The state of Rio de Janeiro

It is green, has many mountains and many, many beautiful islands with
interesting animal inhabitants who make all sorts of strange noises. It
has large, beautiful cities, it is a lot more dangerous and expensive
than the other states we have been to. Between Rio and Sao Paulo you
find the highest density of boats (mostly motor boats) und thus rich
people and also crime.

We entered the state of Rio de Janereiro basically when we anchored near
Búzios to wait for daylight to enter the Rio at Cabo Frio. I think I
last wrote in Cabo Frio. It was a beautiful place, yet very touristy and
they build a lot of weekend/ holiday apartments there. It for sure has a
beautiful beach with great waves but cold (frio) water. There is the
town of Cabo Frio and the Island. Like most islands here in Brazil this
one is also protected and you're not allowed to go to land unless you
have a permit from the navy. Do they ever check that? I am not sure.
But, you have to be careful: the more sotuh you go in Brazil the more
they check.

Leaving the town of Cabo Frio we motored the small channel between
mainland and the Island of Cabo Frio. There are parts which are less
than 2m deep, so not many sailboats are so priviledged to be able to go
through there. Only tourist motor boats can go - they go everywhere with
their wooden boats which, if they are lucky, don't run full of water
constantly. Well, since our draught is only 1,2m we were able to pass
through. It was a lovely scene, got some nice pictures. But not
spectacular. More spectacular was the brown, dirty water and strong wind
after passing through there. However the wind died shortly after that,
of course in my night shift. So I had to start the engine and take the
Genua in. Wind was so little later and waves still there that Marcus in
his shift also had to take the main sail down. Sorry for Frank's last
trip that we had to motor to Rio. We arrived early in the morning in the
bay of Rio. The bay really is impressive. So many little bays and
beautiful hills/ mountains and the city spread intbetween the
hills/rocks and the water. That's actually what I like most about Rio.
How it is situated in the nature. You can climb up to 800m in the city
and yet go to the beach to swim.

That first day in the Marina da Gloria we did nothing but clean the
boat, receive visitors (Patricia, a friend of my friend and her
daughter) - which was very nice - and go for dinner to that excellent
Churrascaria "Porçao". All you can eat Buffelt with super antipasti,
salads, fish, hot vegetable dishes plus Sushi plus the best of all
steakes. They bring the meat the brazilian style: they BBQ it on a stick
and then come to your table and freshly cut the just perfect made part
onto your plate. And they continue to come to your table with different
meat and sausages until you show them the red sign and say "enough!". It
did not eat that much but it was meat for the next 2 weeks. Marcus
really enjoyed it. Excellent meat, excellent food. For about $50/Person.

The second day was all sightseeing. We took the subway to the center,
walked through the park to see some beautiful trees and then walked
through the historic center which is so typical for all of Brazil: one
local shop next to the other. It was fun. From there we went to the
christ statue up at 780m on the hill. We took the subway to a station
underneath one huge hill (they left it original so you can see you're in
a mountain), from there took a Taxi around the big lake and to the
ground station of the train up the hill. When we reached the top the
disappointment was big: they had a concert up there which they had told
noone about so we were not able to go onto the platform past the christ
statue and see the bay of Rio d.J. I was mad beacuse we had paid a lot
to get up there. People of all nationalities complained to the security,
but it did not help. Thank god they opened up at 5.30, just before
sunset, so I finally did get to see the bay and take some pictures for
you ;-) Also, they had leftover from the VIP hosting of the concert so
the waiters walked arond with free drinks and hors d'oeuvres (little
snacks). Great, I did not need a dinner afterwards! So it turned out
perfect. I drank a lot ;-) (all withouth alcohol).

On the third and last day my neighbour's sister came to visit us on the
boat. That was very nice. Felt like being home with Patricia and her
visiting us. On our way to the subway we got robbed by a guy with a
knife. We did not want to risk anything. My first reaction of course was
to hit the guy when he pulled on my backpack, but once Marcus told me to
stop because he's got a (samll kitchen) knife, I stopped hitting his
arm. He did not find anything in the backpack, we gave him some money
and he ran off. It had to happen one day and thank god it was without
any fear or trouble, but it's not nice anyway. We went to Ipanema with
the subway and then to Copacobana. We did not like the beaches and area
much, only their location with the mountain surrounding is great. So we
did not spend much time there and went back, did some grocery shopping
and prepared to leave the next morning to this fabulous, peaceful place
we're at now.

