Ship S Log for Passagemaker

Ship’s Log for Passagemaker

The Amazon - August 2012

Date Time Coordinates Comments Gals. Wed 1st 14h00 Left Alter do Chão after spending two days sorting out a wiring problem in BB’s starter circuit.

17h00 03° 29.37’ S Anchored near bank on 055° 15.64’ W east side of Tapajós River. Positive I heard turkeys “gobbling” on the hillside as they roosted for the night.

Thu 2nd 15h00 03° 36.58’ S Passed the small town of 055° 20.08’ W Aveiro on the east bank. 17h00 03° 49.75’ S Anchored off the main 055° 30.19’ W jetty of Fordlândia in 10m of water. This town of approximately 3,000 people is shown on maps by its original name of Boa Vista.

Sat 4th 14h00 Up anchor from Fordlândia after spending 6 hours replacing the diesel fuel pump that fills the day tank.

16h00 03° 56.68’ S Passed “Brasília Legal”, a 055° 34.74’ W little sleepy town on the west bank. What an odd name. By doing this we missed the main Tapajós river and had to navigate at 3m depth between some mid-river islands to find the deeper main channel.

of 11 17h00 04° 02.80’ S Anchored in 10m of water 055° 36.68’ W next to some beautiful jungle full of wonderful birds on the east bank of the Tapajós.

Sun 5th 13h00 Up anchor and head for Itaituba, 250km in total from Santarém, described as a classic “Gold Rush” town. Averaged a speed of 5.9 knots against the current at 1,500 rpm.

14h15 04° 05.47’ S Passed a sleepy Brazilian 055° 41.04’ W town on the west bank of the Tapajós. There were no radio masts and river boats didn’t stop there, except by special request, a sure sign of how small it is. Depth 6m, but it will fall as the dry season continues. 17h30 04° 15.708’ S Within sight of Itaituba, just a mile 055° 57.871’ W to go. Following direct line which we assumed three river boats in front of us had taken (but then they only need 1m of water, we need at least 2m), the depth dropped from 5 to 1m in seconds and we ran onto a mud bank doing 6 knots. PM’s bow went up in the air so fast I nearly spilt my rum and coke.  It took nearly 2 hours with BB in reverse at 2,000 rpm, one of the big anchors and 30m of chain dropped astern from the dinghy, with the big Lofrans winch helping to get us off. We tried using the 10hp dinghy to pull the top of the mast to heel over, but it made no difference. I think the prop wash flowing towards the bow washed enough mud away that eventually,

of 11 with the aid of the kedge, she slid back off the mud bank. Don’t try and go up the Tapajos past Alter to Itaituba after July as depths are quite shallow, around 4m and there are no charts of the area.

Wed 8th 06h30 Up anchor and headed back down Rio Tapajós at 7 knots in 12 m of water.

04° 11.493’ S Depth 2.5 m … another 055° 50.236’ W mud bank in middle of river. Moved to east bank of river to find deeper channel. 08h00 04° 10.62’ S Quarry with crushing plant 055° 48.19’ W on east bank. Material being loaded into barges to go to nearby towns for making concrete. 16h30 03° 29.01’ S Anchored in 4m near east 055° 15.43’ W bank very near the same spot on the way up. Note. There is a massive “lawn” on the opposite bank. Maybe 10 ha with very shallow depths. Thu 9th 08h00 Up anchor after fixing mast lights.

15h30 02° 50.63’ S Anchored near east bank 055° 03.19’ W in 5m of water Fri 10th 08h30 Up anchor after kayaking 26

of 11 14h00 02° 30.00’ S Anchored in 2.7m of water 20 054° 57.41’ W in Alter do Chao.

Mon 13th 11h45 Left Alter heading down 23 river to Santarem, 10 knots of wind on the nose.

