Hey another day has dawned. (Above is the official name of these islands) @ 3 degrees 50 minutes South Longitude by 32 degrees 25 minutes West Latitude
I hope you are getting these,
We arrived at Ilha Fernando last night around 12 AM in the pitch black, without any moon, just after a squall hit us so we were a little leary to let the anchor down . None of us had been here before so that made it more disconcerting to do so. But we crept up on the anchorage and dropped the anchor in 15 meters of water. We let out around 50 to 55 meters of chain in 7 knots of wind on our nose and we felt comfortable enough to call it a night. This morning we arouse around 8 except Babaloo who sleeps on deck was awoken by dolphins around five. I heard him from below as he went swimming but i turned over and went back to sleep till 8:00. When I got up I went swimming, cleaned the waterline and enjoyed the views until everyone else was up. Then we made coffee, for breakfast we had eggs and ham and I found out that potatos rot really fast in this climate. Maybe it had to do that they were still in the bag but they smell really bad when rotten.
We found the source of a leak as a through hull was stripped upon installation but now that we know where the water comes from we are going to live with it. Can't fix it here, also Ray did maintenance on the AC's and they also work. We cleaned the boat the rest of the morning then went for another swim before leaving @ 1;15. We spent exactly 13 hours and 15 minutes in the island but we all feel well and rested for the long haul to come. The island (5 in all) are rocky out croppings with a lush scrub and short tree covering. We never went ashore. At points the rocks just jut out like monoliths reminding me of Bora Bora. In the darkness the rocks looked like a light house they were so vertical. Mainly the island is a Brazillian naval base, with a few dive boats, an airport but no desernable hotels. (Maybe small ones) The surrounding ocean is the draw, the waters are deep, deep, deep and the fish gather here from all over. Swimming this morning I saw both coral fishes and deep water fish. I saw clown fishes, raz'es, parrot fish and jesters along with deep sea fish like a school of big Tuna and sharks. There is also a bird sancuary on 3 of the rocks (Islands) We can see frigate and boobies along with some other types I cannot recognise. We left the islands motoring and making water with 7 knots of wind on a heading of 60 degrees (North by North East) Since we have started sailing on the same course as the winds have built. We hope to see more wind but I got an E-mail from Don and Katie last night (Klondike) saying they heard from the weather guru Herb on the Southbound net talking to someone in our area (We do not get the net yet) the winds are expected to be light in our area for the next few days. I know we can't motor all the way to the Azores so something has to happen. Either we will drift there or......
Warm winds at your back,
Randy, Ray, Ni and Babaloo /EX