Monday, February 1st, 2016. First impressions of Mindelo
Awelina of Sweden
James Collier
Tue 2 Feb 2016 15:55
After a night of very sound sleep (that 3 hour regime of watches does take
it’s toll after a few days) we awoke in the early murky dawn light. However it
wasn’t dawn, it was 8 am and it was foggy and RAINING! Awelina’s decks were wet
from rainfall for the first time since mid October in the UK. We rearranged our
warps (best done in daylight when fully rested: on examining the work of the
night before it was a bit embarrassing).
Immigration and the maritime police are located away from the Marina. In
order to check into this country we had to first visit the marina office, book
our berth and then find the appropriate (but unmarked) doors in the port
buildings. But it was all straight forward enough and we are duly entered,
without time limit so far as we can tell. One needs a visa if one wants to stay
a night ashore, or take a plane, but apparently one can stay as long as one
likes if on a boat. Indeed, quite a few seem to have taken advantage of this –
which explains the full anchorage – and are living on boats which seem not to
have gone anywhere recently and are not just about to either.
It’s quite a prosperous town and very attractive along the sea front,
comprising to a considerable extent Portuguese colonial style houses. Cape Verde
is ranked #1 in Africa for governance and has a long term goal of entering the
EU which we should welcome: it’s a cross-over between Europe and Africa and
actually considerably more ‘civilised’ than the Azores were in the 1990s: 3G
phones work just fine, and everything is available if one searches. Actually the
only disappointment so far has been the lack of local workshops (doesn’t matter
what: carpentry or metal work say) and the over abundance of tourist tat and
clothes shops.
Vessels at anchor in the outer harbour: 3 tall ships, several general
coastal trade ships, trawlers, a dismasted yacht and a sunken hulk. This is why
we wanted to be in during the light.
Another wreck: note the list on the otherwise apparently intact ferry in
the distance.
This one hopefully not a wreck for some years to come; her skipper
celebrating with a lunch-time beer (cost: 29 pence) in the floating bar.
View from the same bar towards the town (the fish market actually) and one
of the semi-permanent lotus eaters rowing ashore from his anchored boat in the
only completely rectangular dinghy we’ve ever seen.
The town is a mixture of modern (town hall) and traditional (shops, cobbled
streets and church 100m back from the front).
More scenes: a corner shop and the fantastic silver sand beach just
beyond the port.
Cape Verde was also visited by the Beagle, and the sparrow unique to the
islands was duly noted by Darwin.
Tomorrow for more exploring and shopping.
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