So thursday after lunch we took off, heading from a crowded, noisy city
to peace again. As for me, I am not a city person anyway. Only to do
some grocery shopping or things we need for the boat, but then off again
to where it's quiet. So we headed to Ilha Grande. After a couple hours
of sailing and tacking our way forward we gave up and turned the motor
on. Too bad. It was too dangerous. Too many boats, especially fishing
boats around us. In my first night shift I almost got a heartattack
cause I came pretty close to a cargo ship. I heard it coming, saw the
lights and was sure it's go through ahead of me. But the noise grew
louder and louder. I was still under sail and then in the last minute
decided to tack. But the noise still got louder and the lights stronger,
I was afraid they'd run over us. I turned the motor on because we had no
speed at all and I could not move away. Marcus came up to see what's
happening. Well, we only saw the green lights, so it was not going
towards us, but still it felt close. I looked it up and it was still
almost a mile away, but it felt like running over us. Funny enough the
name was "Copacobana". When I took over my next night shift Marcus said
"there are a lot of lights and I have no coue what they are. We're
heading for the only spece inbetween them. Good luck and good night".
Wow, everywhere I looked there were lights. Some seemed closer, some
farther away. First we thought it might be platforms, but they were too
low for that. Since it smeeled terribly like fish in that area I thought
maybe it's fishing areas. Then I sdaw some lights moving. Ok, there is a
ship. Some other lights looked like ships as well. On my AIS screen I
could still not see what's gong on. About an hour later wheen I was
closer I more and more got the feeling taht these lights must be ships.
I looked at the AIS again and there you go: all ships, mostly at anchor,
some driving. Amoungst them: Copacobana. I made up a zig-zag route
between the ships to reach the anchorage bay where we were heading for
on Ilha Grande. Thank god daylight slowly came and one after the other I
was able to see the ships and find a way through. I took a picture of
the scene, you will find it in the next picture set. So again, I did not
get bored in my shifts.

We had heard that Ilha Grande is beautiful and our book says there are
so many anhorages that they only describe a few one. The whole bay at
Angra dos Reis contains about 250 islands with over 365 beaches. Enough
to change location everyday for a whole year!! If I could, I would stay
here VERY long. All those bays, all the water to swim, all the beautiful
nature and the sounds of the animals on the land make it a pure relaxing
place. I don't know how to describe this paradise place here. And so far
we have only been to the main island. We will only pass some few other
places, we just don't have enough time. We spent the first night in the
Enseada das Palmas at Praia dos Mangues, then two nights in Saco do deu
(heavens bay - it can be so quiet, like a lake, that you can see the
stars reflecting in the water) and now we're at Lagoa Azul, in front of
Ilha de Macacos. All places VERY peaceful. Saco de ceu was the most
touristy one. People came from Angra (and to there from Rio) with the
motor boats, mostly day trips to go to the restuarants there. last night
the bay was empty and peaceful again. Today is the first day I do not
hear this strang sound on land. An animal, which mows or growns like a
bear, a dark, voluminous voice, which inbetween the mountains and over
the water gives a grea echo and even better sound. It seems to be a
monkey in portugese called "bougis" (or so, I have no clue how they
write it hough!). I tried to film it and get the sound on the camera,
but it dit not work. Maybe my dear friend Cornelia knows more about
these monkeys? If I would have been on land the sound would have been
very freightening. Being on the boat I knew ths animal would not come
here...I love the sound though, I already miss it here. As a change we
had strange birds singing in the dawn. Different than any bird I had
every heard so far. As if a human would make a sound between the lips
(Pfeifen).

Here at Ilha Grande we learned something new about this area:
thunderstorm every night. With the dawn the dark clouds and the
lightning comes. In the first night we had it directly over us, for
about 20 minutes. Good sound with the reflection of the thunder in the
mountains and over the water. The last 2 days we only had the storm and
the rain, the lightning had passed us. Tonight so far only the clouds
have come. We hope it stays this way. Otherwise we have to go out and
watch the anchor. We're at this heavenly beautiful palce here, directly
behind a small island, and we have the anchor out plus a landline- for
both common wind directions. The water is clearer here than anything we
have seen so far. But also pretty cold. I love it. This is heaven.

Tomorrwo we're heading past some other beautiful islands to Angra dos
Reis to full up our stock. We've pretty much run out of everything in
the meantime. We could survive another couple of days, but no fun
without fresh food...