Paraty, Brazil and area

Life on Bella Luna continues to be an adventure each and every day.  We have been away from the internet enjoying many different areas of the Angra dos Reis and Ilha Grande area.  It is going to be hard to leave this area in a few weeks.

We may have mentioned in a previous post that our sailing adventure was planned with two purposes in mind.  One (1) to enjoy our love of sailing and two (2) to travel to as many different places in the world.  Our passion continues to grow as we see different countries and places.  The side benefit has been the many wonderful people we are meeting along the way.  The cruising community is a very friendly group and enjoy getting together and sharing stories of their travels and very helpful information.

We met at an anchorage our new friends Laura & Fede.  Laura is from the USA and Fede is from Argentina.  Both work on a ship for a large offshore oil company.  They were married this summer and are now enjoying sailing in this area on Quijote.  Fede celebrated a birthday so of course a party was planned.  Any excuse for a get-together.  Lots of fun!!  Sadly we said good-bye to them a few days ago.  They are heading to Ushuaia, at the southern tip of Argentina, working and getting ready for an Antarctica adventure in the new year.

Laura & Fede

Hugo, Fede & Gord

The next group of pictures are of the wonderful historic village of Paraty, Brazil, an old gold mining town and where slaves arrived from Africa.  The old part of the town is blocked off to vehicle traffic.  When the tide is high the roads fill with water. 

Arriving Paraty Bay

Paraty dock

Paraty dump truck

Gord buying the biggest shrimp or camerou that we have ever seen - delicious!!!

Debbie on a dry day

Gord and his new Polish friend, Marcin

Dingy ride to town

We stayed in Paraty for a week then moved on to Lopes-Mendes beach.  One of the most beautiful beaches we have ever seen.  On the way we were treated to a large school of dolphins swimming in the opposite direction we were going.  Hard to see in the photo but what a great sight. 

Dolphins

Beach vendors

Debbie getting ready to surf

After spending three quiet days at Lopes-Mendes beach we moved on to an anchorage with wonderful; snorkelling.

We met up with a German family at the anchorage and their two young daughters.  They enjoyed an afternoon of play in our kayak.  They have been sailing for one year now, home schooling their kids and enjoying a fantastic adventure.  They are heading south to Argentina then through the Beagle Channel to the Chilean fiords.

Are plan is to spend the next 10 days in this area then sail to Rio De Janeiro.  On October 30th our daughter Laura arrives and will sail with us for one month as we travel from Rio to Grenada in the Caribbean.  We are looking forward to having her onboard.

Laura 

It will take us the month of November to travel the 3300 nautical miles from Rio to Grenada.  With of course a few stops to enjoy snorkelling, sight-seeing and relaxing.