Ystafell

Back In Brazil!

The Lençóis Islands offer an extraordinary sight to sailors who call there: a 70-foot-high sand dune of dazzling white and tormented shapes that stretches for miles.

Ystafell

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Published 31/01/2025

By Gilles Ruffet

Issue: 200

Published: mar. / may 2025

Discover this issue

Who : Fanch & Cathy
Where: Brazil
Multihull: Katalu 42
Blog : www.ystafell.fr

Lençóis, in Portuguese, means sheets! And that’s exactly what it is: this immense dune is draped in a long coat of sand. Hollows and bumps, like folds. In the rainy season, the hollows fill with water, the sand filters it and feeds a well at the foot of the dune, which provides water for the whole village during the dry season. We had planned to get water from there, as our drinking water reserves had run dry.

We paid a quick visit to the village, making contact with the grocer, buying some eggs and looking for the village bar and its all-important Wi-Fi. We found the grocer, but not the bar. The result was a great deal of frustration. The next day, we got up early, as fresh as daisies. We took advantage of the high tide to go to the village and this time we found the bar. In fact, you could spot it thanks to the four huge speakers crowding the terrace. But the terrace was empty, the chairs were piled up and the door was closed. We pulled out two chairs and sat down in the shade and watched a ballet of scarlet ibises just a few feet away. It was enchanting: we approached, they retreated, we retreated, they came back, but eventually they all flew away, and that was the ultimate recompense. Thanks to the spring tides, I took advantage of high water to take Ystafell up onto the beach. We wanted to have a look get a look at her underside. It wasn’t a pretty sight, covered in green seaweed. Not to mention the hundreds of barnacles flourishing on the sides and especially on the bottom of our catamaran. We must have been losing at least a knot of speed with all these rough patches. As for the propellers, they weren’t too bad. A few barnacles but nothing too serious. On the other hand, the propeller shaft zincs need changing. We were stranded on the beach and two guys arrived, walked around the multihull, exchanged a few words and we understood that they were offering to help. We accepted: there were two hulls to clean thoroughly, and that’s a big job! In fact, our two new buddies worked hard and we ended up with a pristine hull. You could tell they were no novices! They used old pieces of net and sand to scrape the hull. It was extremely effective. When I asked them how much they wanted for their work, they didn’t dare give a figure - I hand them 150 Reals each. In the afternoon, with the tide, Ystafell was released, and I returned to the anchorage. The next day, after going ashore to get connected, we set off in the afternoon in the dinghy to visit a nearby village on another island. We found very few wood houses, and lots of permanent ones. The alleys are very wide and there are wells everywhere. We eventually found a barzinho (a bar), and met Sylvano, the owner, who sat down at the table with us and told us all about his island. Then he suggested we go fishing the next morning and prepared a barbecued fish for our lunch. What’s more, he showed us on the map a passage between the islands to leave the Lençóis and head west. This passage was much better than the one we thought we’d have to take which heads east, skirting the reefs! It was a wonderful encounter, just the way we like it. And the icing on the cake: as we left the island on our dinghy, just 150 feet in front of us, we witnessed the spectacle of red ibises returning to their nesting boxes to settle in for the night. It was an incredibly beautiful sight. At times, the trees appeared to be flashing red. The ibises arrived, landed, left and returned.

And they arrived from every-where. We got back on board, delighted, euphoric and... tired!

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