Rio Grande

Rio Grande may be the best kept secret of cruising Brazil. It's not in any guide book. In fact, our cruising guide specifically says that they have no information about this port along this dangerous coast so it's best skipped. We first heard of a museum in Rio Grande that welcomed yachts from Canadian yacht Illawong who had visited years ago. Then by email from South African yacht Skebenga who was a few weeks ahead of us on the trek south. They mentioned free water, free power, and free internet, while tied up to a nice pier. Free of charge. So after a long motor up the lagoon, we arrived at the Oceanographic Musuem and were greeted by Lauro, the director of the museum and related entities. In perfect English, he invited us to lunch. We learned he had attended an American University, Duke we think, and that he had also visited Mystic Seaport several times which inspired in him a desire to create something similar in Rio Grande to preserve the old maritime technologies. The setting is beautiful and tranquil, with birds everywhere. Across the water is a marsh designated as a bird reserve, to the east views of the city.



As in other Brazilian seaports, all kinds of small craft move goods past Marcy propelled by sail, oar, and motor.

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Did we mention a good grocery store is within easy walking distance? For the crew of the Marcy, it doesn't get much better than this.

In between drying out wet sails.....



and various small repairs, we visited a couple of Lauro's facilities – the Oceanographic Museum and the maritime trade school. There is a type of boat here that is constructed like the log canoes of the Chesepeake. There are a couple of examples being restored in Lauro's shop.



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Very large planks of tropical hardwood are available here in Brazil.



Lauro modeled a mask for us in an art studio that is part of his operation.



We admired a product of the boatbuilding school.



To make our stay even more enjoyable we met a couple we had seen as we motored up the channel. We first say them aboard their small sloop with their two dogs aboard. They waved and welcomed us while reaching back and forth in the brisk wind. We met them later for a beer aboard Marcy, and learned that they plan to cruise the world someday. We also learned that they knew of a churrascaria with a good reputation in Rio Grande. About to leave Brazil, we couldn't pass up a last visit.



We had a walk on one of Brazil's wonderful beaches, reportedly the longest in the world, with our friends Keith (pronounced like “Kate”with a “ch” at the end and yes, she knows it's a boy's name in English) and Thiago (again the th is pronounced "ch").



We reluctantly made our way on a beautiful day back out to sea, passing the old cathedral and a steam dredge on the way.





Our destination is Urugauy, where we'll hear Spanish spoken again for the first time since Mexico three years ago.

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