[pe2-image src=”http://lh3.ggpht.com/-LOq5Y9m_TQ8/VJMZkxjophI/AAAAAAAAjtM/Imr-m3Rmado/s144-c-o/IMG_0852.JPG” href=”https://picasaweb.google.com/112133179186774955122/SouthAmericaSection3Stage21Brazil3NatalToSalvador#6094242840331200018″ caption=”Rio San Francisco shady camp” type=”image” alt=”IMG_0852.JPG” ]

Highlights: I didn’t capsize in the surf
Lowlights: Trashy surf on beach and river mouth entry!
Launch: Low surf
Landing: Low surf
Pos: here
Loc: Sao Francisco river mouth
Acc: tent
Dist: 52,0 km
Start: 4:35 End: 14:20

A day with many changes…the first half went, not too big seas, I almost fell asleep. The village and headland of Pontal de Peba,a fishing village with a nice shallow reef and many many boats, marked the change. Big swell waves now, according big surf on the beach.Not really breaking offshore, but also not really unscary when they did. How will i manage to get into the river mouth of Rio de Sao Francesco? I usually sneak in close to the coast, will this work here…? Is the surf really as big and ugly wide as I guess? Maybe there is a shallow gap between the surf line and the beach where I can paddle halfway safely, like I did already some times before on such ugly surf belts?

Well, it may be worth a try? That I may be trapped once I was inside the surf belt and I could not really paddle I did not think about…so far I could always some how paddle there, more or less good….If not, I drag the kayak along…I dared to go in.

Amazingly, despite many trashing lines, I managed to stay upright with on high brace and many low ones.A lonely fisherman showed me the remaining distance to the dry sand which was hard to judge in front of the dunes only.I was in…

I could paddle, but rather bad than good. The tide went out and was rather low already, the remaining shallow belt was not continuous and I got washed up the dry shallow way too often and had to get out and to drag back in again, too much work for the remaining 13km or such! I had to get out again!!!

And I managed…amazing…four trasher in front of my bow or half on me, four times jumping from wave crests with a noisy crashing down sound, and I was back out and cussed myself for this time’s non-successful “chicken way”. This was really a surplus action…just paddle on until the wide river mouth opens up unbroken…

I knew I didn’t have the patience to make a wide berth to find the usually southern really open end. I saw the breakers getting less where the sand dunes ended, at some point I saw a shallow unbroken area behind where I liked to be! I slowly worked myself in, it was only one fat trasher…if I capsize, I am at least inside a shallow area. I didn’t…I had to side surf in heavy foamy water, braced hard and was IN!!! Yahoo! Right at the corner.

The rest was easy, I was up to find the most distant beach with still shelter of the river reef break to cut tomorrow’s day as short as possible. I found a beach with the last palm trees behind a wider flat sandy area on low tide, but who cares about carrying…further on was another river system and I was not sure about dry campsites before the surf became nasty again. All good…a few more days of those kind of river landings until Salvador!