Parati, RJ, Brazil
The anchorage at Paraty, as seen from the old fort.

Navegantes, SC, Brazil
This is one of the marine railways at the boatyard I am at. All the yards in the area (there are many) have similar ones.

Parati, RJ, Brazil
Not seen often these days, is a parking lot for horses. This one is in the pretty tourist town of Paraty, where cars are blocked from part of the town. Paraty has low streets that are flooded during spring (the highest tides of the month) tides, at which time horses, horse-drawn carriages and walking are the only ways to get around the flooded part of town near the beach.

Parati, RJ, Brazil
Tourist schooner on the beach for maintenance in Paraty. Paraty is a very pretty tourist town near Ilha Grande. I think there are more schooners (a schooner is a sailboat with two or more masts, where the front mast is shorter than the back mast) in Brazil than there are in the USA. Most (not all) of the schooners in Brazil are like the one in the picture, pretty boats that don’t actually sail, but instead motor around with canopies like the one above keeping the hot sun off the tourists on deck.

26 52.8’S:48 40.4’W
We sailed the Happy Shark Route to Rio Itajai to get to the cities of Navegantes and Itajai, which are on opposite sides of the river (Rio Itajai). I had been told by several people that boatyards in this area are the best place in Brazil to get work done on boats, as they build and repair many fishing boats here. This is not a yachting area, and repairs to shinyboats are mostly done around Santos (near Sao Paolo), where there is a big yacht repair industry. I was looking to get some carpentry and welding done, so thought the Rio Itajai area sounded good.The only problem was that no one I talked to could tell me exactly where to go in the Rio Itajai area, other than “up the river”. None of the cruising guides mention it, and I didn’t have much luck with googling for names of boatyards (or marinas) here. The river was well-charted for about five miles. The river is dredged, and the ports handle a fair amount of container ships. The chart showed fish processing, oil terminals, and docks for ice and water.About 20 miles south of Rio Itajai, I could see places to anchor, one with protection from all but south winds, one with protection from all but north winds. So if we could not find a place to dock along the river, we could still anchor and sleep (it is important to think about a place to sleep after a passage where you don’t get much sleep).So, not exactly knowing where we were going :), but knowing safe places to anchor near the destination, and having Del’s Portuguese skills for asking questions (my Portuguese is quite basic), we set sail for Rio Itajai.The plan was to arrive during the day, during the week (so boatyards would be open), and anchor beforehand if necessary to get the arrival timing right. We arrived during early afternoon, and motored a few miles up the river until we found boatyards. We tied alongside a fishing boat at one of the boatyards and Del found the manager and we talked to him about the work. The boatyard seems capable, I hope things turn out well.Del took a flight back to Angra dos Reis, where he lives. I am working on the boat in Navegantes.

We sailed the Happy Shark Route to Rio Itajai to get to the cities of Navegantes and Itajai, which are on opposite sides of the river (Rio Itajai). I had been told by several people that boatyards in this area are the best place in Brazil to get work done on boats, as they build and repair many fishing boats here. This is not a yachting area, and repairs to shinyboats are mostly done around Santos (near Sao Paolo), where there is a big yacht repair industry. I was looking to get some carpentry and welding done, so thought the Rio Itajai area sounded good. The only problem was that no one I talked to could tell me exactly where to go in the Rio Itajai area, other than “up the river”. None of the cruising guides mention it, and I didn’t have much luck with googling for names of boatyards (or marinas) here. The river was well-charted for about five miles. The river is dredged, and the ports handle a fair amount of container ships. The chart showed fish processing, oil terminals, and docks for ice and water. About 20 miles south of Rio Itajai, I could see places to anchor, one with protection from all but south winds, one with protection from all but north winds. So if we could not find a place to dock along the river, we could still anchor and sleep (it is important to think about a place to sleep after a passage where you don’t get much sleep).So, not exactly knowing where we were going :), but knowing safe places to anchor near the destination, and having Del’s Portuguese skills for asking questions (my Portuguese is quite basic), we set sail for Rio Itajai. The plan was to arrive during the day, during the week (so boatyards would be open), and anchor beforehand if necessary to get the arrival timing right. We arrived during early afternoon, and motored a few miles up the river until we found boatyards. We tied alongside a fishing boat at one of the boatyards and Del found the manager and we talked to him about the work. The boatyard seems capable. Del took a flight back to Angra dos Reis, where he lives. I am working on the boat in Navegantes.

While talking with Del and friends before this trip, he mentioned that the route we were taking was what his coworkers (who are airplane pilots) called the Happy Shark Route. Pilots call it this because it jumps far away from the coast, so if a plane takes this route and goes down, the sharks are happy! Sailors don’t tend to think in terms of the happiness (or well-being in general) of sharks :). Sailors think in terms of avoiding the land (ie avoiding being driven ashore or wrecked on the rocks) and taking the easiest path between two points which, (in an ocean-going type of sailboat), is usually an offshore route.

I am now finally out of the tropics, and quite happy about that (I like cooler temperatures). The weather has been very pleasant since leaving the tropics. Maggie went back to work a few weeks ago (I have used several of her pictures on the blog since then). Del, a helicopter pilot I met at the friendly yacht club in Angra dos Reis is with me on this so-far sunny trip towards Navegantes, Santa Catarina, Brazil, along the Happy Shark Route (more about that tomorrow)…