Location: 3° 06N, 41° 43W
Monday 03.31.2008

At Noon on the last day of March, the Schooner Maggie B was at 3° 06N, 41° 43W. We were making 9.6 knots (including one knot of favorable current) in 14 knots of wind on our beam. It is still overcast with occasional rain showers and up to 28 knots of breeze in the showers.

We have come 1386 NM from Salvador and have 1442 to go to Antigua. What is strange for me is that this is the first time that we have been going West in the last two years.

We have reefed the main down to the first reef, which doesn’t slow us , but makes her a bit better balanced in the stronger winds. One of the many advantages of a loose-footed gaff rig is that a reefed sail can still be adjusted into perfect shape. “Jiffy reefing” systems on Bermuda rigs often leave ugly-shaped reefed sails.

We seem to be in a Flying Fish nursery. We have been seeing Flying Fish regularly since Fernando de Noronha, but largish ones, up to a foot long, and mostly solo. Here we see whole schools (coveys?) get up - perhaps 20 fish at a time - but they are all only 5-6 inches long.

A few days ago I incorrectly called the Inner Tropical Convergence Zone the “Horse Latitudes.” I should have said “Doldrums.” Bill Wickett wrote with the clear clarification:

“…the Horse Latitudes are generally acknowledged to be at 30N and 30S. (+/-). This is where some the air flow lifting from the equator, (and creating the low pressure in the ITCZ,) returns to the surface. This is an area of higher pressure, and low wind speeds. This circulation is known as a Hadley cell. The northern part of this loop is where the [Northeast] trades originate from and they flow back towards the equator.”

The reason why the Trades are Northeast between the Equator and 30N, rather than straight North, is the rotation of the earth, or the Coriolis effect. For the same reason, they are Southeast between the Equator and 30S. Think toilet flushing in the Northern or Southern hemisphere.

At this speed we will be in the Caribbean in a week.

All is well.

Location: 1° 15N, 39 13W
Sunday, 03.30.2008

The Schooner Maggie B was at 1° 15N, 39° 13W at noon on 30 March. It continues to be ITCZ weather - regular rain showers with a little wind, then a wind hole, then another rain shower. We are getting good at sealing the boat up in a hurry and then opening up afterwards. One choice for the Watch is to decide on foulies or a shower. Most take a shower.

We have come 1199 NM from Salvador and have 1609 to go to Antigua. We are still being promised a decent NE Trade “tomorrow.”

The visit of King Neptune and Queen Iemanja was climatic. They arrived at about sundown between rain squalls. Fearsome! The pollywogs, Thomas and Curtis were roused up from the hold and immediately forced to walk the plank, encouraged in by sword and trident. Frank and Hannah had thoughtfully supplied their shipmates with a line to hang onto as they were dragged across The Line. They were eventually allowed out of the water only after buckets of mouldy seaweed were thrown on them, as well as startling imprecations. In the process, they were lashed by a poisonous jellyfish which left them suitably stung and marked (really!). They then had their bellies shaved by a rusty razor, forced to eat a Shellback Pill (which was like a marshmallow Peep covered in Vegemite, but worse), kissed Neputune’s disgusting green-slimed belly, and were tested and accepted as Shellbacks. They were then given Shellback Names, Thomas as Moses, which is traditional for the youngest, and Curtis as Albatross. Neptune and Iemanja departed to their realms in peace as the next rain squall closed in.

It is strange to be back in “The Pond,” though we have a ways to go. We now have our Danforth Northern Hemisphere steering compass back in place, and the Southern Hemisphere Plath stowed away for next time. The Danforth has a lot of brass, which will probably take the whole way to Antigua to get shiny again.

All is well.

Location: 0° 22S, 36° 52W
Saturday, 03.29.2008

At Noon on March 29th we were at 0° 22S, 36° 52W We have come 1025 NM from Salvador and have 1810 NM to go to Antigua. We are just a few miles short of the Equator, which we expect to cross at about sunset today.

It is typical ITCZ weather: rainy and no wind. Thomas maximized his 9 AM to Noon watch by taking a shower on deck in moderate rain. Can’t get cleaner!. Our GRIB files and Commanders, our weather router, say that we should get into steady NE trades tomorrow. We are ready for it!

The Shellbacks on board, Frank and Hannah, are feverishly preparing for the visit of King Neptune, Iemanja, and their courts. The pollywogs are hoping to be Passed without too many complications. Little do they know….

