| About | Log book | Photo album | Summary | Sponsors |
LOG BOOK
September 13, 2011This is the day when the expedition should start. At first it will be Youval and Misha who will paddle the famous Bahia coastline. They will set off from some place North of Salvador city and head southward. They will probably reach Porto Seguro at the end of their 3+ weeks paddling. At that point they will transport the kayaks to Rio de Janeiro. Youval will leave Brazil on October 10th, while Misha will remain in Brazil waiting for Inna to come. On October 12th Inna and Misha should start paddling from Rio towards Santos. The expedition will end on October 27th: Inna will go back home and Misha... Well, Misha will spend some more time in Brazil. :-)
See the detailed plan here:
Day 1. September 14, 2011After all the shopping and packing arrangements, our current team - Youval and Misha were ready to go. They started paddling in the afternoon and therefore made 10km only. At the end of the paddling day they had quite a refreshing surf and Youval had a chance to practice his rolling skills.
Day 2. September 15, 2011 (s9.51.894, w35.54.326)
Today Misha and Youval paddled for the whole day against 4bf wind, but the worst of all was that they also paddled against the current. The current's speed was 2kt at the end of the day. Therefore the team's progress was very slow. They paddled for 6 hours with almost no breaks and got pretty much exhausted. The landing was defined by Misha as "funny". They had 2-3 meter surf and had to manpuver between the reefs. They could recognize the reefs according to the breaking waves. By the reefs, the waves were "exploding and jumping up", which was hard to spot from the sea. When they finally landed at the beach, Misha felt dizzy and could hardly hold himself upright. Looks like he caught some virus...
Day 3. September 16, 2011 (s9.58.030, w35.58.575)
Misha feels a bit better today. The morning started with SE4-5 bf wind, which means that they'll be paddling against 45°-headwind. According to the forecast the wind was about to pick up during the day.
They had a relatively short paddle again - 3.5 hours (8 nm). The wind was about 4bf during the day and picked up to 6bf in the evening. At that time Misha and Youval were at the beach already. They landed at a beautiful fishermen's village. The locals were eager to help in any possible way: carrying the kayaks, looking for a place to stay. One of them brought some food, another one invited them to his place and treated them with fresh coconuts from his tree.
In the evening Misha drank vodka and coke in the street together with local youngsters and discussed political issues in Portuguese. Nobody speaks English at this place. Misha's vocabulary of Portuguese is growing rapidly.
Music is everywhere. It looks like people live in the streets and come home just to have a sleep. Amazing atmosphere!
Day 4. September 17, 2011 (s10.12.057, w36.17.305 - 21 nm)
In the morning, all the village residents were at the beach to say good bye to their new friends and of course - to help. The shore line was full of reefs, and going out into the sea was quite a challenge. Their help was essential.
The wind was SE3-4bf and the seas 1.5 meters - no complaints! After paddling for 4.5 hours they landed to have a lunch at the beach.
They paddled for a few more hours and landed at a relatively protected beach. Finally they had a full paddling day!
Day 5. September 18, 2011 (a day off)
It was blowing and raining heavily during the night. In the morning the seas were covered with white caps. The beach where Misha and Youval landed was protected by the reef located in a mile distance from the beach. It was a long reef line, but once it ended the breakers began to crash against the beach, which made the way out into the sea quite unpleasant. The forecast predicted 5-6bf head winds and rising swell for the nearest days. The guys decided to spend the day on the shore and have a (wet) walk to the nearest town. They hang around, drank tons of beer, met local people, talked, laughed and danced with them, visited their families, bottom line, didn't waste their precious paddling time...
Day 6. September 19, 2011 (s10.21.271, w36.17.650)In the morning it was still blowing 6bf. According to the forecast it was supposed to be another windy day.
After breakfast it seemed that the wind calmed down, and the guys decided to start paddling. However, after paddling for half an hour they realized that the wind strengthened and was blowing 5 and then 6bf. In addition, the seas that were relatively calm in the beginning (since the paddlers were protected by the reef mentioned above) were now covered with 2.5 meter wind waves. Therefore today's paddling day was marked by 4 hours of gym excercises in a kayak, following an hour and a half of "warming up".
They landed at a small village protected by the reefs. According to the map, this is the last spot of civilization for the nearest 100 km -100 km of sandy beaches where Misha and Youval would inevitably come accoss their old good friend - surf.
Once Misha and Youval landed, it started pouring heavily (which basicly happened on a daily basis). While looking for a place to leave their kayaks, they found themselves at a small fish oil factory, where they were offered a shower. One of the factory workers invited them to stay at his home. He and his family lived in tiny little house made of clay. The guests were treated with a delicious dinner. They were deeplly touched by the family's hospitality, that could be expressed my simple words that the host himself used - "de coracao" (from all my heart).
Day 7. September 20, 2011 (s10.29.863, w36.23.230)
This was quite an unpleasant paddling day. 6 hours of waves, wind and current.
