We have now been in Lagos since 29th Sept, waiting for a suitable 5
day break in the weather which will give us Northerly based winds in order to
set sail for Madeira. It is approximately 450NM to Porto Santo (just this
side of the main island of Madeira) which should take us about 4 whole days and nights.
Since we have been here we have only had 2 days at a time of northerlies and
now we are predicted a S/SW gale from tomorrow onwards
with something called “rain”. (Perhaps someone could define this to
us at some time?). Hopefully there may be a weather window forming from Tues
onwards.
Meanwhile we wait. Derrick is
being kept busy with little boat jobs on our and various other people’s
boats, which he thoroughly enjoys. Martin and Jean, on Freedom 2 (first met in Sines after Martin’s serious emergency op) asked D to
help derig their boat but then needed someone to go
to the top of the mast to sort out a niggle.
I was volunteered! We thought that we could offer ourselves as a team to people
who don’t like climbing their masts!
Whilst D has been pottering
about I have also been doing jobs, (no escape from washing unfortunately) and
enjoying the lovely rocky cliffs, caves and coves, exploring by swimming and
snorkelling.
We met a very nice man, Karl who came to
admire the boat and he mentioned that he was doing a diving course. This
sounded very interesting, and as we were certainly not going to be moving in
the following few days, the instructor, a bubbly German girl agreed to start me
off on a Padi Open Water course. This comprises 2
very full days of theory, pool work and an exam. After this would come 4 open
water dives of varying difficulty. I had one to one tuition which was great
except that she would keep exclaiming that I was doing very well for a 50 year
old! I was surprised at how difficult it was to swim properly with all the gear
on.Tiring but enjoyable. Unless we are stuck here for
too much longer, I hope to complete the course in the Canaries or Caribbean.
We have met lots of people
and the social calendar has been quite full. This week I think, we will only
have had one evening to ourselves. If we have to be stuck in a place, this is a
lovely place to be.
We had hoped that a window
was opening to cross to Madeira this coming week but after a careful look at the
conditions this again seems unlikely. 6 -7 m swells at the mo, 2 days of N winds followed by SW
winds caused by a gale near to Madeira. We think that we will visit a few more places along
this coast while waiting.
Under Way!
Rigging anyone?