Long Blue Water passages ar great for reading and the Maggie B’s library is rich and eclectic. I have been recently through: Jorge Amado’s “Gabriela, Clove and Cinnamon;” “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows;” Carl Hiaasen’s “Stormy Weather;” and now started on Fagles’s translation of Virgil’s “Aeneid.” Thomas has just started “1421;” Curtis is reading Helprin’s short story collection, “The Pacific;” and Hannah is reading “Thirteen Moons” by Charles Frazier.

All is well.

Location: 2° 09S, 34° 34W
Friday, 03.28.2008

At noon on March 28th, the Schooner Maggie B was at 2° 09S, 34° 34W. The wind is calm, there are only gentle, long rollers and the sky partially cloudy with small cumulus. The barometer is steady at 1003. We have come 850 NM from Salvador and have 1974 NM to go to Antigua.

It is easy to see how, in the old days, men must have gone crazy when they were caught in these calms. This area, the Inner Tropical Convergence Zone, ITCZ, was known as the Horse Latitudes. Some books say that the expression refers to when ships got caught here and ran short on supplies and threw their horses overboard to save drinking water. We think that this is ridiculous. Why would any sailor waste fresh horse meat, given their usual rations. A much more likely explanation is that this was the area by when sailors from Europe had worked off their advance pay. That point was called “finishing the dead horse,” and sometimes was attended with a ritual which included throwing over a horse effigy.

We are used to having porpoise, dolphin and pilot whales play in our bow wave. Today Thomas spotted a small school (10-20 fish) of young tuna working our bow in the clear, calm water. Each was about two feet long and had a bright green/yellow iridescent spot just at the top base of the tail. The side and top fins were yellow. They stuck with us for at least an hour. We guess that they were chasing the smaller fish that we push up, like flying fish, but perhaps they were just hanging out.

We are doing our laundry “Blue Water” style - salt water soaping and three salt water rinses, then a final, long, fresh water rinse. We are also starting on varnishing and oiling the deck. All to make us presentable in Antigua!

We should “Cross the Line” at about noon tomorrow, and be in the Caribbean around April 9th. The weather forecast is promising us some good sailing once we are north of 2-4 degrees north.

All is well.

12 Days to Antigua
Thursday, 03.27.2008

The Schooner Maggie B hoisted anchor, set sail and headed for the Caribbean at 1250 on March 27th. We have about 2143 NM to go to Antigua, which should take us about 12 days. The sky is mostly clear with occasional rain showers about. The wind is 5-7 knots from the Southeast. There is a gentle remaining swell from the Northeast. We are motorsailing at our “efficiency cruise” rpm, for max range.

With a few Reep trips, we added 280 liters of diesel to our tanks, which should give us plenty of steaming range. We should hit the NE Trades in a few days as we pass north of about 2degN. In the Caribbean, we will probably land first at Martinique, to clear in with the French before heading to Isle des Saintes, to see if it really is as pretty as Fernendo de Noronha. Certainly, F de N, Isle des Saintes and Bora Bora are all in very much the same category, right up there with La Digue in the Seychelles.

We all quite fell in love with F de N. We rented a buggy, which is a Volkswagen chassis with two bucket seats under a small roof, and two raised seats in back which are unprotected in the open air. We called ours “June Bug.” It was the perfect way to explore the island. The main road along the island is paved, Brazil route #304, all five miles of it. The way to the dozen beaches are all dirt tracks of greater or lesser disrepair. Pretty much every beach has its own little bar/restaurant, ready with an icy cold bottle of beer for fluid replacement therapy.

One one side of the island the beaches had lovely surf, on the other - great snorkeling. After our boat jobs, we would share the rest of the day between the two sides. One marvelous beach on the quiet side was full of sea turtle nests, all carefully staked out and managed by Project TAMAR, a Brazilian sea turtle rescue, recovery and education group. Even this late in the season, we were thrilled to see fresh track of mother turtles making their way up the beach to lay their eggs. The beaches are closed to the public from 6 PM to dawn to allow Tamar to follow, research, record and assist the hatchlings. They say that they assist 600,000 hatchlings a year.

The island is nicely understated. Only 500 visitors are allowed in a day. It costs about US$30 per person per day in fees to visit. For all of us, with boat charges but after discounts, it was about US$100 per day. We were happy to pay it, especially when we were assured that all the money stays on the island and isn’t shipped to Brasilia to disappear in the budget.

There are no serious hotels on the island, almost all the places to stay are small posadas, mostly peoples houses with a few rooms for rent. There are scattered good restaurants and bars. Our favorite was the Shark Museum, which had a lovely view, great caiparinas, and served delicious shark cake appetizers.

All is well.

