Cabo Verde, Verde or Cape Verde
The air is warm and tropical, the landscape has that similar volcanic feel as per the Canary Islands but now everything is green. Spanish is no longer spoken, we’re now surrounded by a mix of Portuguese and French. As we set out to explore the township of Mindelo we soon agreed that this isn’t Africa but a far eastern island of the Caribbean. The locals are smiling, everybody waves hello, the handshakes are funky and they’ve adopted the Bob Marley reggae colours. In February, one would experience Carnival with their colourful costumes and music.
We undertook our routine of provisioning, the purchase of a SIM card and started on our “to do” list. We soon settled into life at a new marina the regular chores of refilling the water tanks, cleaning and a break at the floating dock bar that has internet. Each day another rally yacht or two arrived. We looked forward to catching up with old and new friends, exchanging stories of our passage, the fishing and of course the weather. We had been separated into two fleets because many of the Canary marinas didn’t have sufficient capacity. Having skipped the island of El Herro, we had passed a few of the smaller sized yachts during our passage south.
We had the mandatory island tour, everything is green yet there is a lack of any forestry. We understand that deforestation took place many years ago by the Portuguese for shipbuilding and housing. The roads are self-speed limiting with hand laid cobble stones. The winding road took us to a lookout point at the top of an old volcano. Along the way, we passed many farm workers tending to terraced corn fields. This is steep terrain with no automated machinery just manual labour. All the terraces are farmed, unlike those in Greece and Italy where labour is now too expensive and as a result, Mother Nature is slowly retaking possession. Our tour included a refreshing swim at what we were told was a popular beach spot and a beer in the sun. I expect that this café did more business during our hour long visit than they would have done over several days.
We found the Mindelo beach more to our liking.
The marina organised a welcome party. This kicked off with a pounding drum band on our dock. We then followed the band to the shore for more music and rum cocktails. They were supported by two scantily clad dancers that mesmerised all (mostly the men) with their moves. This reinforced our initial feel for the place; it’s more like the Caribbean.
The next morning the first fleet departed for Tarafal on the island of St Antao and we would follow two days later. We were looking forward to escaping the marina. Since we joined this event we hadn’t been on anchor. Our idea of cruising is to have space to swing on anchor with a swim each day. After Tarafal the plan was a 120nm sail to Faya d’Agua on Brava, then a short sail to the neighbouring island of Fogo and an upwind sail to Tarafal Santiago. We’d then head back towards Mindelo with a stop at Punta Papagalos, St Nicolao.
Our St Antao anchorage was overlooked a picturesque volcanic sandy beach and were blessed by a brilliant sunset. We were pleased to be back on anchor and swim off the back of the boat, even if it was a little rolly. The second night at St Antao we had everyone on board to celebrate Ian’s birthday from Tourterelle…a big night was had by all.
The stop at Fogo was at a commercial dock and the angle to sail from Fogo to Santiago was directly into the prevailing wind so we decided to head directly to Santiago. The next day, along with BnG, wesaid bye to Fleet 2 and became Fleet 2.1. That evening we saw a southerly come through that brought a few squalls. Fortunately there was little wind but lots of lovely cleansing rain. Aura had not looked so clean.
Tarrafal, Santiago was a much more comfortable anchorage. We had plenty of space and it was a short dingy ride to town. The locals were keen to assist us with anchoring, a hull clean or tour. We were told that security was an issue and we paid a guy a Euro to watch our dingy while on shore. Rob from BnG organised an island tour. We had a fun day driving around the island bouncing around in the back of a ute. We visited the local markets, the original Europe settlement, a fort built after an attack by Francis Drake and an ocean view for lunch. The remainder of our time at Santiago was very relaxed. We even managed a dive but unfortunately no fish. We spent five nights in Santiago, one of the highlights was learning to play “Mexican Trains” on BnG. A few drinks and it was game on.
Before we knew it, Fleet 1 & 2 were on their way. They had combined in Fogo and they’d started to arrive. It was time for us to move on. We had a brilliant overnight sail to Punta Papagalos. It was an easy 83nm, we lifted our anchor and set sail at 1800. The wind was forecast to be a calm 10 to 11 knots however we had an ideal 18 to 23 knots at 50 to 60 degrees. We powered through the night and reefed our sails to ensure we didn’t arrive before sunrise. At one stage our ETA was 0300, we needed to slow down. Our AIS showed that we had a tail, it was Nelia, a superfast trimaran. They shadowed us in the pitch black night for an extended period of time before they eventually passed us. The sun rise revealed the green island of St Nicolao and our charts had us anchoring on land. The golden beach was an easy navigation beacon. We’d found one of those perfect anchorages. It’s just brilliant.
Swimming and snorkelling was the order for most days. Each day finished with sundowners on the beach. Celebrations on the beach included Halloween, a birthday and “lets have a drink as the sun is going down”. Several of the yachts from Fleet 1/2 joined us from anywhere between a night to nearly a week (that would be us). The local fisherman called past to sell their catch. We made a 5km trek along a rocky road to the nearby village of Tarafal and back again. It’s a catchy name for villages, every island must have one.
It was ideal way to finish our Verde cruise.
Well so we thought that this was the end of this blog. On our way back to Mindelo our generator impeller failed and then the engine start battery over cooked. The fleet set sail for Barbados without us......we shall do our best to catch up :-)
See you in Barbados !
Note for cruisers visiting Cape Verde
The Mindelo Marina is professional. The local community on other islands aren't accustom or as well organised to cater for visiting yachts. The locals often seek to overcharge and even increase a price once the service is complete (eg tour of island, write on paper for prices/services), at times ridiculous prices (eg 30 euro for a dingy ride to shore) and some times just wrong (eg 10 euro to watch your dingy on the beach, oh you don't want to pay that much then I will steal the fuel tank.....). This is just a heads up, its a lovely country with a great feel and natural environment to enjoy.