JR 25

This is the 25th and final post–for now–focusing on JR, January river aka Rio de Janeiro.  It was a fabulous trip for which I’m especially grateful to my daughter, who convinced me to come.  The middle boat here–Menino do Rio, which translates as Rio Boy–could become my new nickname… if I lived somewhere around Guanabara Bay.  Of course, Rio is only a tiny portion of a huge country with 200 million people, so there’s much more to see than I have  years for.

I loved the brightly painted fishing boats— I haven’t even seen a jangada yet–

like this one in Urca–first Rio settlement by Estacio de Sa in 1565– and

these in the Little Portugal section of Niteroi, a place

I now wished I’d explored on foot.

Speaking of jangadas, this is not one, but this innovative fast supply boat,  Siem Carajás–another close-up I wish I’d gotten–is the product of Inace shipyard up on the Brazilian state which jangadas are said to be common.

It was exciting to see an LNG carrier of this design during my last walk on Ipanema and Copacabana. the morning of my departure.

This is the waterside view of CBO’s Alianca Shipyard, which along with the neighboring UTC Engenharia facility, I’d love to see closer up.

Ilha do Viana and Ilha de Santa Cruz . . .  I’d love to be back.

I can’t tell the story of Green Fleet III and IV, Borodine, the Reicon vessel, or Metal Tanque II.

Or this vehicle ferry.

I’ve lots of fotos of Rio Pilots at work, like this one

about to board Onyx Ace.

And what’s the last time you saw a fisherman row into the sixth boro and

then stand to cast a net some way off the stern of an anchored  Suape Express.  I took these fotos from a powerboat last Friday and at times the waves were so big I couldn’t get fotos.

Ferry Ipanema was built 1970 over at Engenharia in Niteroi.

Madre–painted in the colors of Urger and other Erie Canal vessels–passes Skandi Salvador.

So much left to figure out and do . . .  that’s rock in the background although it looks like a racing current . . .

Here the background ridge is  . . .

Serra dos Órgãos National Park . . . and in the foreground I can identify at least a half dozen vessels including upper left . . . Willem van Oranje, which I got closer to in JR 16.

All fotos by Will Van Dorp, who now closes this chapter . . . at least for a while.

Meanwhile, if you need a great Brazil ship fix, check out the good work of Alan Haig-Brown.