Location 3° 50S, 32° 24W
Sunday, 03.23.2008

The Schooner Maggie B is safely anchored off of Fernando de Noronha at 3° 50S, 32° 24W. It is March 23nd, Easter Sunday. The prevailing wind here is from the SE and we are tucked in a broad cove with another 70-80 working boats on the NW corner. Most of the island is a Marine Park and we are anchored in the only legal area. The breeze is light and the skies mostly clear.

The sail here last night was as nice as any of the whole trip. We were doing six knots in a 10-12 knot close reach with a full moon out and little wave chop with long swells and mostly clear skies. It all would be perfect except for a gale about 3000 NM away, off the coast of Newfoundland. It has sent a reminder of “home” in the form of 7-8 meter swells. The effect is enormous. There is a very hefty 20 foot high breakwater sheltering a small boat harbor. The waves are breaking over the top and full across the entrance. Trying the passage in the Reep or any other boat would be death. The Maritime Police have closed the port. Some moored fishing boats closer in regularly do the “Perfect Storm” kind of wave riding. “Tomorrow maybe better.”

The surf hitting the shore is spectacular. We have seen a few surfers outside. No one has taken a second ride. We are relatively comfortable outside the surf line, in 50 feet of water with 200 feet of chain out. Just after we set the anchor, one of the swells jumped us and tore the pawl off the capstan. One more thing to fix when we get back to Nova Scotia.

We are going to hang out here off the harbor until tomorrow, and hope to get ashore then, probably in a high speed “water taxi” with a local with his local knowledge. We are swimming around the boat, which is delicious, though the seas have stirred up the water and we don’t have the 30-40 meter visibility often seen here. If the harbor stays closed, we are off for the Caribbean, which is about 2135 NM or two weeks. We will be in Antigua April 12th for Registration in any case.

Happy Easter.

All is well.

Location: 08° 41S, 34° 46W
Friday, 03.21.2008

The Schooner Maggie B was at 8° 41S, 34° 46W at noon on March 21st. We have come 357 NM from Salvador and have 318 to go to Fernando de Noronha. Antigua is 2217 NM away. We are motor sailing in a light sou’easterly. The skies are mostly clear with scattered rain showers all around in the distance.

We have been catching a series of little tuna. About the size of a big trout. Each enough for a nice lunch for two. They go from the hook to be “introduced to the fire” with a little garlic, butter and lime juice — all within ten minutes! Delicious! We think that perhaps we have a school of juvenile tuna following us for the flying fish and whatever that our passage kicks up. The predators become the prey.

One of the high points of our visit to Salvador was when Thomas and I went to see the Bale Folclorico da Bahia. It was a marvelous intimate evening watching world-class dancers interpreting the folklore and popular dances of Brazil. One big part was dances of the Candomble, an African religion with a touch of Catholic window-dressing. In a dance representing the pantheon of their Gods (who seemed rather Greek), Iansa, Goddess of Winds and Storms, had a double “wardrobe malfunction.” We remained properly respectful lest she send us a storm.

There was also a “Fisherman’s Dance” which is still seen on the beaches of Bahia, in which Iemanja, Goddess of the Sea, is greeted by fishermen and their wives, who ask for protection and good catches. Iemanja has been added to those we toast when we set out, including grey-eyed Athena and Poseidon. Perhaps Iemanja brought us these lovely little tuna?

Finally at the Bale Folclorico was an extended set of Capoeira. It is a fighting dance brought to Bahia by Angolian slaves. Visitors to Bahia will see Capoeira everywhere in market places and plazas, though none I have seen come close to the flashing brilliance we watched at the Bale Folclorico.
Alert watchers of the numbers in the first line will note that we are almost out of the Southern Hemisphere for the North Atlantic. Soon after we leave Fernando de Noronha, we will cross the equator northbound. One minor ritual will be switching our steering compass to the northern hemisphere one. A major ritual will be the two Shellbacks on board (Frank and Hannah) introducing the two pollywogs (Curtis and Thomas) to King Neptune and His Court, and suitably initiating them to the Mysteries of the Equator.

All is well.

Location: 10° 57S, 36° 30W
Thursday, 03.20.2008

The Schooner Maggie B was at 10° 57S, 36° 30W at noon on March 20th. We were under full sail, making 8.2 knots for Fernando de Noronha. We have come 183 NM in 23 hours from Salvador and have 487 to go to F de N. Antigua is 2243 NM away. We have a nice 15-25 SE’erly that lets us just make rhumb line for F de N as we slip along about 20 NM off the Brazilian coast. It seems to us as if it has been a long, long time since we had a full day’s sail under a fair wind.

The weather is somewhat overcast with occasional rain showers marching past, messing with our wind. We should continue to have a more or less favorable wind to F de N, possibly dying out tonight.

