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.
 
more ships at anchorwreck in bay and dismasted yacht
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.
 
wreck ashoreship at anchor
Another wreck: note the list on the otherwise apparently intact ferry in the distance.
 
awelina tied up properlyskipper in floating bar
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 ashore of townpram dinghy in action
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.
 
town halldog asleep in street
The town is a mixture of modern (town hall) and traditional (shops, cobbled streets and church 100m back from the front).
 
street sceneTown Beach
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.
sparrow
 
Tomorrow for more exploring and shopping.