Location: Fortaleza, Brazil
Just before 4:00 AM, our watch team began taking down the sails as we approached the city of Fortaleza. We could see the glow of the lights for hours before we came into view of this highly industrialized city. It was a strange sight after spending the better part of a month surrounded by the ocean. For me, it was a bittersweet moment, realizing that our long passages and complete isolation on the Atlantic were behind us. In the morning, we awoke to a very different scene than all the points of light from the previous night: hundreds of large skyscrapers and long sandy beaches, a strange combination. We all worked until lunch doing boat appreciation flaking, covering the sails, and cleaning every inch of the decks and down below. The afternoon was spent on board, as we didn’t have clearance to enter the city yet. Most people took the time to catch up on something we had all been missing, which was a solid block of sleep. We are all excited to see what Fortaleza is like; it seems to have an extremely diverse culture and is said to be the textile capital of Brazil. As eager as everyone is to go ashore, we are all a little sad that our journey across the Atlantic is over. No longer do we see our passages as a way to get from point A to point B. They’re indescribable, and although everywhere we stop is an amazing experience, nothing compares to our time at sea.