All systems are working well, with almost nothing for the crew to do other than getting everything back in place after an extended shore period.
Back on the subject of how much we had to motor from Puerto Montt, Chile to Salvador: From Halifax to Puerto Montt was 28,833 NM. We used the engine 1527 hours (includes some before we left Nova Scotia). That is, we traveled 18.9 miles for each hour the engine was run (12 miles sailed, 6.9 miles powered?). From Puerto Montt to Salvador is 4977 NM and we used the engine 615 hours, or 8.1 miles traveled for each engine hour (6.9 miles powered, 1.1 miles sailed?). We hope to sail much of the rest of the way home.

We were saddened to hear today of the death of Capt Svend Friis Hansen, skipper The Eye Of The Wind, the tall ship which was home to Hannah and Thomas at one time. I am sure we will see him again as an albatross in our wake.

All is well.

En route to Fernando de Noronha
Wednesday, 03.19.2008

At 1300 today, the Schooner Maggie B cast off from the fuel dock in Salvador. We are headed first to Fernando de Noronha, which is 664 NM and then on to Antigua, which is 2295. Finally, we have a decent breeze and should be sailing. We really haven’t had a good, long sail since before Buenos Aires.

When we start out on long legs I usually read a poem or quote to set our minds to the task ahead. Today I read “The Sea Gypsy” by Richard Hovey:

I am fevered with the sunset,
I am fretful with the bay,
For the wonder-thirst is on me
And my soul is in Cathay.

There’s a schooner in the offing
With her topsails shot with fire
And my heart has gone aboard her
For the Islands of Desire’

I must forth again to-morrow!
With the sunset I must be
Hull down on the trail of rapture
In the wonder of the sea.

Right now the Maggie B and her systems are in great shape. The long-standing problem with the genset appears to have been a fuel clog in the switch panel, which Marcello’s boys found. The autopilot is now working and its problem seems to have been the electric motor in the hydraulic steering pump, which just needed to be disassembled and cleaned. The Yanmar main engine was not charging after our trip to Itaparica, and that turned out to be a blown 200 amp fuse, which apparently blew because the electric capstan was somewhat abused when we pulled the anchor up after it was well set in deep mud.

The amazing story here is not how tricky we were in fixing all these problems, it is how much great support we were able to get. Marcello at Centro Nautico is a wizard who also has lots of practical experience and can sniff out solutions like a police dog going after doughnuts. More amazing, though, is how well we were able to tap into expertise around the planet. Only a phone call away was the technical support at the alternator regulator company, the hydraulic steering manufacturer, Furuno USA, and, always, John Steele at Covey Island. I am not a plumbing/hydraulic/electrical/diesel whiz. I am a patient plodder who keeps all the technical manuals handy and doesn’t hesitate to call for advice. It is often very cool to work with a skilled diagnostician who is sitting at their desk 10,000 miles away.

One lovely thing happened last night in the Centro Nautico. Just opposite us was a newly arrived French boat with a husband and wife and three girls on board. The girls were about 11, 9 and 4. Polite and nautical. I lent them our copy of the Maggie B book to have read to them at bedtime. It was a great success and I was very flattered that this morning the two older girls brought back the Maggie B book and then lent me THEIR favorite two books for me to read. It was charming. I told them that if they worked hard and learned all the nautical skills, they could come and crew on the Maggie B when they got big.

We are full of water, food and diesel. We have a fair wind, a strong, fast boat and good experienced crew. We will be in Antigua on April 12th for Antigua Classic registration, and we’ll do our best to have fun getting there.

All is well.

Location: 12° 53S, 38° 41W
Sunday, 03.16.08

The Maggie B is anchored in the well-protected bay at Ilha de Itaparica, at 12° 53S, 38° 41W. Thomas and I took Maggie B here yesterday from Salvador via a lap part way around the beautiful Baia de Todos Santos. Hannah and Curtis have gone inland to hike in the Parque Nacional da Chapada Diamantia.

On our way to Ilha de Itaparica, we motored past the Ilha dos Frades, named for two monks who were killed and cannibalized by local indians. The island brought to mind the terrible joke when two cannibals are talking after a feast. Both have bad indigestion. One asks the other, the cook, how the missionaries were prepared. “Boiled,” he replies. “You idiot!” the other says, “They were fryers [friars]!” OK, not too great a joke, but we’ve been at sea for almost two years.

One marvelous thing about Salvador and Itaparica is that there are lots of traveling boats. Walking down the pier at Centro Nautico do Bahia is like a maritime United Nations: lots of French, Dutch, German, Argentinean, Belgian, Swiss(!). Even an American. Most days there is at least one boat with the yellow “Q” (request clearance from abroad) flag flying. And the boats are very salty and sea-tested. Here in Itaparica, we are anchored with Segue of Felixstowe, Speedwell of Hong Kong, Nanoq of Sweden, Helisara of Douglas, and a very hot trimaran called Menisco Roto whose stern is too small to list a home port.

