After a
pleasant sail up the coast we arrived off the entrance to Recife’s harbour at
midnight and entered the canal which runs down behind the breakwater built on
the barrier reef . We anchored off the first Yacht Club in the harbour to
wait for the high tide to proceed further down the channel to the Cabanga Yacht
Club and hopefully a berth .
Generally we
don’t enter unknown anchorages at night particularly for the first time around
preferring to either lie hove to or we slow the boat down to time our arrival
at first light . But having Philippe with us and using his knowledge of
previous visits we entered using the bright city lights to navigate our way
down the channel .
While still a
long way down the coast we had spotted the Olinda
lighthouse and a couple of lasers scanning the night sky . We discovered that
the origin of these lasers was a huge nightclub near the waterfront where a
live band was pumping music so loud that there was definitely no conversation
taking place amongst its patrons . Brazilians love their volume and the music boomed out across the water until
around 4.30 that morning .
We later
called up the Cabanga Yacht Club at the bottom end of the canal and secured a
berth which we headed down to on the high tide . We were fortunate to find
space in their marina as the yachts that had taken part in the Refeno Race to
Fernando de Noronha were arriving back at the same time that we were there with most
of them seeking temporary berths before sailing back to their homeports .
Recife is
built around three rivers with forty nine bridges connecting its different boroughs. We
decided to do a river tour on a catamaran to get a feel of its layout and
certain parts of the city with its neo-colonial architecture give it a distinct
European flavour with many of these grand old buildings in very good nick
having been well preserved over the years . Unfortunately many of these
stately historic buildings have been razed to the ground to make way for
modern structures most with no character at all and in some cases they were not
even completed. During calm weather with no wind these grand old buildings
reflect off the water surface on the rivers creating mirror images of
themselves .
Recife has
its own Copacabana in the form of Boa Viagem Beach which stretches for 9
kilometres and is linked to a very upmarket residential beach district . Philippe introduced me to one of the nicest per kilo restaurants l have come across in Brazil . As in
Rio there is a social beach culture of various sports but swimming at this beach
is not at all popular due to a number of shark attacks that have taken place
inside the protected waters behind its barrier reef .What happens is that at
high tide the reef is submerged completely but with the outgoing tide the reef
dries and traps fish including sharks in its inner waters. There are signs all
along the beach warning people of potential shark attacks should you decide to
venture in .
One of the
highlights of our visit to Recife was our time spent in Olinda which by the way
means “ beautiful “ . The historic city founded by the Portuguese in 1535 was
the original capital of the State of Pernambuco . The old city is now a UNESCO
World Cultural Site and with narrow cobblestone streets that wind up and down
its steep hills bordered by brightly painted colonial buildings with latticed
balconies and heavy doors it has a unique charm and to crown it all the views from the top of the hill of both Recife and the Atlantic Ocean make it quite
special . Olinda’s Carnival is rated as one of the best in Brazil as it is
considered the most traditional Carnival compared to Rio and Salvador , meaning
there is a lot less skin exposed . It lasts a full 11 days and a huge amount of
effort goes into making huge dolls and puppets for the parade .
After
enjoying a great time in Recife it was time to stock up on provisions and set
sail for Cabedelo , our final leg of this season’s passage .
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