Natal and Fortaleza

We had to time our exit from Jacare and the swift river with the outgoing tide and headed 2 hours north to Baia da Traicao.  We had been told that this anchorage was so nice that one boat had spent 3 weeks here.  We found the protection behind the reef awful and we rolled excessively.  We stayed just long enough (about 7 hours) to assure a daylight arrival in Natal and headed out in the blackness of night.  The 12 hour passage was uneventful except Tom was busy monitoring the Naiad stabilizer cylinder leak and replacing hydraulic fluid.  The cylinder leaked about 3 liters during the trip and was manageable.  We arrived in Natal just at daybreak, motored up the river and anchored just off the Iate (yacht) Club do Natal.

The river was narrower and deeper than Jacare and we had to put out a second anchor to keep out of the shipping channel and keep the officials happy.  We stayed in Natal about 5 days which was time enough to see the Forte dos Reis Magos (Fort of the 3 wise men) which dates from 1598). 

The fort was a 5-point star shape and had a chapel, well, cannons and soldiers quarters and we enjoyed the commanding views of the city and the sea.  

One day we took a taxi ride to Point Negra, which has a 3 mile beach and many tourist shops and restaurants.  It was unexpectedly nice and after lunch we bought new bathing suits and a towel (to replace the ones we did not bring) and enjoyed a salty dip in the Atlantic Ocean.

From Natal we left on a 3-day passage to Fortaleza.  As we rounded the ‘bump’ in Brazil, we had to slow down because of the swift currents pushing us 2 to 3 knots faster than normal.  The stabilizer leak was better for most of the trip with little leakage and Tom was feeling good until the last 8 hours.  Suddenly the leak worsened and it dumped almost a gallon of oil in less than an hour and the Captain shut them down for the last hours of the trip.  Luckily the seas were not too big, but the crew was happy to arrive in the calm marina.

We followed the charts around 2 wrecks, shallow water and 2 breakwaters into the Marina Park Hotel Marina.  The hotel is a 5 star hotel complex with a huge, clean swimming pool, a range of restaurants, and showers.  The dock is composed of floating metal pontoons that move around in the surge.  In order to dock one has to drop an anchor and then reverse towards the dock.  Due to the tides and surge, this dock was a challenge and we bent a small piece of swim platform stainless before we got it tied up just right. One of the metal floating sections had developed a leak and every couple of days they would hook up an electric pump to pump out the tank and keep it floating.  That worked OK until a weekend and that section completely sunk! 

We stayed for about 3 weeks and only had about 3 or 4 days of big surge and the rest was pretty calm. They wanted almost $50/day but Tom negotiated Armando down to $25/day for our stay.

 

The girls enjoyed the pool every day and the Captain located hydraulic caps and plugs to disable the leaking Naiad cylinder until it can be properly rebuilt in Trinidad.  The roll stabilization is supposed to be better than 50% with only one fin operating and time (and our next 6-day passage) will tell.

Fortaleza was definitely a good stop and we enjoyed the area.  We took the free hotel shuttle bus to Beira Mar several times. Beira Mar is where everyone goes for their evening promenade. Vendors set up about 400 individual booth selling tourist items, wood carvings, food and embroidered linen.  It also has the best beach lined with restaurants and beach umbrellas.

 

 

The hotel was host to several Brazilian soccer teams that were competing for a FIFA cup competition while we were here (that is leading up to a 2014 world cup also to be held here).  The crew of Emily Grace doesn’t follow many sports, but the TV cameras, overhead helicopters, banquets and overall frenzy told us that this was indeed a big deal!

 We could walk to the magnificent Metropolitan Cathedral of Fortaleza and marveled at the Italian stained glass and the Gothic and Roman architecture (as Emily explained to Dad why the ribbed vault and flying buttresses were used).   

We enjoyed the 10 am Catholic mass every Sunday during our stay.

 

Directly across from the cathedral we saw an enormous hammock shop and bought two $30 woven hammock seats for the (future) front porch.  Kim found room for them on the boat and swore (again) that we have no more room for souvenirs! 

We also took a longer free shuttle bus ride to Praia do Futuro for the day and found a nice beach but it was more of an isolated beach and 2-resturant tourist trap. We enjoyed the beach and dug our feet into the warm sand while haggling with the roaming locals selling everything you could need.   

We bought icy cold drinking coconuts, caipirinhas and beer and succumbed to one artist that transformed a blank white ceramic tile and handful of acrylic paints into a work of art for $10.  

 

The highlight of our stay was the day trip we arranged to Beach Park, a huge water park about 16 Km from Fortaleza.  They have about a dozen water slides, the largest wave pool in Latin America and it’s located right on a white sand Atlantic beach.  Most of the slides are ridden using one and two person tubes, but some are with flat pads and some just feet first through a tube.  

 

 

Emily and I tried most of them and Kim tried a few too.  Our favorite slides were about 75 feet high and some of them were entirely in the dark and you were whipped around sharp bends and subjected to dumping water until, at last, you were spit out skimming across a shallow pool.   

The worst part of the rides was climbing stairs and carrying the tubes up to the top.  They also boast the tallest slide in the world.  It is 125 feet tall and you drop almost vertically straight down the chute in about 4 seconds.  Emily spent most of the day gathering her courage and then made 3 trips down. The slide was called Insano for good reason and Mom & Dad only watched our daughter drop from the 12 story high platform.

We enjoyed our stay.  Tom attended a Rotary Club meeting one day at the hotel and an English speaking Rotarian drove us around all day to find some parts and get our prescription drugs refilled with just our old bottles.  We pumped aboard another 1000 liters of diesel fuel and left behind Brazil and some nice memories.  

Follow along, dear reader, as we head to French Guiana and explore the Islands made famous by the movie Papillion.

Tom