Saturday - 7 March 2009 - Natal, Brazil
Natal is 5 degrees south of the equator. Unlike this latitude in Peru, the Brazil current makes it hotter, not cold and clammy as does the Antarctic Humboldt current. The extreme eastern location makes the time zone wrong (but the same as most of Brazil) so that it's light and hot at 5 am. The early morning arrival under the 1 year old bridge gave the opportunity to deduce that low tide really is, uh, low. Or perhaps the boat owners here have very poor judgment in their mooring decisions.
The ship sponsored free hourly shuttle gave a nice opportunity to see the famous Natal sand dunes, the quite lovely beach (which boasts no sharks and year-round 84 degree F water temperature). Natal has 360 sunny days a year and no major storms. The only apparent shelter is phone enclosures.
Will sail out at 5 pm this afternoon and spend the next two days sailing NW to Belam which is 90 miles into the Amazon delta. I have booked a 3 1/2 hour boat ride and short hike. DEET will be served from spigots.
Will lose one hour of the two hour time difference to the US East Coast tonight as you folks go off Standard Time. We will catch up on the ship to EDT when we leave Brazil after Belam and change to Devil's Island Time which is the same Boston. Go figure.
Besides the persistent skin infection and now the usual sore throat, all is well.
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