Today is supposed to be a fun-in-the-sun day. We are scheduled to take a two and a half hour cruise on a schooner that will stop two places to let us swim and snorkel. We are to meet in the theater by 9:10AM so we get up about 7:15AM, pack the mesh dive back-pack with our gear and go to breakfast at 8AM. Once we have our tour number, it is promptly called and we are told that the boat will pick us up at the tender platform. This is a plus since we have been told that it will be a 20 minute tender ride into the pier.
Our group begins boarding and they pack way to many people on the boat. We can’t resist comparing this boat and ride to our dhow ride in Oman after our first night on Seabourn Spirit. That ride was a pleasure. The whole boat was covered by an awning with oriental rugs and pillows spread out on the deck for our lounging pleasure. While we realize it is a different country and culture, today’s boat is a little seedy and decapitated with probably one third more people on board than there is bench seating for. There is not enough shaded seating and the sun is fierce.
We motor about a mile to an island where we are told to jump in and have a swim.
While the water is pretty from above, being a bottle green, it is murky below and too deep for seeing any fish without swimming to shore. Dick goes in, swims to shore, finds a few fish among the rocks and is promptly chastised for being too near the rocks. Give me a break! There is nothing growing on the rocks that he can hurt or that can hurt him.
After about 20 minutes (the schedule said 30 minutes), we get back on the boat and motor over to a pretty cove with a yellow, sand beach.
They anchor 30 yards off shore and most of us, including Carolyn hit the water and swim ashore. There is not much to do but appreciate our location and take a few photos.
Again, after 20 minutes (this time the schedule said 40 minutes) we swim back to the boat and head back toward the ship.
Since we have been short changed on our swimming time, we arrive at the tender landing 30 minutes easrlier than the schedule said and the door is closed and no one is around. Our boat sounds its horn several times and a crew member climbs up to the door but cannot get it open more than a few inches. We hear him calling for attention. Our boat continues to sound its horn and after five minutes or so, a head is seen peering down toward us from the bridge wing. Soon, a lone deck officer appears and we begin climbing the stairs into the ship.
After a quick, light lunch, we head down to the tender area with the idea of going into the town of Parati. It is a preserved, Portuguese colonial (1500-1822) and Brazilian Imperial (1822-1889) World Heritage town with a population of about 36,000.
We arrive at the tender area at 12:30PM to find a short line and the access closed. We are told they are waiting for the tender to arrive and we wait and wait and wait! We wait for an hour and no tender comes or goes during that time. We finally get on a tender at 1:30PM. During the boarding, an elderly lady slips and falls. Her leg gets caught between the tender and the tender platform. She is severely injured and is transported to the infirmary in a wheelchair. We are sitting close to her and see that a large flap of skin and meat has been torn from the lower part of her leg. Dick talks to her son-in-law later in the day and learns that the wound took 100 stitches to close and the viability of the torn tissue is in doubt.
We finally get away from the ship and it takes 40 minutes to motor to the pier in town. Surely these tenders will run at some speed greater than dead slow and belching black smoke the whole way. Once on land, we walk through the old city.
No cars are allowed and the streets in the historic area are all a rough cobblestone. Dick finds a small watercolor which he buys from a street painter of 30 Reals ($19.91). It is brutally hot and we seek the shady side of the street as we explore the town.
We find all three churches; the one for freed mulattos,
the one for slaves
and the one for the wealthy white class.
The first two are closed and we can only photograph the outside. The last one is open but charging to enter and not allowing photos so we pass. Why pay to go in if you can’t take pictures?
We sit in a small park for a short while and enjoy the shade.
Moving on we finish our short walk through this wonder old village, a ture photographers dream!
Despite careful looking, we never find a pin for Jack and our only purchase is the watercolor. This has been a great day in spite of all the problems.
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We return to the tender and don’t wait long for a ride. The trip back takes another 40 minutes; so slow! Back on board, we stop by the horizon Lounge for a early drink. They are playing Trivia so Dick checks in with his team and answers some of the questions, They still didn’t win so we head to the room and get cleaned up. Carolyn stays in the room and has room service while Dick goes to La Veranda for dinner. We call it an early night.
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