Cape Verde
18th Oct- 27th Oct, 2021
Our passage from The Gambia to Cape Verde turned out to be longer than we had planned. Because of wind direction and current we couldn't point as high as we needed to sail to Sal so we decided to sail all the way to Mindelo instead, an extra 100nm. But it's all good, now we have plenty of time to prepare for our passage to French Guyana. We are also very excited to have our first, for a passage, crew Jan Holtz coming in on Friday to join us
Now time for the Nerdy Stuff
Passage from Banjul, The Gambia to Mindelo, Cape Verde. It took us 4.25 days. And we averaged 6.3 Knots. The shortest great circle distance is 531 Nautical Miles. We sailed 647, close hauled, Nautical Miles to get here. We ran the engine 18.3 Hours (18.4%) during the passage. We got 154.9 Ah/day from Solar, 133.3 Ah/day from Wind, and 39.9 Ah/day from Hydro, a total of 328.1 Ah/day during the passage. Turns out the Hydro bearings are shot. So less from Hydro this time. A lot from wind though, since we sailed up-wind the full passage, and the apparent wind helped with energy generation.
Plan to get the bearings replaced here in Cape Verde.
Four days later we approached Mindelo on Sao Vicente in Cape Verde. We had this beautiful welcome
The very rugged coast on Sao Vicente at the inlet to Mindelo
Mindelo beach
The sea turtles are protected in Cape Verde. You can snorkel with them on a beach close to Mindelo
Colorful fishing boats in the harbor of Mindelo
The beautiful pink palace in Mindelo
So many colorful colonial buildings here in Mindelo
The fish can't get any fresher than this
We had a nice little OCC gathering in the marina in Mindelo, Cape Verde. Crew Horizon, OCC Port Officer Kai Brossmann, Crew Skylarks and Crew Giulia. Always nice to get together with fellow OCC cruisers.
Anders is greeting Jan, our new crew member and very good friend, at the dock
Yay, we have a spinnaker again. Jan transported it all the way from Stockholm, Sweden. Big Thank You
We put Jan to work right away. Spinnaker is going up. All looks good
We had a wonderful two day trip to Santo AntĂŁo. Everybody told us " Santo AntĂŁo is a must see". And we have to agree! It was spectacular and so magical. Definitely worth a visit. We stayed in a hotel up the Paul valley on the north side, Casa Cavoquinho. The surrounding mountains felt unreal, stunning. The owners, a very nice Spanish couple, organized everything for us. Instead of renting a car we had our own local guide driving us around the whole day to all must see places. We also did some shorter hikes. The second day we did a long hike straight out from the hotel. The hike was amazing , but not for someone with vertigo if anyone wants the contact info for the hotel send me a message.
We had a very early start to catch the 7am ferry to the neighboring island of Santo Antao, for a two day trip
Instead of renting a car we booked our local guide with his van. He took us to all the must see and do places. It was a full day of mixing in shorter hikes
This amazing cobble stone road was built between New Port and Paul, between 1945-1956
It was 36km long, built from two directions/ Which means that the progress was 4.5 m per day if they worked 7 days a week
The west side of the island is so dry. They haven't had any rain in 18 months
Looking down in Paul valley, where we will spend the night
Our first hike, up this planted terraced forest
At the top of the Mirador
These cute kids have the cutest little playhouse
Inside the crater. Here they grow a lot of vegetables and fruits since they have spring water and it's hot
A man is giving his cow water from one of the springs
The road around the top of the crater was sometimes a little scary with big drop offs
You can probably see that when it's raining there is a big waterfall on the hillside. Unfortunately they haven't had rain for over one and a half year
Old meets new, in Riberia Grande that used to be the capitol
The pig hotel outside the village
Another of our hikes was along the spectacular north coast
And here is the chicken hotel
Anders and Jan is hiking. Behind them is the village where we had lunch
View from our hike. Stunning north coastline
At the end of our hike this picturesque village was a nice treat
Jan and Anette took a swim in one of the natural pools
Comfy in our hotel. A room with a view
Happy boys got their first course for dinner
After dinner the owners handed out shots for us
Our beautiful hotel with this stunning surrounding
Leaving for our second day hike
We walked through huge sugar cane plantations
It's amazing to walk through all the terraced plantations on these impossible locations
We took a wrong turn and ended up walking on one of the Levada. The locals on the opposite hillside where pointing and giving us directions to ensure us we could get through this way
Steep climb
Our goal before starting our descent. How hard can it be to build a village at the top of this narrow ridge
At the top. Happy tired guys with cold drinks
That's one big squash
Amazing to see, and walk through, all these plantations. We could also see how they built the water ways. Very impressive!
We cleared out from Cape Verde in Mindelo. But it was ok to stop over in Brava before our passage to French Guiana. So we set sail to Brava, the south westerlies island in Cape Verde and the smallest inhabitant island. We planned to be here for two nights but because of some weather activities we stayed here for six days. We really enjoyed this small friendly beautiful island.
Sunset in Brava
Our sheltered anchorage here in Faja de Agua, Brava
View over our anchorage and the picturesque village of Faja de Agua
A very strenuous hike up the valley from our anchorage
Beautiful high plateau with it's abounded village
View from the top of the hike. Definitely worth the hike. Horizon looks tiny in the bay
At the top we took the local but s to the main village, Nova Sintra
Now we know how they build all these cobblestone roads
On our way back we took this picture of Horizon in the bay
The local fisherman comes in every day with their catch of fresh fish
These guys with their phones
Jan is waiting patiently for the next flight out of Brava, That will not happen. The airport has been closed for many years.
After a long hot hike we got rewarded with these natural pools. They were really refreshing, like a cold jacuzzi
A selfie over Nova Sintra. Jan and I did a road trip with a private guide. Anders stayed on the boat to make sure we didn't drag, it was pretty windy. This is our excellent guide, Carlos, who we can highly recommend
We visited this fishing village, Lomba Tantrum, on the south coast. On the beach there is around forty fishing boats. The women used to carry 40kg of fish up to the village where we stand. Now they have installed a cable car to transport the fish. This is also a good anchorage in the right winds, not today.
At the top of the ridge there is a viewpoint, overlooking the fishing village of Lomba Tantrum
View over the neighbor island, Fogo. It is made out of one single volcano and is 2829m
Panoramic view over the main village, Nova Sintra. Fogo is in the background
We walked to some other nearby natural pools
These natural pools were just amazing. Every now and then a BIG wake came splashing over the rocks and reached far in. You better watch up!
Then we visited the local rum producer. What a Gem! This is a one man "Show". He is doing everything himself, and he has built everything himself. Very impressive
We got to taste the delicious Rom in coconut shells
Another view of the distillery, that he built himself
His own room distillery apparatus
Making bread for the passage
Our last day here in Brava was a holiday, so lots of people were enjoying the beach and swimming