3 weeks ago, we, the new Guppy Trainees, went on board Guppy in Rio de Janeiro. Our group comes from all over the world: the Netherlands, Germany, Switzerland, Ukraine and Australia.

The first thing we did on board was the safety training and the explanation of everything on board which includes the toilet, the task plan and the watch schedule but also all the sails and ropes. The following days we were staying in Niteroí, enjoying the swimming pool and the sauna in the marina we were staying in. We got to know each other and did our first tasks.

On the 12th of October we went to museum Naval in Rio de Janeiro, Laura did a presentation about her voyage and we went into an old submarine. On the 13th of October we had our first sail to Ilha Grande. It took about 14h and 62 NM. We arrived around 6pm and ate pancakes, which became our tradition everytime we arrive at a new place.

The next day we went on a hike to a waterfall at Ilha Grande. It was really beautiful and we all enjoyed swimming in the cold water. The next day we motored to a new bay at Ilha Grande and enjoyed sailing the Minicat and swimming again. The next day we sailed to Paraty, that took about 5h. The next day we did a big grocery shopping with stocks that will probably be enough until the end of the trip. The day we spent with cutting vegetables and storing everything. After that day we had a BBQ at a beach with a friend of Laura. We played music around the campfire and went sailing the Minicat and swimming in the night. We had our first trip to the city on the next day. With the dinghy we went to the city to walk around and explore (and to buy snacks).

On Tuesday we sailed to Mamamguá the only Fjord in Brazil, which was 13 NM. There we did a hike on the Sugarloaf peak. We had an amazing view from up there and the hike was beautiful too. Then we had our first over night sail to Florianópolis which was 285 NM. It was horrible. We all were really seasick. We realized that we should actually stick to the watch schedule and how hard it is to wake up in the middle of the night, especially when you’re seasick.

On the first day in Florianópolis we did Sunday cleaning and went to Florianópolis to visit a Fort and allthough it was really rainy it was quite fun. In the evening we watched a movie, did karaoke and ate pizza. The next day we sailed the Minicat with a lot of wind, went to the city and saw a beautiful sunset with 2 full rainbows at the beach. In the evening we did our first voyage preperation together.

The day after that we started sailing to Rio Grande which was the next long trip and it took us four days and 477 NM. We all weren’t seasick at all, which made us enjoy the sailing. We were actually able to do our tasks this time and on the first evening we saw bioluminescence, that looked really beautiful. While we arrived in Rio Grande we saw dolphins, sea lions, penguins and flamingos. Now we are in Rio Grande and enjoying our time.

Thats it for now from Guppy. From now on we will try to update you every week whenever possible.

Flora & Merel