Schooner Maggie B Hits the Rocks in Brazil
Friday 02.08.2008

Yesterday did have its victories - our bar bill at the Yacht Club of Santa Catarina turned out to be only 12 reals, or about US$6 and the security guy at the gate of the marina let us back in. Otherwise it was not too great a day.

We knew that Canadians and US citizens needed visas for Brazil (EU citizens and Kiwis don’t). When we were in Buenos Aires, there was a huge crowd and weird requests (two months of bank statements to prove financial independence for example) at the Brazilian Consulate - so I had the good(?) idea to call the Federal Police in Florianopolis to see if a visa could be issued to yachties on arrival. No problem they said (to Thomas in Portuguese) - come on along to our lovely island and all will be well!

Yesterday we all trooped over to the lovely new Federal Police building to check in. All was well - we got to see a charming officer who spoke good English, we had the right documents, he filled out the right forms, we signed everything, then he looked at the passports. Where were our visas? We said the we were told that we should come on and they would be issued in Florianopolis. No, no, no, he says, against the law. America makes it hard for us Brazilians to enter the US, so we make it hard for Americans to enter Brazil. We have our pride, etc. Papers were taken back, and torn up and thrown away. we were issued a “Termo de Notificacao No. 34/2008″ ordering us to leave Brazil within eight days. We protested, he said that we were fortunate he had made it eight days that it was usually three days. He then added, chillingly, that if he were in the US like us, he would be arrested already.

His suggestion was that we should go to Uruguay or Paraguay and get our visa and come back, though there might be a problem since we had entered illegally. All of a sudden the thought of flying to Buenos Aires or Montevideo seemed less attractive. A real disaster would be to leave the country to get the visas and then not get them and have the boat stuck in Florianopolis and us being undesirable aliens.

So we have hired an immigration lawyer in Brasilia. The plan is that she will assure with the Consular Service that we will be issued visas, we will choose a Consulate in Paraguay or Uruguay, confirm with them that they are ready to issue the visas, and go and come back.

We also checked with the ghost of John Belushi as how to handle being on Double Secret Probation, and his response was “Road Trip!” Our plan is to rent a car and drive the 1000 kilometers to the Iguacu Falls on the border with Paraguay, Argentina and Brazil. Then get everything lined up in Ciudad del Este, Paraguay, which is just across the border, spend 1/2 day there at the Consulate (it is supposed to be a real armpit), and return with our fresh visas. That’s the plan, anyway.

Florianopolis is a bit bigger and more commercial than we expected. A small, tropical, Manhattan was Thomas’s description. We definitely have to get a car and go over to the beaches. Downtown is interesting, but not compelling. All the stores seem to be selling shoes, TV’s or cell phones. The famous beaches should be a lot more fun place to wait out our visa problems.

In the midst of our boring bureaucratic problems, I wanted to take a moment to recognize and celebrate Francois Joyon’s huge success in breaking Ellen MacArthur’s solo around-the-world record. Francois did it in an astonishing 57 days, beating Ellen by a full two weeks!. His boat was IDEC 2, which was designed by Nigel Irens, like Ellen’s B&G and the Maggie B. Congratulations to Nigel and Francois! Three Cheers!

All is…..OK