River Adventure on the Rio de Serra

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 Sailing slowly south of Salvador;  short day hops visiting islands and going up rivers, we went aground, twice in one day.  

Shortly after pulling anchor in a narrow creek between the mangrove covered islands one morning, we hit a sandbank and went aground.  The tide fell quickly and we resigned ourselves to the six hours of keeling over.  Deja vu.  We were on our way up the river to see a waterfall.  Cachoeira de Tremembe.  Since Salvador there has been very little change in the low landscape of the coast, so what can this waterfall be?  Early afternoon we were afloat again and set off upriver.  At sunset we got to the small tributary of Tremembe River.  The waterfall was just 800m up the river.  We will take the kayak there in the morning.  Motoring to set the anchor, the engine exhaust pipe broke.  A job for the next day.

During the night, John jumped up and looked out - I think we have a problem.    We were keeling over.  Aground, again.  So an uncomfortable 6 hours ahead;  someone had to sleep on the floor.

Mornings can be so innocuous.  Off to find that waterfall.  The Cruising Brazil Guidebook indicated the falls to be 800m away.  We set off on our inflatable kayak enjoying the early morning paddle.  The falls were not where we thought they were.  Searching in the narrow mangrove river passages, a motorised dugout canoe charged around a bend and swerved to miss us.  Five kilometers of paddling in the maze of mangrove later, we got back to the boat to look at the map again.  

The exhaust pipe needed a repair, so it was a few hours later before we set off on the kayak again.  We knew we were on the right passage when a speedboat of tourists came past.

Aground on the Tremembe River sandbank, note the very clean hull!






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