15h00 02° 24.72’ S Anchored near Santarem. 18 054° 42.75’ W

Wed 15th 09h00 Dropped Anita, Ester and 20 Quiren and luggage on a river boat heading for Manaus. Made 7.5 knots at 1,000 rpm into stiff breeze from the east.

13h45 02° 26.24’ S Anchor across one of big 18 054° 22.45’ W lakes in 4m water.

Thu 16th 07h00 Calm but bumpy night. Up 22 anchor for Monte Alegre, doing 7.6 kts at 1,000 rpm.

of 11 10h00 02° 18.95’ S Almost ran up on a 1m 054° 06.415’ W deep mud bank right in the middle of a 2km wide stretch of the Amazon. Had to turn 180 degrees to get back to deep water.

13h00 02° 00.55’ S Turned off the Amazon to 054° 01.87’ W cross the mud bar to enter the little side river that Monte Alegre sits on. Just 1 m under our keel. We only found this entrance by waiting for river boats to lead the way.

13h45 02° 00.71’ S Anchored opposite the 17 054° 04.28’ W main part of Monte Alegre.

Sat 18th 14h00 Up anchor and headed west further along the Rio Gurupatuba in 22m of water.

15h00 02° 02.52’ S Followed the river a short 054° 05.71’ W distance and then found ourselves in a giant lake, probably the size of Trinidad. Anchored in 4m near the eastern bank.

of 11 Sun 19th 17h30 02° 01.59’ S Left anchorage due to 054° 05.77’ W insect plague of previous evening. Tried new anchorage a little way out into the lake in about 8m.We called it “Palm Tree Island” anchorage as there was the most perfect little island, maybe 100m long by 10 m wide near PM and when the sun set in the evenings it looked like the cover of a travel brochure. Oh yes… there were almost no insects. Wed 22nd 16h00 Up anchor and headed back to our favourite anchorage opposite the town of Monte Alegre to access the free internet “Z11”. DOUBLE WOW as a Toco Toucan flew overhead, our first sighting. 4.30pm 2°.00.712S Anchored in a new spot, 54°.04.169W slightly to the east of our usual spot, immediately opposite the newly painted blue church. Good Wi-Fi but lots of wasps. Q was stung twice.

Thu 23rd 12h30 After a good morning ashore buying a tap for the galley, five pairs of alloy horse stirrups for R$10 a pair as souvenirs and four 1 litre bottles of Domus “Conhaque de Gengibre” @ R$18 ea. which is great with Coke and can even taste good on the rocks. 13h00 02° 01.59’ S Back to the nice insect free 054° 05.77’ W anchorage mentioned above to sit and answer e- mails, write newsletter and continue working on PM.

of 11 Sat 25th 15h30 Up anchor and travelled further up Rio Gurupatuba searching for a turning into Rio Paituna. The whole area is flooded so it’s impossible to see river banks. We must watch the depth gauge like a hawk.

16h00 02° 04.86’ S Must have passed 054° 05.65’ W entrance to Rio Paituna. Still had 12m of depth but decided to turn round. 02° 03.816’ S 054° The junction with Rio 05.805’ W Paituna, as identified by trees lining river bank on the radar. Louise went with the Hawk Eye depth finder in dinghy to confirm that it was in fact the channel. After nearly 30 minutes of crisscrossing the flooded landscape this was confirmed, but a meander in the Paituna had silted up to leave only 2.2m depth, too risky for PM’s draft. Back to our favourite anchorage. Sun 26th 07h00 Up anchor after a bug free night (which followed a wonderful BBQ of “mature” Brazilian beef and a glass of Argentinean red wine … ymmm) and headed down to anchor opposite Monte Alegre in order to go to draw cash for fuel from the Banco Brazil before the Monday rush.

