Trinidad and a Circumnavigation done.

We arrived in Trinidad at sunrise on Saturday morning and tied up to the customs dock and opened a bottle of champagne as this marks our completion of our circumnavigation.. We left here December 01 2009 and have sailed around the world so we are happy about that, maybe more than happy!!

Our sail up from Brazil was completely different than the last leg from Ascension island with us doing four or five 200 mile days have winds from abeam around fifteen knots and a current that flows up the south American coast of around three knots. We did 2037 miles in ten and a half days so pretty good. We did not have to use the engine at all, had no problems with the ITCZ doldrums or any thunder storms on the way just sailing along reading our books so as easy a passage as we have ever done. We have been busy here on the boat since we arrived taking all the sails down and madly cleaning up the boat to put it away for awhile as we hope to be home in Vancouver on May 01 or 02nd. Our crew, Ray and Brenda, left this morning and will spend a few days on the island before flying back to Sydney on Saturday. We had a great time with them and are still good friends after over two months together.

The sad news is that on the way up here Marian got news of her youngest sister, Rosalind, passing away in Sydney Australia from cancer. She was only 54 years old and leaves three young children behind aged 16-14-12 so very sad for everyone. This is why we have not stopped on the way up as Marian wants to get down to Australia as soon as possible. It would not have been possible for her to make it in time for the funeral but hopes to be down there next week. Again one of the not so good things about cruising.

We have now sailed over 60,000 miles in Kilkea II and we will leave her here on the hard until later this year or early next. Then we will sail in the Caribbean for the season and see if we want to continue with this life style or sell the boat and move home. Right now we suspect that we will sell her so if there is anyone out there who wants a good boat let us know.

A short visit to Brazil

We have been here for just a few days to take on some fuel and provisions and will sail off tomorrow with the high tide. We are about ten miles up a river and it is very hot with high humidity so not comfortable in the daytime but the evenings are nice and we have the AC working so not too tough.

 Our plans are to sail up to Trinidad and leave Kilkea II there for the summer and go home to Vancouver around the beginning of May as we have many things to sort out having been away this time for so long. We may stop for a day or two at Devils island in French Guiana depending on weather and winds. It will be slow going for the first few days going through the intertropical convergence zone (ITCZ) before we get north of the equator and start to pick up the north east trade winds which will take us all the way up to the Caribbean. We hope for some good sailing and making some good mileage. The only thing will be the first few days with probably some rain and thunder storms in the forecast. So far this part of the world for sailing has been very easy on the boat and us so hope it stays that way for a couple of weeks more.

Brazil

Well we made it to Jacare Marina in Brazil this morning just after 6am. We are  up a river about fifteen miles and it is now really hot! It took us nine days to do 1200 miles so the slowest and calmest passage yet. We will stay here for a few days to re provision and see some sites before continuing on to the Caribbean which is another 2000 miles away. At least that run should be faster with good winds except when crossing the ITCZ. Now it is time for some sleep and try to keep cool.

Off to Brazil the next four days.

Today is Monday and we have had an uneventful trip up to now with little wind and smooth seas. We have managed to sail with the foresails up and the wind behind at about 5 knots so very slow. The last 24 hours we have had the engine running as there was no wind and lots of rain showers coming through but no wind and boy is it hot and muggy! 

We have had some good meals with Marian and Brenda cooking up a storm. On Easter Sunday we had a visit from the Easter bunny with lots of chocolate eggs. These need to be in the fridge to keep them from melting. We had a big breakfast  of pancakes and eggs and finished the day with us sharing a bottle of wine with dinner. So all in all we had a good holiday weekend. 

We now plan to be in Brazil on Thursday morning early so hope to be tied up in the marina by noon. The marina is called Marina Jacare which is 18 miles up a river so I imagine that it is going to be real hot when we get there. So just two more days to go. This has been the slowest passage we have ever done so rather boring from a sailing point of view.

Off to Brazil, The first three days,

We departed Ascension island on Tuesday the 31st of March after clearing out on the Monday.. We had some trouble getting the anchor up as it had caught up on an old wreck or whatever was down there and it took us about 45 minutes to get it up. We thought we may have to hire a diver to get us unhooked. 

Well off we went heading to Brazil as we have finally made up our mind of where we are going and have decided it will be the Caribbean. The winds on this leg are very light and the first three days have been as forecast with winds from the ESE around 10 knots which is not much. We have  managed to sail with the genoa out to port and our ballooner to starboard both on the poles so we have solid sail up in front of us and are managing around 5 knots of speed. The seas are very calm and it feels like we are not moving with the view never changing  and the sun setting right on the bow with lots of bright colours. We have a rising moon which will be full on Saturday and provides us with great visibility. If the wind stays as forecast this will be along trip at such slow speed. Twelve hundred miles will take us about nine to ten days. Normally we would do this in seven. The good news is that it is very pleasant coasting along and with four of us we get lots of sleep.