12 February 2011
With a few days to spare before our five day land travel trip we had a fancy to explore some of the anchorages that abound in the Baia de Todos os Santos. We cast off our dock lines and headed deep into the bay. A gentle downwind sail 13nm from Salvador brought us to Ihla do Frade. Giving the reef at the southern tip a good offing we rounded Ponta de Guadeloupe dropping the hook some distance off a white sand beach. It was so lovely to be swinging to our own anchor once more. Apart from our one night in the river at East London we have not had this treat since Cocos Keeling as long ago as September. It was so far back I had to look up our log sheets to check. With only one other yacht at anchor and off the now deserted beach, it is all peace and quiet, away from the heat and hustle bustle of a city that never seems to sleep. With a lot more breeze blowing through the cabin it is also so much more comfortable. There are 56 islands in this bay.
Because of our two metre draft we are rather nervous of venturing too far, it is very shallow in places. A catamaran would be ideal for this cruising ground. The following morning, Saturday, eight local cruise boats arrived to disturb the tranquillity of our anchorage but by early afternoon they have all gone home by which time Tucanon and Tzigane have joined us in our little haven of peace and quiet. David and I take the tender ashore and swim off Tapera beach, the water as warm as a bath. This is the first sea water swim since Tonga, hard to believe but true. There is a big sign and I go to see what it says. 'Please keep the beach clean'. Ha! I see at least a dozen drinks cans lying on the sand. At the back of the beach is a walled and fenced off area with a tiny straw hut where a security guard sits all day long. I watch him as he walks slowly along the beach to where the daily cruisers were anchored of just a few hours ago, picks up their empty drinks cans and tosses them neatly over the wall!
Stop press!
I have just learned of a tidy sum earned for an article I wrote for Yachting World and published in their March issue for those who are interested. It is my first pay cheque since retirement in 2005! David has decided to keep me on as crew for the next leg to Grenada. It will just cover the cost of the repair to the masthead unit which Paul kindly agreed to take back to B&G in the UK.
Susan Mackay