A “traveling boat” stands out in any harbor. It isn’t, necessarily, beat up or loaded with gear. But it somehow has the air of being burnished by sun, salt, wind and long passages. Often there are a few dings. Solar panels and wind generators are generally present. Self-steering gear on smaller boats. Jerry cans of extra diesel or water lashed on deck are a pretty good clue. But the essence is more subtle: gear is stowed just right - handy but secure. It is perhaps like the vision of a mounted cavalryman of the 19th Century - lots of gear and buttons and some flash, but you know that everything would still be exactly in place and ready-to-hand after a 20 mile gallop.

Trying to be ready for things that hopefully will never happen, we regularly renew our emergency water, which is stored next to our life raft and “go bag.” Today the water was filled in the famous Fonte da Bica, a mineral water fountain first tapped in 1842. It supposed has all sorts of medicinal and restorative powers. Just what you would want in a life boat!

The weather seems to be changing. For the last week it has been clear, very humid and hot. Today there have been huge thunderstorms marching through every few hours, with some serious wind and rain in Biblical proportions. I hope that it will bring in a nice SW’erly to blow us up the coast!

All is well.

Spit Shine and Ready for Blue Water
Friday, 03.14.2008

The Maggie B remains tied up at the Centro Maritimo do Bahia marina at 12° 58S, 38° 31W. We have made progress on almost all fronts. We have extended our Brazilian visas (trip to the airport and wait for two hours), refilled our cooking gas bottles, fixed the generator, maybe fixed our autopilot, fixed the galley sink pumpout, fixed the vacuum cleaner, done laundry, got the Maggie’s hull cleaned and polished, gotten proper documentation from the Naval HQ and the Federal Police, and seen the sights. All this in very hot and muggy conditions that causes one to take four showers a day and mostly focus on sitting in the shade and drinking cold beer.

We have also said sad farewells to Genevieve and Janet.

We are now carefully counting the days and distances to Antigua via Fernando de Noronha, so that we arrive punctually on April 12th for registration for the Antigua Classic. It is 669 NM to F de N, or about four days and 2135 NM from F de N to Antigua or about two weeks. So we have about 18 days of sailing and 11 days of stopping. If we spend three days in F de N (Lonely Planet says that it is “one of the most stunning places in Brazil, if not the entire world”), and perhaps three in Tous Saintes in Guadalupe, which is one of my favorites, then we have only five more days in Bahia. Hannah and Curtis are going inland to Parque Nacional da Chapada Diamantina. Frank and Thomas will head across the Bahia de Totos Santos to Itaparica island. Then we will reconvene at Centro Nautico, load up on supplies and head for Blue Water!

All is well.

Location 12° 58S, 38° 31W
Sunday 03.09.2008

The Schooner Maggie B is tied up in the Centro Nautico do Bahia in Salvador at 12° 58S, 38° 31W. We were here last on August 1, 2006, when we left for Cape Town. We have traveled around the world, covering about 28,860 NM, since then.

Fernando do Norunda is 652 NM and Antigua 2258 NM.

Since Buenos Aires we have come 2099 NM and used the engine for 276 hours. To show how relatively lacking in wind the SE coast of South America is, since Buenos Aires we have covered 6% of the distance since leaving Lunenburg, but used 13% of the engine hours since it was new.

We celebrated our arrival here with a lovely bottle of Tasmanian Sparkling which Hannah deftly opened with our machete. Champagne for breakfast!

We expect to be in Bahia about 10 days.

All is well.

Location: 14° 47S, 39° 02W
Saturday 03.08.2008

The Schooner Maggie B spent the night of March 7th anchored off the Ilheus Iate Clube at 14° 47S, 39° 02W. We had come 1985 NM from Buenos Aires, have 114 to go to Salvador and Antigua is 2331 NM away. We got underway, motoring in no wind, for Salvador at about 1730 and expect to be there tomorrow morning.

Just to be sure, we got 120 more liters of diesel. Curtis and I rowed about 1/2 mile to a beach near a gas station, carried up our six spare 20 liter jugs, filled them and rowed back. It was a relatively easy stunt except that the beach was totally filthy and we both needed two showers to feel somewhat clean again.

The Ilheus Yacht Club was a lovely facility with a great bar and restaurant, three swimming pools and great showers. But almost no boats. There were exactly three boats moored off the Club and perhaps 20 more in dry storage. I guess Social counts more than Sailing, which we have seen in other places in South America.

