Danger in Northern Brazil

The terrain is now much flatter and more like that of the Amazon basin. In Natal, TSH and Diva used the shuttle bus to visit a tourist market and then a modern shopping mall. The latter was extremely welcome because of air-conditioning and clean toilets. This is another city with big differences between rich and poor but in this case the better off seem to exist in greater numbers. However, the nice houses still have razor wire on their garden walls and at the tourist market, the local guide said that the market was safe but across the street by the beach was unsafe. This posed a dilemma for TSH, as it is a well-known fact that all photographs are superior if taken from a vantage point across the street. Diva eventually agreed to let him go, so long as he stayed by the police car. This was a fictional safety, as both knew that all the armed (!!) police were guarding the entrance to the tourist market and the police car was unoccupied. He managed to return unscathed, in spite of the fact that an expensive camera is one of the items that tourists are advised not to carry.

The next port of call was Fortaleza and the Silver Spirit was by the dock soon after 8:00, as scheduled. The captain used the PA system to inform everybody that it would be unsafe to allow anyone to go ashore because of excessive swell. Most captains tend to leave it at that but this one made several announcements, stressing his long years of experience and his (and Silversea’s) dedication to our safety. He provided a graphic description of ropes snapping and the unsafe gangway breaking with guests standing on it, leading to a massive accident. The guess is that some guests had been complaining about not going ashore, saying that the conditions did not look too bad to them. TSH and Diva were quite happy to accept his judgement. They found out later that the danger was even greater, as the shuttle bus they had intended to take to the centre of the city was to be diverted by the local tourist authority to a guarded beach, because the city centre was ‘unsafe’.

So Brazil is no more and there will now be 3 sea days before Devil’s Island – not great but unavoidable. There is to be a change of one of the ports on the next (final!!) leg of the cruise because of frequent past difficulties in landing there because of the swell. Not a major port so no problem there.