Mindelo to Bridgetown

 

 

 JT entering Mindelo harbour

 

 

 Sundowners + at the floating bar at the marina in Mindelo.  The Poms don`t feel the cold.  By extraordinary coincidence, the bloke on the right,who was crewing for our mates on Goldcrest, has an investment unit in Noosaville just a few minutes walk from where we live!

 

 Enroute to dinner

 

 

 at the "famous" Pico Pau restaurant in Mindelo. It was ok.

 

 

 When the forecast looked good we sailed for the 2000nm crossing

 

 

 Initially the winds were ok but soon grew light and, with that, the various swells from astern made for "uncomfortable" conditions.  We eventually had to motor for thirty hours to get through a very light patch.

 

We had a lovely Xmas day at sea, with roast chicken, veges and champers.  The weather was good and we elected to shorten sail to make it more comfortable.

 

 

We were sick of dorado, so didn`t even put out a lure.

 

 

Our arrival at Bridgetown, Barbados, fifteen days after leaving Mindelo was a slow crossing by all accounts.  But, as frustrating as the light winds were on occasion, we had no major dramas, and were lucky not to have had gales and the notorious line squalls. 

 

 After clearing in with the authorities, we went to anchor in Carlisle Bay and came ashore to Bridgetown by dinghy to the dock up the creek in the centre of town.

 

 In the basin there were yachts for a classic boat rally.

 

 

 Typical Bridgetown tourist spot.  Each day there are about four cruise ships in port, so things are not cheap.

 

 Roadside stall. 

 

 Old British era architecture

 

 All is very colourfull.

 

 

 The citizens are well groomed

 

 

The proprietress of the Dark Sugar Shack assured us that, on New Year`s Eve, she would be attending church, then going home for a quiet drink and a smoke of something sweet.



Unexpected Cape Verde Islands

We set off from Las Palmas intending to sail direct to Barbados.  The wind initially cooperated with some lovely downwind sailing.

 

 

Our first fish was a nice dorado.

 

 

But then the wind deserted us and rather than motor for a few days, or even less palatable, just flop around in the middle of the ocean going nowhere, we decided to head to Mindelo in the Cape Verde Islands.

 

We found the marina to be a very good one in a sheltered harbour surrounded by arid, brown, rugged mountains.

 

There was a beaut floating bar where we caught up with lots of people we had met along the way.

 

 

Though not in the one down the road.

 

The town was quite attractive in a shabby, chic sort of way.

 

 

Great fresh market.

 

 

Street vendors 

 

Fish anyone?

 

Hauling a local fishing boat with the marina in the background.

 

We will depart from here as soon as the weather along the track to Barbados looks good enough.  Now it is likely that we will spend Xmas at sea, arriving on the other side soon after.

 

 



Preparing for the Atlantic Crossing

We spent about ten days in our lovely berth in the marina at Gran Tarajal

 

 

where this strange looking yacht was the star of a movie being filmed.

 

We visited the tourist resorts of Morro Jable where golden sand beaches were unusual and the main attraction for hordes of German tourist at this time of year.

 

The tourists were mainly baby boomers and so even though there was a lot of nakedness on the sand it was not particularly attractive.

 

We lunched by the sea.

 

 



But away from the coast the arid landscape was all there was to be seen.

 

 

So we had an early start and sailed across the 75 nm stretch to las Palmas on Gran Cannaria

 

 

passing typical volcanic landscape on departing Fuerteventura.

 

 

To arrive at the anchorage off the marina at las Palmas.

 

 

There was no room in the marina because the 230 yachts of the annual Atlantic Rally for Cruisers - the ARC - were there preparing for their departure. 

 

So we had to wait until they had gone [ delayed two days by bad winds ]  before we could get a berth. 

Since then we have been plagued by foul weather with strong winds and constant rain making it difficult to finalise our own preparations.

 

Now, however, we are ready to go and will set off for the 2700 nm crossing asap.

Hopefully the next post will be  from the Caribbean.

 

 

Madeira to the Canaries & new web site

We have a new parallel web site for posting our position while at sea:  just google "jacktar`s web diary".  We keep this blog going as normal, when we have access to the internet.

 

Before leaving Funchal in Madeira we took the cable car to the top of the mountain

 



Then saw these basket sleds and took a death defying ride back down.

 

 



We shifted to another marina, sailing past attractive coastal scenery

 

and terraced banana plantations

 

 

They didn`t have any flat land for an airport so built a runway on stilts.

 

 

The marina at Quinta do Lordewas built close under the cliffs

 

 

 

The wind and sea came up and the surge coming onto the marina was uncomfortable.  We might as well have been at sea. Check the angle of roll of the yacht at the pontoon ahead.

 





The shck absorbers were out.

 

We departed Madeira in 35 kts of wind and 4 - 5 mtr seas for a bumpy ride down to the Canaries where we anchored in the lee of Graciosa island.

 

The village was very small and simple

 

bur very lovely

 

Again the weather dictated a move

 

so we shifted to Puerto calero on Lanzarote Is.

 

The wind was still up

 

We waited

 

and took a hire car to the lookout opposite Graciosa where we looked down on the anchorage and village

 

Drove past attractive villages

 

saw volcanoes

 

before sailing on to Fuerteventura Is and Puerto Gran Tarajal where we will stay a while before moving on.

 

 

This poor fellow was rescued after loosing his mainsail, the inner firestay had parted, the mizzen sail shredded and his engine then failed.