162 nm North West from Galinhos.
Saturday, 14 August at midnight we weighed anchor to start our trip to Fortaleza. We had to leave at such an early hour to arrive in daylight in Fortaleza. Well we only got on the way at 6 am…. We got stuck in the mud at low tide and had to wait for the water to rise to get us out!!!
We sailed at good speed and caught a tuna just before sunset. We enjoyed a bit a sashimi and left the rest for the next day’s breakfast. All went great with good wind; we arrived at Fortaleza at 2pm in the afternoon! At the approach to Fortaleza, just as I started to bring in the fishing line, I hooked a big Mackerel and I caught my first big fish, aprox 5kg.
We anchored for the first night at the entrance of the marina. There is only one marina at Fortaleza with only stern-to moorings and no anchorage. It is in front of a 5 star hotel and one may use the facilities of the hotel. Jaco haggled the mooring fees down until Armando was in tears and Jaco happy.
Everybody warn us about the crime in this city, one should only take taxis. We walked in to town without any problems or that we felt threatened. Maybe coming from Africa, we are used to places like this.
We enjoyed a great night with toooooo much caiperinhas on “Passé Partout” with French, Michele and Aussie, Penny and Finish, Ollie and Merja of “Fagel Bla”. A pity they are heading south, but maybe we meet again in the Pacific.
We most certainly overstayed our welcome in Brazil!! After a day at immigration and customs, whom gave us time till Saturday 21 August to get out of Brazil, we decided to skip Ilha Lencois and go for French Guyana.
