The wind has proved to be quite elusive this trip. When it does appear its been from the NE – exactly the direction we want to go, thus we’ve been using the engine. In an ideal world we would wait for a blow from the south to push us north, but a few of us onboard don’t have the luxury of waiting a week for the winds to change. Also, Fede wants to start work as soon as possible in Santos where we will haul out Ocean Tramp to paint her hull, install a few sensors, and do some general, much needed cleaning and work.
Watches continue onboard following the schedule established by sea faring watch keepers for centuries – four hours on and 8 hours off (00:00-04:00, 04:00-08:00, 08:00-12:00) and then repeated for the next 12 hours (12:00-16:00, 16:00-20:00, 20:00-24:00). The famous Brazilian swell is with us, keeping the ride a bit lumpy and relegating cooking to as many one pot meals as possible. That being said we are eating well – curries, pastas, lentils. Our established cooking for colder climates though is proving quiet heavy in the warm weather we now have.
Hopefully tomorrow afternoon, on our way to Santos, we will stop for one or 2 days in Porto Bella, a tropical cove, where we can drop anchor, swim and relax before continuing the final push north to Santos, where the reception will be hot and tropical, but more industrial than paradise.
