05-Apr-2003 -- After having loaded 3,500 tons of frozen chicken, turkey and pork carcasses in the Port of Itajaí (State of Santa Catarina) for destination Königsberg/Kaliningrad (Russia) we had a stop yesterday at Salvador at the anchorage in the Baía De Todos Os Santos (All Saints' Bay) for refuelling the ship with 1,500,000 litres (abt. 400,000 US-gallons) of heavy fuel oil. This sounds a huge amount, but half of this fuel will be already consumed when arrived in Russia.

A word about ships' fuel:
Ships' engines are running on heavy fuel oil. The grade our ship is requiring is technically specified as "Intermediate Fuel Oil 180 Centistokes", shortly spoken IFO180. The higher the Centistoke-number, the worse and cheaper is the quality. IFO180 at normal ambient temperature has the consistence of shoe-shine-creme, so prior to inject it into the cylinders it has to be heated up to about 80°C.
Modern ships, contrary to our old and rusty vase, do have sophisiticated engines being able to burn even the worst garbage, e.g. IFO400centistokes, being already almost like asphalt and suitable to pave roads.
Thus, the lower the Centistoke, the lighter is the fuel and the higher is its quality.
1,000 litres of IFO 180 - depending strongly on the daily spotmarket and the location - cost about US$ 200,- (185 Euro). So refuelling our ship with 1,500,000 litres cost only the ridiculous sum of about 300,000 US$.
With this quantity we can go about 12,000 nautical miles (roughly 22,000 km, so a little bit more than half the world around).

Cidade de Salvador lies exactly on 13°S and on the East Side of the Baía De Todos Os Santos, about 2.5 miles North of the entrance to the bay. It is the capital of the State of Bahia and was formerly the capital of Brazil. The population is about 2.5 million. The city is divided into two parts; the older and business section stands on low ground behind the port, while the newer, residential section stands on a plateau, about 60 metres (200 ft) high.

This morning at 8:30 a.m. refuelling was completed and we left the bay again, heading towards Europe. The voyage to Königsberg/Kaliningrad in the Baltic Sea will take about 15 days. Exactly East of Salvador in the open sea there is 13S / 38W. When we left Salvador towards North we passed this point in exceptional good visitbility. So the skyscrapers of the town of Salvador were still perfectly visible.

The coast is slightly ondulating, and from time to time white sand dunes with patches of vegetation do appear, providing a good landmark for landfall.