The town of Ilheus was nice and quirky (almost no straight streets) and totally un-touristy. It was a great visit.

All is well.

Location: 17° 54S, 38° 44W
Thursday, 03.06.2008

At noon on March 6th, the Schooner Maggie B was at 17° 54S, 38° 44W, motoring north at 6.5 knots. The skies are clear, the wind is a light northerly and the seas are mostly calm. We have come 1790 NM from Buenos Aires. Salvador is 299 NM away and Antigua 2488. We are currently headed to Ilheus, former center of cocoa production and home to Jorge Amato. It is 184 NM away.

We had a lovely evening moored off Santa Barbara Island in the Abrolhos Islands. The water was marvelously clear — 60-80 foot visibility — and the fish were interesting and unafraid. In the morning we were surprised to see a nice sloop sail in. We just haven’t seen a lot of real “travelers” along the coast of Brazil. It was three Frenchmen and a dog (Hugo), who had been out a little more than a year, and were working their way down the coast, headed for the Horn and Chile. I passed them our big book of Chilean Navy Charts that we had gotten for a case of beer from an Irish boat in Fremantle. I am so much happier to have that book out working rather than sitting on some shelf somewhere. They promised that when they were finished that they would pass it along to someone else. I wish that I had written in the book the “provenance.”

We got a huge laugh in our email this morning. It came at the expense of the “Mail Marshall” system at a New Zealand company called Munro Benge. You may recall that in my last email I mentioned the bird Sula dactylatra, known as the Masked B@@by. It just was too hot a topic for the Mail Marshall. Please see below (minor changes in the message deleting the addressee and with the offending word).

The following email message was blocked by MailMarshal:

From:FrankBlair@uuplus.com
To: XXXXXXXXXXXX
Subject:Schooner Maggie B in the Abrolhos Archipelago
Message:B47cf02960000.000000000001.0001.mml

Because it may contain unacceptable language, or inappropriate material.

If you believe the message is business related, please send a message to call4help@infinity.co.nz and request that the message be released, or remove any inappropriate language and send it again. If no contact is made within 5 days the message will be automatically deleted.

MailMarshal Rule: Content Security (Inbound) : Block Unacceptable Language
Script Offensive Language (Basic) Triggered in Body
Expression: b@@bies Triggered 1 times weighting 5

NetIQ MailMarshal
Email Content Security>>

So the word b@@by is an “5″ weighting. I wonder at the scale. Do you get a degree of difficulty like at the Olympics?

All is well.

Location: 17° 58S, 38° 42W
Wednesday, 03.05.2008

The Schooner Maggie B is moored off of Santa Barbara lighthouse at 17° 58S, 38° 42W. Santa Barbara and nearby islands give us a lovely 220 degree embrace against the prevailing winds. With the permission of the local authorities, we are moored on a fixture which should be able to hold a small tanker in a moderate gale. I think we will have a quiet, safe night.

The island has lots of huge posted signs that no one can land. It rather looks like a James Bond island, with things in caves and strange ramps coming out of the water. The Navy and the Environmental Service (IBAMA) told us on the radio that we were welcome to the mooring, but would be boarded directly. That was three hours ago, so maybe it will happen tomorrow, or more likely, not.

The islands represent the first national marine park for Brazil. They were discovered by Amerigo Vespucci in 1503 and visited by Darwin in the Beagle in 1832. We are screamed at by dozens and dozens of White-tailed Tropic Birds (Phaethon lepturus) swarming around the boat. On shore there are piles of nesting Masked Boobies (Sula dactylatra), who we have been watching dive bomb fish as we approached the islands. On shore they are clumsy but loving — entwining necks and then the seafaring partner regurgitates lovely morsels for the nesting one.

Snorkeling gives a fine variety of coral, including a new one to me that seems a cross between fan coral and elkhorn. Many beautiful fish are around and they seem completely oblivious to humans.

We all are happy to have the engine off for a while. There is faint promise of a favorable Easterly tomorrow. Sails? We scarcely remember how.

We have come 1784 NM from Buenos Aires, have 303 to go to Salvador and 2493 to Antigua.

Tomorrow we will decide on which of the delightful towns along the coast we visit before Salvador. We will decide depending on wind, weather, whimsy and how far we get into our 10 liter supply of Paraty Cashaca (sugar cane liquor) tonight.

All is well.

Location: 20° 35S, 39° 58W
Tuesday 03.04.2008

At noon on March 4th, the Schooner Maggie B was at 20° 35S, 39° 58W. We are motoring NE in very light or calm winds. It is hot and sunny and quite humid. If we weren’t making our own wind and had the full sunshade up, we would perish. Our only sail handling is tacking up and down the sides of the awning from morning to evening. We have even put the sail covers on the fore and main due to no prospect for wind. We all can imagine the crews of square riggers going mad.

