy to forget that we were in Brazil as everyone looks so African . At times l have had to check myself as the first language that comes to mind when speaking to these people is the good old Zulu . One restaurant owner was so chuffed with our patronage that it would be unfair to say that his service was five star . He literally topped up my glass everytime l took a sip of my beer , his service was so good . The meal that they prepared was fresh prawns in a typical Brazilian style dish which was fantastic and washed down with a couple of ice cold beers at half the going price , what more could you ask for . When it came to settling the bill he produced a piece of scrap paper with a number on it then looked at me with a broad grin , crossed out the number and halved it . He had obviously enjoyed our time spent together as much as we had .

Our next anchorage was the town of Cairu situated 14nm upriver from Morro . Other cruisers that we had met on route had told us about the beautiful Igreja Convento Santo Antonio in other words the convent overlooking the town . Three monks still live in the monastery and we were fortunate to chat to one of them who seemed quite tuned into South African affairs and also another big fan of Nelson Mandela . The Brazilians love our former statesman and when l proudly mention his name they either give me a big thumbs up or they place both hands on their heart and call his name . They have no idea who Jacob Zuma is ,l wonder why ?


After ten days on the Rio Jequie enjoying the rustic surrounds of the river which l might add reaches depths that exceed 30 metres in places we raised anchor and headed downriver towards the sea and the bright lights of Salvador further up the Bahian Coast .        
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1 comment:

  1. UnknownSeptember 21, 2015 at 11:51 PM

    Enjoyed your story about eating out with the locals and getting the bill slashed in half. Guess your Portuguese must be coming on in leaps and bounds. Thanks for all the photos . Brazil sounds like a definite on any cruiser's travels !

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