The Visa Shock

We somehow missed the detail that as European citizens we only get 90 days every 180 days, this means that the day we landed we only had 19 days left of our original 90 days  and now we have realised we are down to 14 days 😳

I cannot even begin to explain the feeling of panic, stress and WTF !!! How did we miss this? Oh wait I know how we missed it, we think because we have European passports that we can go anywhere we want for as long as we want, ok seriously of course we can't, what on earth were we thinking, not checking this? Needless to say we are feeling a little dumb right now to say the least.

We thought we would be cruising this country for at least a year and a half, this is at least what you need, as there is so much to see and do and sail. We also have air tickets booked to South Africa in 90 days departing Brazil, which has now become an immigration problem.

No excel sheets allowed, we are sailors and have to adapt in a moments notice, when the wind shifts and a storm starts brewing we change course simple as that, and right now a storm is brewing so its time to change.

We have friends of course 😂😂 that are trying to work the system legally for us ... Remember those lawyer guys I told you about a few stories ago. Well, he did find a way to get us more time. Actually because I believe that the universe, God, a higher power is pulling the plug on Brazil and we should not work it too hard, if it is time to go, then that needs to be ok.  A new adventure in a new country is the journey we need to follow.

The current dilemma is that we cannot sail to the Caribbean as it is the start of hurricane season, sailing South is very appealing but not going to happen as the stormy winter weather is still hanging around, so not great for sailing. I have what I think might be a contact in Belem Brazil, Still a very loose plan though, I have a suspicion that the plan will morph entirely, so we are just going with the flow now.

As I sit here tonight sipping my wine, I realise just how much work is required, as we need to depart on Friday, and this beautiful boat has been a home, not a sailing vessel for many months and now we need to get her sail ready it is going to be tough and busy, but we got this.

Bob the Builder and Handy Mandy are doing there preparations etc on the exterior and I am dealing with the interior, there is just so much going on right now, and not to forget we still need to do our provisioning and it will be quite a lot to buy as we have no idea how long we will be on the water, or for that matter we have no idea where we are going 😳 

While we are working like headless chickens trying our very best to complete all the necessary tasks before a hasty departure, we have been invited for a lunch at the Brocchini household, of course we could not say no, as they have been such a significant part of our Salvador journey. 

Todays lunch was non other than the king of Amazonian waters PIRANHA ..... Yup you read correctly Piranha was on our plates, with a slight nervousness and some excitement we got stuck into this very interesting piece of fish, only to discover that it is simply delicious, I don't know too many people that have eaten piranha, now that I know what I know, I would highly recommend it.

We have also made a decision about our immediate journey, we will go to a little place called Itaparica, just a couple hours sail north! Maybe a little sneaky, as it is still Brazil in fact it is still Salvador, we have some friends on anchor out there,  for this reason we decided we will join them, as we still do not have a solid plan. We are cleared out of the country so effectively we are not allowed to be here, but we have decided to take our chances and just be a few illegals under the radar for a few days.