Time to move on

After three very nice and “social” weeks here in the Yacht Village Jacaree we started our “countdown” on Friday. First we took the train to Cabadelo to check out from the Brazilian state of Paraiba. Next stop was the Supermercado to bunker sufficient beer and soft drinks to make us survive up to 3 weeks. The drinking water we bought in Cape Verde is still left as we have found the fresh water from the marina is OK even for drinking as is.  Yesterday and today we have taken farewell of our friendly neighbors and marina staff / owners. A big thank you goes to Nicolas who has been very helpful in both small and bigger matters.

We are now waiting for the slack water (no or small tidal current) which is due about 1h before high water. Important as the river compresses the relative small tide (at spring, as today about 2.1 m) to more than 3 knots or more (at ebb). Ideally we would like to make the exit in day light as there are a few unlit buoys and plenty of small boats with no lanterns.Our destination is Natal, approx 80 nm north from where we are. From there we will decide if we are going to clear out (exit Brazil and aim for a 2000 nm sail to French Guyana a/o Suriname) or make a stop at Soure, an anchorage in the estuary of the Amazon river. As the Amazon at the moment is rather “wild” due to debris because of the rainy season we have not yet made up our minds. First things first, Natal is a nice start.