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.