23/12/12 - Lord Nelson

Having arrived last night opposite Ilha de Sao Sebastiao , we were visited by some local journalists and we were invited to make ourselves at home at the lovely yacht club of Ilhabela, the pretty little village. A dip in their pool was most welcome with a long cool beer. Yuri took Edison and Steve and a few others up the coast to dive and eventually the minibus came back for us. Three quarters of the way there we had to turn back to collect some extra scuba bits. Sadly our visit to the waterfall and/or a dive came to nothing, as lunch took up most of the rest of the afternoon until we had to go back as the bus was needed elsewhere. So another swim and more beer and some got to eat at the club – eventually, remember, this is Brazil!. Then the Heavens opened and it just poured vertical rain down on us for an hour or two. Some braved it anyway and got incredibly wet, some of us including the two wheelchairs, waited till it was less heavy and got back damp, while the brightest just kept diving into the hotel pool to swim, so did not notice the wet journey back at all!  Our two great stars of the day were Edison and Steve, who both managed to get back into scuba diving, under Yuri’s careful eye, and Eduardo who rushed around making things happen for us. In the evening Edison met up with his friends who had driven down from Sao Paolo to visit him. Sadly Eduardo left us this morning to spend Christmas with his family. We weighed anchor and set off for Ilha Grande, with two staysails set and the engines purring away. The damp morning has gone and the blazing sun is back. Water temperature of 26 recorded during our Met obs. Anti-Piracy drills completed so we’re now off watch and waiting for supper. Aft Port, Alan, Brett, Kyle, Judy, Chimpy and Ruth