Arrival in Recife

Hi Guys,

Recife Brazil  18 January 2011

(Lat: 8 06'South  Long: 34°53'West)

(Time -3 hrs GMT)

We backed into the Recife dock Thursday morning, so that we could make an early getaway at sunset.

At 8:30 am we are driven the 90 minutes to the beach at Porto de Galinhas through some very unkempt areas where it seemed that people cannot afford a coat of paint for some very historic buildings.

Evidence of the sugar cane industry is everywhere, from the storage silos that are used to fill the ships, to the cane fields and the workers. The temperature is hot and humid and the vegetation is very lush with coconut and banana palms growing everywhere. Mangos hang from the trees, cassava plants are everywhere, oleanders and other plants color the jungle. Giant machines are constructing new roads, tearing minerals out of the ground and installing 50 cm water pipes. There is a fetid smell from the sewers.

We arrive at Porto de Galinhas, a beach resort where too many people come to this very small beach with a tidal pool. When the tide is out the place is packed with inviting lawn chairs and cover is provided with generous umbrellas. When the tide is in there is little room and the many chairs are removed as the water laps to up the back walls. We decline the invitation to sit although we are wearing our swim suits. At high tide, we are not sure where the hordes of people have gone?

We finally do go in swimming and the water temp must have been 28C (82F) which is delightful. We have lunch which is rip off time, as we decline the lobster (R119 (£30 each)) but we have a pizza which cost us $40 with a beer and a salad, we are told that we did not get charged for the “music” cover charge (R4) as a guitar strums away in the background. The beach is jam packed with people. Vendors push large carts along the beach selling most things that you can eat and drink, tee shirts, sail boat rides, hats, snorkeling, it is a wonderful atmosphere for the beach but we are hardly there long enough to enjoy anything lasting. A kiaperenia, the local alcohol gasoline, gives a nice end to the day with crushed Cay limes with a little sugar. We catch the bus back to the ship, the end of a very nice visit to a busy day in Recife.

We have concluded that the food manager on the Aurora probably came from Little Chef (a “restaurant” in the UK usually found on the motorways). Everything is dummed down for the masses. Brown sauce comes in plastic tear off packages and the Indian chef argued with me how a hamburger should be made with fried onions. Our evening meals are delightfully served by an unintelligible waiter who is constantly asking me questions to which I now say “yes”. However, I am not used to eating at 9:30 at night and taking coffee at 10:30 at night.

While dining in the buffet during a Chinese night, (we have several of these theme nights) we met captain Pembridge and I mentioned my intended use of a sextant.

In the next 15 minutes I get a navigation lesson and an invitation to the bridge, so far it has been cloudy and difficult to observe stars or the sun.

We have another sea day tomorrow and Saturday we arrive in Rio. I check the GPS each day and plot the results, we crossed the equator at 3:55 12 secs AM on Tuesday 18^th January, I was there.

Recife, the capital of the state of Pernambuco, is situated on the Atlantic coast of northeastern Brazil at the confluence of the Capibaribe and Beberibe rivers. With a population of 1,4 million, it is the largest city in this part of the country and the 8^th largest in Brazil.  The name Recife comes f from the barrier reef (arrecife in Portuguese) that protects the beaches.

The Portuguese established Olinda as the capital of Pernambuco during the early 16^th century, handling the export of sugar cane. It survived raids by the French in 1561 and the English in 1596 and the Dutch burned Olinda and started Recife. The Portuguese made Recife a Brazilian town in 1710 and a city in 1823. Today, it has several high tech industries, universities for science and technology, shipping, tourism and conference facilities.

Recife is often called the “Venice of Brazil” because of its many waterways and bridges. The position of Recife is within the tropics and on the same latitude as the southern tip of India. Recife and neighbouring Olinda claim to have an even better carnival than Rio de Janeiro.