Fernando De Noronha

     The passage from Recife to Ilha Fernando De Noronha confirmed for me the wisdom of of the the old saying, "Gentlemen don't sail upwind," and of taking the downwind route from The South Atlantic to Europe (ie via the Caribbean). Three days of beating into wind and waves (sailing almost as close as I could to the direction the wind was blowing from) made for a bumpy and wet passage although the wind was probably not more than 15 knots most of the way. This upwind passage also revealed that Twister has developed a couple of annoying leaks (all relatively minor and all on the deck or in the portholes (windows)).  Not that the passage was all that bad, but a month of it would have gotten old.

     I sailed into the anchorage at San Antonio Bay about an hour before sunrise on Thursday the 14th of March, with dolphins escorting Twister. That never gets old, by the way.  The anchorage is littered with dive-boats and small fishing boats, but I was the only sailboat in the anchorage when I arrived. Last night another boat (Bromwyn--I met them at Cocos Keeling in The Indian Ocean) arrived from Ascension Island. The island is lovely (the internet connection is too slow to attempt uploading photos), and I would probably spend more time here if not for the exorbitant fees--for two days I had to pay ca 180 Real (ca $90 US). There are daily fees for the boat, for each person, and, if you want to visit the half of the island which is a national park, a fee to go there. So tomorrow morning (or maybe tonight) I will start the 1900 mile, trans-equatorial  passage to Tobago (or maybe Barbados, or maybe Grenada, but I'm pretty sure it will be Tobago).  I'm hopeful that it will take two weeks. That would require a 135 mile per day average which is equivalent to a 5.65 knot average which is close to what I did from St. Helena to Recife.