Day 10 19th January 2011-01-19

Three iamges show Neptune from yesterday's crossing the line ceremony, entering Recife harbour and a view of the city from a river boat.

We docked at Recife about 7.30 am today. It is a large city and we have berthed in the industrial harbour which is not too picturesque but luckily we are on the side facing out to sea which is rather beautiful. It is hot about 35 C. We went for a boat trip around the local rivers since the city is built around six rivers and numerous canals. The locals kept telling us that it was like Venice but it does not look like it. There is a real mix of poverty and affluence in the city with men fishing with nets in the rivers and new high rise building. The sun was fierce and you need a hat or you cook. The local rivers are tidal and as we sailed around them at low tide there were many sand banks and mango swamps. The place was full of egrets feeding in the water. We also saw a sea eagle circling the docks. The locals told us that this was one of the host cities for the 2014 World Cup and that was why there were so many new buildings.

We had a brief look around the shops which were in a market built into an old prison with each cell a different small shop. They were selling quality cotton clothing, jewellery and toys. It was an interesting place with lots of statues and decorated cow heads (Not sure why). You can pay for goods in Reals – the local currency or dollars. Prices were ok but not particular cheap. However, there were good quality products.

The time zone is GMT – 3 so we are three hours behind the UK at the moment but tonight as we sail down the coast we gain an hour because we move through another time zone. Brazil is a large country with three different time zones. I think we will get very confused by the time changes as we travel on.

We will be at sea for the next two days as we travel down the coast to Rio de Janiero. We arrive on 22^nd January.