Pleasant Day

1. Entire Area, Ilha Grande in Center

2. Closeup of Ilha Grande

3. Grande Laje

4. Raia De Riberia

5. Western Side

Practicing at the School of Rowing

Panoramic Photo of Small Boat Side of Harbor

This is Saturday and the rain held off so it turned out to be a mild  and sunny day with Club Nautico abuzz with the weekend activities.  While I was at the club checking my email Jorge showed up and said that he could  not play tennis this morning because there was a tournament on, and asked how I was doing.

I told him that I had been having trouble finding a place where I could fax 3 pages to Australia and soon I was on the back of his motorcycle and we visited two places that could send faxes, but not to Australia.  The 3rd place could but that facility was closed.   Now that I know where to go I'll visit on Monday.

We had a cup of coffee on the boat and I showed Jorge the new deck fitting and asked him if he could lend me an electric drill.  He didn't have one but he had a friend, Raul, who could lend me one.  Jorge then began describing the terrific cruising grounds of Brazil and soon we were looking at the charts on my laptop.  The area that we looked at is centered around Ilha Grande, just 60 miles this side of Rio de Janero.  In that area roughly of size 60 x 30 miles are over 2300 islands.  I was amazed at what I saw: plenty of sheltered water with good depth and anchorages everywhere.  Jorge said that the islands are beautiful.  At latitude 23S the climate is great and there are plenty of fish.  This was all new to me it looks like too good an area not to be well known in cruising circles.

I'm including screen photos of charts of the area, known as Angra Dos Reis.  Photo 1 covers the entire area and has Ilha Grande, which is centered at roughly 23S08, 44W14 in the middle.  Photo 2 is a closeup of Ilha Grande, and I'm hoping that it will possible to see the numerous anchor symbols indicating good anchoring spots.  Photo 3 is a closeup of  Grande Laje, at the NE corner of the area.  In Photo 1 it looks like a shallow area because it is in blue with no data, but this closeup shows that it would be a very interesting and very sheltered section to visit.  Photo 4 is a closeup of Baia Da Riberia, to the NW of Ilha Grande.  Photo 5 is a closeup of the coastline to the west of Ilha Grande.  If I heard right, there are 2 marinas in the area.  Remember that you can enlarge the photos as follows: 1. Left click on a photo, 2. Select the photo that you want to see, 3. Right click and select "View Image". 

On the way to see Raul we ran into another friend  of Jorge who said that I could simply borrow a  drill from the club, which I will do when I am ready to make the installation.  I remembered the name Raul and we had met before.  In fact, he had made a quick visit to Pachuca while I was still at the outer slip.  He pulled out his cruising guide and soon he was showing me the various nooks and crannies in the area.  He mentioned that the problem with Argentina is that it has hardly any islands, whereas Brazil has plenty.  Raul has an amazingly roomy 34 ft boat.  It is a “Victory” built in Argentina in 1977.  Raul told me that they are well known in Australia and New Zealand.

We ran into Pato and his family a couple of times.  Pato had received my message about asking the riggers to change my railing wires when they visited.  Pato asked if the ones I've got had a problem and I replied that they look alright but I'd like to change them to make sure that one does not give way and I wind up overboard. 

I did a walkabout and took some photos around the club. 

The panoramic shot you can see where Pachuca was originally berthed in the background at the right side of the photo where several masts can be seen.  That spot of yellow half way up the long barrier is the foot bridge that swings open to allow passage to and from the marina area to the left, where Pachuca now resides.  I took the photo from Club Nautico.  Club Argentino is next door, opposite the marina.  (There are 2 other clubs further down.)

Club Nautico started off as a rowing club.  I've included a couple of photos of the training pool at the school of rowing.

I also saw John this morning.  He's paid his fine and received his exit permit.  They will set off at 10 PM tonight.  I gave him a bottle of wine to enjoy with Jonathan on the sail, which will be to Buenos Aires.