Lyn's Log, 17th December 2005
Canary Islands to Cape Verde Islands

Praia, Cape Verde Is.
N14º55', W23º30'
4,814 miles.

We set off from La Gomera on 25th November passing quite close to the island of Hierro with the hope of seeing something of it. It would have been nice to have stopped a night or two to visit the small, apparently green, island, once the last outpost of known land, but the weather fax had shown that there was some very nasty weather behind us and we needed to get as far south as possible to avoid it. We passed the island in the night. Progress was slow but the seas were getting rough. By the third day we were more than 200 miles south and were feeling the effects of what we now knew to be tropical storm Delta which was passing through the Canaries. The winds went up to a force 9 for a while and the seas were big. Towing the water generator helped stop the stern from slewing across with the breaking waves and with the sail reduced to the triple reefed main and the storm jib, we let Sentinel drift generally in the right direction without the aid of the Aries self-steering. The control rope had parted on the Aries again and we were pleased how well Sentinel could steer herself until we retied it.

It took seven days for the seas to calm down, in which time Andrew lived day and night in the same clothes. The skies had been cloudy as well, making the nights pitch black and not sunny enough by day to entice him to take a shower. I have to admit that the buckets of seawater tipped over me during this time did feel very cold, and the short cold rinsing shower was even colder! On the eighth day it was calm and sunny so we not only showered but did a large bucket of washing (in boiling seawater). I was allowed a gallon of fresh water for the final rinse. Everything dried quite quickly on a line in the breeze and the sun. To help us conserve our fresh water we refitted our foot pump tap in the galley to the seawater cock which had been blocked off for some years. The washing up can then be done in seawater as well.

The bottom of the cooker started catching as it swung as a heat-shield had bent, and we took it off its gimbals to sort it out. While standing on the floor the rocking of the yacht knocked it over, smashing the fancy glass oven door. The last two days of this trip would have to be breadless.

On the ninth day the winds dropped and the sea was flat. We were barely making 3 knots, so in the morning we thought to raise the new cruising chute. All prepared, I pulled out the spinnaker pole and one of the newly fitted bolts holding the end on, plopped off into the sea. Another was loose and would not tighten any further. We had no other bolts to fit so the pole is as yet unusable, and the chute stowed below again. Sailing slowly, I decided to fish again with the small rubber squid on the hook, and in an hour caught a good sized dorade fish, enough to make a meal for the both of us. After Andrew had killed and gutted it, I put a piece of the fin onto the hook and tried again. Before long I had another similar fish. Time to stop. Fish for two days is as much as we can keep. My claim to being the world’s worst fisherperson is over.

While fishing, we saw in the distance what had to be a huge whale. Something rose out of the water like a tree and then sank sending a tremendous splash up in the air. Earlier in the day we saw a large number (flock?) of silvery flying fish skimming over the surface of the sea together, and later, a dolphin fin.

With all the blood and scales etc. from the fishing cleared away, we had just a few hours of daylight left and a little over 20 miles to go. By motoring flat out with a favourable current we just made Porto Grande as darkness fell. We had arrived off the town of Mindelo on San Vicente island.

On passage I made a Cape Verde courtesy flag and read nearly two books, but spent most of the off-watch time trying to catch up on sleep. We had swapped several books with Hazel before leaving Los Cristianos, and here in the anchorage we swapped some more with an English couple who had to return to work back home sooner than planned, as well as with a German who came rowing around the English yachts with his collection of books for swapping. We have no more books to swap for a few days.

In the excellent anchorage of Porto Grande, we met a lovely Dutch couple on the yacht behind us, who have been sailing around for some years. They had a guide on Brazil which we borrowed and photographed the pages we might find useful. They also talked a lot about Cuba and got me really looking forward to visiting there. This is the first time we thought of photographing unobtainable pilot books and charts, which then can be read quite easily on the laptop.

I got an email informing me that my father, living on Vancouver Island, had passed away. So now we have no pressure to hurry to Canada, and with the extra information on Brazil, it looks like we shall be going from the Cape Verdes to Salvador, take in the Carnival, then work our way northwards, perhaps going up the Amazon.

On Tuesday 13th December we sailed from San Vicente to the island of San Nicolau, around 45 miles to the east. There were half a dozen yachts anchored in the bay. We completed the arrival formalities in the morning at the maritime office, paying the 500 escudos, and went into the one bank for some more cash. There was no ATM and we were charged around £6 for a phone call to Portugal on top of the bank commission for a double currency exchange via Euros! We hoped to get a Cape Verdean ‘bus’ to the main town in the centre of the island as it is said to be a very scenic trip, but no-one would give us information about how to find one, and the only taxi driver wanted an absurd price. All in all, people here were quite unfriendly, so after a walk round the village we returned to the yacht rather depressed. Andrew cut my hair, I washed off in the warm sea, and prepared to set off in the morning to the island of Santiago, around 90 miles away.

Friday morning we came into the bay at Tarrafal in the north of Santiago where the above pic was taken. There were two Dutch yachts and one English which we had seen before but until then had not met. It is rather a pretty bay and is the holiday resort of the island.

Saturday we hope to get some water and fresh fruit, do the washing and walk out to the lighthouse. Monday or Tuesday we should sail to Porto Da Praia, the Capital, on the southern point of Santiago to check out with immigration (it will take a day to get there) and then on Wednesday or Thursday set out for Brazil, unless it looks like we could join in some Christmas celebrations in Praia. We will have three celebrations on route: Christmas, New Year and crossing the equator.