In the morning Misha and Youval paddled out through big surf line and headed south to Sao Francisco river. The plan was to land next to the river mouth, to make the landing smoother - the breakers meeting the river waters are much longer and less aggressive. However the futher they advanced in the river direction, the stronger became the current they paddled against. After 6 hours of struggling with the current the only wish was - to land, no matter how big the surf was on their way to shore. They finally landed, a bit surf-beaten but safe. They had a lunch at the beach. 2 hours of day-light still left. There was no point in paddling further on against 2 knot current. On the other hand they were eager to reach the river mouth. Therefore they decided to use the remaining hours to walk by the sea side towing the kayaks. Amaizingly, their walking progress was similar to their "paddling against the current" one. At least they were not carried back by the current during the breaks...
Day 8. September 21, 2011 (s10.33.464, w36.34.175)Today Misha and Youval paddled Sao Francisco river or more exactly one of its channels that flew south. They landed at a beautiful fishermen's village (Mozambique type) and asked a villager woman whether she can make them a dinner from fish that they received from fishermen on their way here. The woman took them to her place and prepeared a delicious dinner from them. Like all other hosts, she refused to accept the money, explaining that she did everything "de coracao". Luckily, Youval have already found a way to convince their warm hosts to accept the travellers' gratitude. He explains them that unfortunately there is no place in a kayak to carry presents for all the welcoming Brazilian families, therefore they (Misha and Yuval) kindly ask them to accept the money to buy a present for themselves and for their children.
In the morning Misha and Youval bought the ingredients for breakfast, came to their yesterday's hosts home and Misha cooked breakfast for the whole family. The food was great and the family was very much pleased with this unexpected visit.
Day 9. September 22, 2011 (s10.44.468, w36.51.485)
6 paddling hours - 25 nm! Finally they paddle with the current! Youval and Misha landed at a small town and came accross a surf club where they could safely leave their kayaks. The club owners and members were very friendly and helped the travellers in any possible way.
For the last days the paddlers often use rivers for paddling out into the seas and for landing, and if the current flows in "right" direction, they paddle the river, protected from surf.
Day 10. September 23, 2011 (s11.01.855, s11.01.855 - Aracaju)
In the morning Misha and Youval had breakfast at the surf club and then headed for Aracaju. The merciful current was pushing them ahead, on the other hand the SE-S 4-5 bf wind was reponsible for the messy seas and was slowing the kayakers down. All in all, the progress was reasonable - 3 kn per hour.
While passing Aracaju, they were almost "caught" by the surf at the port - Aracaju is famous for its messy entrance. After 1.5 more hours of paddling they landed at the beach where they spotted kite surfers. One of them approached the paddlers, helped them with moving the kayaks and finally Misha and Youval found themselves inside the surfer's jeep on their way to Aracaju. The main sightseeing highlight of Aracaju was Japaneese restaurant. The sushi and strawberry sake were delicious!
So, 8 hours of paddling, 25 nm progress. Not bad, though paddling for 8 hours against 4-5 bf wind is not much fun.
Day 11. September 24, 2011 (s11.21.269, w37.17.777)Today Misha and Youval paddled 8.5 hours and covered 25 nm distance. They landed at an uninhabited beach. Misha was the chef of the evening, and the meal was beyond any expectations.
Day 12. September 25, 2011 (s11.27.794, w37.21.791)
Today was supposed to be the day of rest (in the spirit of Jewish tradition, every seven days the guys take a daily break). However this time they were eager to reach Mangue Seco town that was highly recommended to them by many locals. It took them 3 paddling hours to arrive to the town, where they were immediately offered a place to stay: the owner of Pousada O Forte hotel kindly invited them to be his guests. It was a really nice place to stay and relax, "charge the batteries" for the nearest paddling days.
Day 13. September 26, 2011 (s11.37.727, w37.27.331)
Another day of wind, waves and paddling against the current. 15 nm in 7 hours! The progress was awfully slow during the afternoon hours. The current's strength could possibly be affected by the spring tides.
When landed, Mish and Youval asked people at the beach whether there are any restaurants around and were told that there is one in half an hour walking distance. After walking for half an hour they came across a tiny house where they asked about the restaurant once again. The family at the house told them that the restaurant is quite far away and invited the guys to have some food at their place. And again, the hosts didn't expect anything in return. They do everything "de coracao".
Day 14. September 27, 2011. Expedition suspended...This was the least expected turn of events... In the morning Misha paddled out into the sea. The surf was pretty big. After passing the breakers, Misha turned around to take a look where Youval is. He couldn't really see him. After waiting for a while he finally saw Youval at the beach holding his paddle straight in the air, meaning that he wants Misha to go back to him. After Misha landed he realized that Youval's 3-piece kayak was now broken in two. The bolts connecting the front and central parts were ripped off when Youval was heading out into the sea through the surf line...
Frankly speaking this 3-peace NDK Explorer (old design) is a veteran vehicle. It served Misha and Inna faithfully in almost all of their expeditions and at home for over 7 years, made thousands of miles in calm and big seas. No wonder the connections got worn out and what happened happened.
Luckily for the travellers, a track loaded with coconuts was passing by. The driver saw the paddlers' misfortune and offered his help right away. He brought the travellers and their kayaks to a nice green town of Conde nearby where they settled for the nearest days to think things over and decide what they are up to...
Many days after...
So... We didn't manage to fix our kayak, though we tried hard. But we continued travelling, this time by car, by foot, by horse. And we even borrowed another kayak and Rio and paddled there quite a bit. But basically the kayaking part of the trip was over that day, September 26th.