Tue 28th 07h30 Took on 647 litres of diesel 23 for R$ 1,500. Then headed back out to main Amazon to continue our epic voyage. Sun was dead ahead so I tried out my new Polaroid clip on sun glasses, $20 from Walmart) and they worked

of 11 great. 08:00 01° 59.753’ S Passed out into main river 054° 01.170’ W over the mud bar with 10m under the keel. Took photos of entrance views. Making 5.7 knots in 30 m of water at 1,000 rpm with 15-20 knot wind on the nose. With this wind you could easily sail up the Amazon during the 2nd half of the year. The 15-20 kt winds out of the east can whip up ½ m high waves which are quite close together making for slightly bumpy sailing. By the way, if your USB GPS stick causes your cursor to jump all over the place, go to our web site www.passagemaer.org, click on links and open our article on Navigational Software. Scroll to the end of the article and there’s your fix. 09h00 01° 57.69’ S Back in the full width 053° 56.53’ W Amazon. Nearly 8 km to be exact! You can’t see the opposite back, just the taller trees.

11.30am 01° 53.02’ S Doing 6.4 kt in 25m, 20 053° 42.49’ W passing the western side of Ilha Do Mouratuba. Wind still 15kt but water much calmer due to islands in the river breaking the “fetch”.

16h00 01° 46.49’ S Anchored with 100 ft of 18 053° 15.19’ W chain in 10 m near north side of Ilha do Acara-Açu. Watched dozens of parakeets coming in to roost on the island. Few bugs.

Wed 29th 06h00 Up anchor as strong 26 current seemed to increase in the morning and anchor kept “grumbling” along the bottom. The sunrise was

of 11 majestic as always. Doing 7.8 kt at 1,000 rpm in 36m. Wind 15kt just off the port bow. 11h00 01° 34.45’ S Passed between two 150m 052° 46.39’ W high electricity pylons under construction to carry electricity from the north bank to the south. Almerim is nearby but the feeder pylons seem to come from the west. It’s possible the generation is done in Manaus using petroleum products from the refinery there The “Vega Grant” passed us in-bound and empty, presumably to pick up soya at the Cargil terminal at Santarem. Today five ocean going vessels have passed us in-bound. 12h00 01° 33.29’ S Approached the north side 21 052° 39.79’ W of Ilha do Almeirim in 7m.

14h00 01° 31.61’ S After “milling around” 052° 31.12’ W outside Almerim for 30 minutes to use Wi-Fi anchored in the lee of a small island to the east to escape the prevailing breeze so we could sew genoa, awning et cetera tomorrow.

Thu 30th 16h00 Up anchor after a difficult night with lots of mosquitoes. But we were sheltered from the breeze so the awning was repaired and a “sock” made for the main flag. LV continued working on the outside of the bridge. It was HOT today!

of 11 16h30 01° 32.24’ S Anchored opposite 052° 34.32’ W Almerim so we could access the free internet this evening (and in the middle of the night by LV!) Mosquitoes were out in full force even though we anchored several hundred metres from nearest bank. Fri 31st 06h00 Up anchor 25 06h10 01° 32.42’ S Submerged mud bank of 052° 33.49’ W 7m when all around is between 10m and 20m.

08h45 01° 31.332’ S In middle of 2 km wide 052° 17.266’ W river and depth is just 6m! 12h00 01° 25.52’ S Passed the branch in the 051° 59.37’ W Amazon on south side that leads to Belem. Rumors of bandits in the Rio Pará. Making over 7 kts with 15 kt head wind. We are less than 150 Km from Macapá but incoming tide doesn’t seem to be slowing us down. 2pm 1°.09.79S Entered the Boca do Jari 18 51°.53.56W on the north bank to find some “black” river water with no mosquitoes. There was 17m of water over the mud bar at entrance.

14h45 01° 08.15’ S Anchored next to the east 051° 54.52’ W bank and immediately watched a troop of about 20 of small quiet White Fronted Capuchin moneys walked past on a vine that was almost horizontal. Two white winged swallows, aka “pulpit birds” took possession of Passagemaker immediately. Butterflies

of 11 flew.