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sv Bluesky: Passage from St Helena to Salvador, Brazil, May 2010

#gallery-1 { margin: auto; } #gallery-1 .gallery-item { float: left; margin-top: 10px; text-align: center; width: 33%; } #gallery-1 img { border: 2px solid #cfcfcf; } #gallery-1 .gallery-caption { margin-left: 0; } /* see gallery_shortcode() in wp-includes/media.php */ The passage from Saint Helena to Salvador, Brazil is 1,914 nautical miles. As Blue Sky sailed away from the island a pod of dolphins bade us farewell. Fourteen days later we arrived in Baia de Salvador, Brazil! The voyage was calm and we rarely had to touch the sails. Everyday we put the trolling line out so we could enjoy a fresh fish for dinner, but had no luck, not even a bite. Becalmed for a couple of days we were forced to motor. This delighted the children as they had all the electricity they needed for DVD’s and Game Boys. Left is a photograph of a typical South Atlantic squall, fortunately they did not produce much wind, unlike the ones we encountered in the Pacific Ocean. The tall buildings dot the skyline of Salvador. This historic town was once the capital of Brazil. Begining in 1549 until the role was transferred to Rio de Janeiro in 1763. Until then the city was the second most important Portugese capitol second only to Lisbon. This was due to its huge trade in sugar and gold. There are two sections of the city, the upper or Pelourinho, which is a Unesco World Heritage sight. The historic colonial architecture dates back to the 17th and 18th centuries, built atop a cliff. You can access this area either by an elevator, built in the 1930’s or a cable car on an inclined plane. The children prefered going up on the train, but both are spectacular! Anchoring Blue Sky behind the circular Forte de Santo Antonio in the small craft harbor. The fuel dock was right next door and the men in charge lived aboard the barge. We had read that there could be petty crime in the anchorage but possibly because of our friends on the fuel barge we experienced nothing of the kind. Instead we were greeted only with kindness from everyone we met. I think our little “ambassadors” have a great deal to do with our good luck!

Exploring town there is a church on every corner, we read that there are over 365, one for each day of the year

the Greja de Sao Francisco, built in the Baroque Style in 1723, and is one of the richest temples in Salvador. The gold plated wood carvings on the altar and the fine Portuguese glazed tiles surrounding the walls are dramatic. We were lucky to arrive on a day when there were guides. It was a fantastic tour.

Above we are at the top of the elevator on the upper section of the city, looking at the circular fort and small boat harbor. Blue Sky is anchored behind the fort out-of -view.

The San Antonio light, is the first light house in the Americas. In 1839 the roatating kerosen lamp was located in a wooden tower.. In 1890 the structure you see today was installed with a 3.5m lens, this mechanism is still in use. The light was electrified in1932 and can be seen 38 miles off shore. Above: Phoebe and Drake pose at the light’s base.

For our first visit to Brazil this was a very good choice.  Checking into the country was realitivly easy.  Thankfully the dock master had all the paper work we needed and provided it to us in advance!  To do this he charged a small fee.  In my opinion it was worth every Reais!   There are small luncheonettes all around town and we managed to sample most of what Brazil could offer.  The buses were very efficient and it was easy to get to the shopping to re-load our provisions.  The people were very friendly, it was sometimes confusing to communicate, as our Spanish, although close to Portugese does not quite match up.  Even so with the patience of the some of the nicest people we have had the great fortune to meet we were able to get by.  We did get lucky at a book store and found a copy of a Portugese/English dictionary.  Each night we would work on the words that we had needed that day.  Little by little our vocabulary increased with the children being best able to absorb our new language.  Many of the children we met loved to practice their english with us and assisted us in learning new phrases and translating menus.  There is a big push for this generation of students to learn english having one hour of the school day devoted to studying english.

To see more of Blue Sky’s adventures go to http://www.thevoyageofbluesky.com

s/v Bluesky: South Africa to Saint Helena, South Atlantic Ocean, April 2010

#gallery-2 { margin: auto; } #gallery-2 .gallery-item { float: left; margin-top: 10px; text-align: center; width: 33%; } #gallery-2 img { border: 2px solid #cfcfcf; } #gallery-2 .gallery-caption { margin-left: 0; } /* see gallery_shortcode() in wp-includes/media.php */ Twelve foot seas in the South Atantic. Sighting Saint Helena after twelve days. The historic buildings of Jamestown. Drake and Phoebe enjoy the rope swing at the dinghy dock. Old canons and anchors litter the wharf. Phoebe practising her diving at the pool The olympic size pool at the water front. Anne´s place The Union Jack with Jacobs Ladder behind. After getting our land legs, we ascended the 699 steps of Jacobs Ladder. Jamestown from half way up Jacobs Ladder The Consulate Hotel, center, with railway girders to support the verandah. Jim buries a bottle of wine near the top. If want the coordinates email us. Phoebe and Drake proud to make it to the top. Happy to make it to the top going back down Looking down into Jamestown The steering gear from SS Papanui Old wharehouses along the wharf. Jonah, John and Jim The Briars Pavillion The Heart shaped waterfall. Longwood House im slicing off the course, thankfully no damage. The millenium forrest, where 5000 gumwood trees have been planted as a conservation initiative. Emma. Napoleon, Lynn Rattle a new temporary resident and Jonah off s/v Brillig. Phoebe and Drake present a Latitude and Attitude´s flag to Anne´s place. Phoebe above and John from s/v Dancyn below, snorkeling the SS Papanui St. Paul´s cathedral built in 1851

