It rains quite heavily during the night and is very overcast when morning comes but this fits in with my plan to clean the starboard hull before there’s any sun and the cloud cover allows me to wait a little longer before having to get up and do this.
After my cup of tea I don an old tee-shirt and get into the dinghy. Mike ties it bow and stern to the boat and with my bucket full of soapy water I attempt to scrub the exhaust fume residue and black tyre marks off.
This is easier said than done. The marks are stubborn and I don’t want to use anything abrasive as I don’t want to completely remove the wax that we had applied in Cape Town. I use proper hull cleaner and a softish scrubber but every time I apply any kind of pressure I push myself away from the hull. Every few minutes I have to call for Mike to come and drag me further along the hull and eventually he gives up trying to do anything else but just stands and watches me dragging me slowly along the length of the boat. I manage to get the worst of it off but by the time I have gone along as far as I need to, the dirt has dried in streaks as it dripped down the hull and I have to slowly work my way down again, rinsing if off and wiping it over at the same time. All the twisting round makes my back twinge a bit too which is a little worrying.
The constant coming and going of the ferries plays havoc too. The wash that they sometimes create throws the dinghy around and throws the dinghy against the hull and off again, washing into the dinghy and soaking me in the process. I love this sailing lark!
When I’ve finished, the hull looks better but you can still see the marks which is frustrating given how clean she was when we left Cape Town. It was all that motoring on the way to Salvador that did it and we mainly used the starboard engine as the propeller is slightly bigger and it makes us go faster (well, marginally anyway).
After the cleaning is over I have a quick shower and go back to bed for a while before spending the rest of the morning on the computer. By mid morning, all the clouds have gone leaving a bright blue sky and a scorching hot sun. Thank goodness there is a little breeze. It’s 33 degrees with 50% humidity, better than yesterday’s 35 degrees with 65% humidity.
Mike spends the morning looking for a flight for me to return to the UK but as they are all so expensive, he doesn’t book one, hoping for a better deal nearer the time. He is going to leave his until the last moment anyway in case bookings for the boat change.
I spend the afternoon reading, tidying up and doing a spot of cleaning in preparation for the off tomorrow. I even manage to get a decent Skype line for once. Mike pumps the dinghy up then we sit and sip tea watching the last sunset we will see over Gamboa.
I notice that Mike has yet again deliberately let the bananas go off so that I have to make a banana bread with them, so in the early evening I oblige. And that’s what we have for tea. Rum punch and cake for him; Amarula and cake for me. How decadent!
I have so enjoyed our time in Gamboa, a different side to the Brazil we saw in Salvador and will see in Recife. How I wish Johanne and Steve had seen it too. It has given us a chance to re-charge our batteries a little in time for the long passage in just over a week, the last of this little adventure.
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