We have come 1610 NM from Buenos Aires, have 171 NM to go to the Parque Nacional Marinho do Abrolhos, Salvador is 465 NM and Antigua 2585.

We have been stopping around noon each day to take a brief dip in mid ocean. Recently we have been seeing Portuguese Man-of-war, Physalia physalis. (Those Portuguese sure do get around). They are also know as “blue bottles” as they resemble plastic trash more than anything. Physalia are really, really interesting beyond offering a swimmer very serious, possibly fatal stings. They are not a single organism, but a colony of different individuals, one being the float, another the mouth and stomach, another the sexual organs. The colony doesn’t just float, it has a sail. The really cool part is that there are two
basic types, one with a left-handed and one with a right handed sail, set so that they “sail out” and scatter, depending on the winds and current rotation of the area they are in.

The Physalia has a fish, the Man-of-War fish, that lives unharmed among the tentacles. Physalia are eaten by “purple bubble raft snails.” Really!

We have been motoring about 20 miles off shore and have had the unusual night time view of vast oil fields out to sea from us. It looks as if there are towns twenty miles away on each side of us, which is sort of true. During one regular radar check we discovered a target moving very fast towards us, perhaps 70 knots. After a short period of panic about military action, we realized that it was the return of a low-flying helicopter servicing the oil fields. I had not previously known that basic ship navigation radar would pick up aircraft.

One guidebook recommends something called the Passarela do Alcool (alcohol walkway) in Porto Seguro. One section is dominated by fresh fruit cocktail stands making the infamous “capeta,” which is made from guarana, cocoa powder, cinnamon, sweetened condensed milk and vodka. Capeta means “the devil” in Portuguese. I think that as Captain, I need to keep the crew away from such temptations.

We had a mystery last night. We have consistently run about seven liters (two gallons) an hour at our cruising speed. The left tank was filled at Paraty, and took the right amount of fuel given hours run. It should have run for 60 hours, but ran out after 45. We don’t know if 1) the tank wasn’t really full, 2) the
engine has significantly changed its fuel consumption, or 3) something in the Paraty fuel made it last less long (it is rather cloudy to the eye from what I drain out of the filters). We thought that we had plenty of fuel to get to Salvador, but with this uncertainty, we will get a refill somewhere along the
way to be safe, though probably not in Porto Seguro (see above).

All is well.

Location: 22° 39S, 41° 28W
Monday, 03.03.2008

The Schooner Maggie B was at 22° 39S, 41° 28W at noon on March 3rd. We have come 1453 NM from Buenos Aires, Salvador is 605 NM away and Antigua 2651. We are motoring in light or no wind, on a calm sea with only residual rollers. The sky is clear but with cumulus buildups over the land to our west. We passed Cabo Frio at dawn this morning and are heading NE, more or less straight for Salvador.

Commanders Weather (see full report on the web site) says that “we are getting in the part of the world where not much [meteorologically] goes on.”

The coast from Rio to Salvador contains dozens of lovely beach resorts and our tough job is to choose where and when to stop. We have already passes Buzios, the beach resort made famous by none other than Brigitte Bardot. Ahead lie Porto Seguro, the site of the first Portuguese landfall in the 16th Century; Ilheus, the hometown of Jorge Amado, Brazil’s best known novelist; Caravelas; Barra Grande; Itacare; Valencia; and many more wonderful stops.

Our goal now is some islands that make up the Parque Nacional Marinho de Abrolhos, Brazil’s first national marine park. It is about half way between our current position and Salvador. The name comes from the sailor’s warning “abre os olhos” (open your eyes). The five island archipelago was visited by Darwin in the HMS Beagle in 1832, and is tightly protected by the Federal Government. We should be there about noon on the 5th, and hope to have a day’s snorkeling.

About noon today we stopped for a swim in mid-ocean. Curtis was super eager and jumped in before the boat was stopped, which he quickly found to be a mistake. He was shocked how fast he was left behind and set a new World’s Record in the 100 meter freestyle.

This morning’s sunrise was heightened by having Venus and Mars rise close together just before the dawn.

We are catching fish again, and got a nice two foot Bonito first and then a lovely two foot Mahi Mahi. Dinner will be delicious!

All is well.

Location: 23° 09 S, 44° 02W
Sunday 03.02.2008

On March 2nd, the Schooner Maggie B was at 23° 09S, 44° 02W. We were motoring due east at 7.7 knots for Cabo Frio. The wind is about calm, the skies clear and the swell 2-3 meters from the SE. The barometer is down to 1000, which is about 10 mB below what we normally see.