Jamestown is located in a deep volcanic valley on the remote English Island of Saint Helena.  The 1500 mile passage from Saldanha Bay took 12 days.  The first four, we experienced 25-30 knots of wind with 12 foot seas.  It is very difficult […]

s/v Bluesky: Saldanha Bay, February 2010

The day Ruth and Ed were leaving we visited the Spier Cheetah Outreach program. We had the opportunity to get up and personal with these beautiful beasts.  They ensure the safety of free range cheetah’s, by educating the public.  Cheetah’s tend to kill the live stock on farms, so the outreach program will rescue them.  They also breed Turkish Anatolian Shepherd dogs to protect the live stock, thus scaring the cheetah’s away.  There are approximately 1000 Cheetah’s left in South Africa.  Next to the outreach program is the Eagle Encounter, a bird of prey rehabilitation and education facility.  Arriving just in time to see the falconer feed a secretary bird, photo right.  They like snakes, so he ties food to the end of a plastic snake and teases the bird.  Using his legs and talons, the secretary bird kicks and stomps on the snake until it is dead.  Another treat was watching him train and feed the Harris hawks, mentioning they are one of the smartest birds and he can train them in less than a week.  The children had the opportunity to pet a barn owl, top right and huddled in a protective crate were four baby barn owls.  After our encounters we headed to Moyo for a refreshing drink and the children were excited to get their faces painted.  Before dropping granny and grandpa off at the airport, we stopped for some tea at Vredenheim winery, where they had the Cape Town Lion encounter, featuring white lions.  In one day the children had the opportunity to pet a cheetah, lion and owl, not to bad

Granny and Grandpa had a long and safe trip home.  Phoebe and Drake recovered after only a few hours […]

Cape Town, January - February 2010

Now that Blue Sky is back in the water at Hout Bay it was time to get play tourist and relax. Granny and Grandpa B-Q booked a great two bedroom apartment in The Lagune resort that overlooked Table Bay with a view of Table Mountain and Cape Town.  The hotel had three swimming pools and was located right on the beach.  Having sundowners on the balcony a whale treated us to a show, watching him breech just off the beach, top right. When the wind blows in Cape Town, it blows, it was spectacular watching the water blow off the tops of the waves, thankful we were not out at sea.

Previously I wrote about rounding the Cape of Good Hope seaward of Bellows Rock.  Here is a picture (left) from land that shows the boil coming off the rock.  Driving around Chapman’s Peak Road, we experienced beautiful views of Hout Bay, below.  Ruth, Drake, Emma, Phoebe and Ed are pictured at Cape Point with a view of False Bay behind them.  The family poses in front of the Cape of Good Hope sign proclaiming the longitude and latitude.

To the left is a photo of Nelson Mandela’s cell located on Robben Island, where he served 27 years in confinement, starting in 1964.  We took a ferry to this austere island, which was once connected to the mainland many years ago.  Since the Dutch settled at the Cape the island has primarily been used as a prison.  It was also used as a hospital and leprosy colony, where the graves are pictured above.   All the guides are ex-prisoners and ours, Sipho, above left, served five years. The photo behind him is the last boat leaving Robben island with […]

s/v Bluesky: Hout Bay, South Africa January - February 2010

Our “free time” had expired in Simons Town and we were scheduled to be hauled out in Hout Bay on January 4th.  That morning of the third the weather was fair and the seas were settling so we ran out of False Bay and rounded The Cape of Good Hope.  On land it is known as Cape Point. The photograph above left is The Cape of Good Hope.  We rounded it south of Bellows Rock while a local catamaran took the short cut inside and very near the Cape.  The commercial shipping was another couple of miles beyond us to sea, giving the Cape an even wider berth.

If you see the table cloth over the mountains in Cape Town, it means the wind will be strong from the SE. Above the clouds cascading over the peaks and below a blue sky day.

Clear day & flat seas at Hout Bay. Protection is good here but if it blows from the east it can be quite a challenge.

Phoebe & Drake on the cannons at the northern entrance to Hout Bay. Great fish & chips place is just out of the picture to the left. It's called "Fish On The Rocks."

When we were in Redondo Beach our good friend Chad Thomas was always willing to let me tag along.  Chad has been involved in the commercial shipping business nearly all his life.  He has been the Captain of survey vessels, tugs that tow huge ocean going barges & crew vessels that support the light oil tankers that moor off the Chevron refinery in El Segundo.  Chad always opted for sea room and saftey rather than taking the short cut.  I think he burned this into my mind!  I always think of Chad […]