Cabo Frio (where we turn north) is 112 NM away, Salvador 687 and Antigua 2614. We have come 1301 NM from Buenos Aires.

Our plan is to be in the Salvador area, if not the town itself, on March 8th. That should give us at least a day to spare to stop to visit or play somewhere along the coast. We are just doing our homework on Buzios, Vitoria and the coast of Bahia. We surely could spend a month sailing around the Bahia de Todos Santos
in Bahia, but we will pick our spots as a function of weather and crew energy levels.

I mentioned earlier that we had gotten banged up a bit recently. John Steele, the owner of Covey Island that made Maggie B, our shipmate, friend and ever-ready at “mission control,” has suggested that we might consider entering a contest in Antigua that he won with his former boat, Marguerite. It is not the “Concors d’Elegance” but the “Concors de Negligence.” I was just a little hurt as we have not been at all negligent about taking care of Maggie, just she has added some….character. I consider the imperfections like perhaps the face of a Prussian Major in the old days with honorable scars here and there, and a tale about every one.

All is well.

Anchored in Saco do Ceu, Ilha Grande

The Schooner Maggie B is underway NE-bound. We are anchored in Saco do Ceu, Ilha Grande, Rio Grande State, Brazil, at 23° 06S, 44° 12W. We have come 1290 NM from Buenos Aires and have 689 NM to Salvador and 2608 to Antigua. (Milages to Salvador and Antigua are as the Frigate Bird flies). We did only about 35 NM today, but we are underway from the lovely town of Paraty, where one could spend a long time.

The crew reconvened in Paraty after trips to Rio and around the Ilha Grande Bay near Paraty. The rendezvous worked out almost faultlessly. A big addition is Genevieve Lizotte, Thomas’s friend who is joining us for the leg to Salvador. She is a set designer in Montreal. Her bio will be up as soon as I can force her to write it.

The trip to Salvador is East about 200 NM to Cabo Frio, then turn left, northbound another 600 NM. Generally we should expect no wind to Cabo Frio, then possibly adverse Northeasterlies most of the way to Salvador. Right now it looks from the GRIB files as it there is a little disturbance tracking north, that might break up the NE’erly. It means motoring, maybe in rain, but that is a lot better than a 25 knot headwind.

We refueled today in Paraty. With some difficulty. We draw two meters and they supposedly had two meters at the dock. Not quite. One has to do a 180 turn, drop anchor and back in to the pier. We got to about 10-15 feet off and touched. I didn’t want to push the rudder back through the muck. The diesel hose fortunately was long enough that we could pass it out via the Reep. We are feeling very well provisioned with 1200 NM of diesel, two-three weeks of provisions, full water and watermaker, and a sound, experienced crew.

We arrived at Saco do Ceu just at full dark. It is a perfect little spot (check it out on Google maps, by clicking on the lat/long on our web site). Saco means sack. Ceu means sky. We call it a piece of heaven. We anchored, perfectly protected, in about 30 feet of water, unfortunately sharing the anchorage with two big powerboats, but then nothing is perfect. Actually, what is perfect is that Hannah led us to take a full dark swim, and she made the stunning discovery that there is tons of phosphorescence. There is no way to describe it, other than imagine the Disney cartoons with Tinkerbell flying scattering gold and silver with every movement. Your arms, legs, every finger, when moved, light up. From the deck someone swimming the breast stroke looks like a butterfly.

One charming aspect of Paraty Old Town is that the street numbers are totally random. Perhaps in order of when the house was built? Or registered? We went to the theater to see a marvelous puppet show and the theater was #248. Next to the theater was a restaurant #45. Across was a cooking school at #322. Who knows? Charming.

On the Maggie B, I have tried to celebrate things that have worked really well, as well as describing the stuff that has broken or failed. I fear that I have spent too much time describing problems. But I want to highlight one big success, which is our hull paint. It is made by an English company called HMG Marine). The US importer is Providence Lacquer. They did a great job for us. Mixed exactly the unusual yellow I wanted. The paint, now after two years and 34,000 NM still gets lots of compliments, even after being strapped in haulouts, banged by fenders and buoys, acid rain, bergy bits, lots of salt, scrapes and bruises. Most think that we have been just repainted. We were even able to do a good job of “field” repainting some serious scratches in Mauritius a year ago, and it is hard to tell what was done and where. It is a fine product.

Tomorrow we are going to swim and snorkel a bit and then put our head down and get going 24/7 towards Salvador. We have maybe a spare day or so, but we have to get going, probably burning diesel most of the way.

All is well.