Coming closer we could see all the three islands of Santo Antao,Sao Vicente and Sao Nicolau. Allthough we were not aware of it,this means very good circumstances for making landfall in the Cape Verde islands. At this time of the year,with enforced tradewinds funneling between the islands,winds are often gusting way over 30kts with reduced visibility.

During the day we noticed a drop in the level of hydraulic oil in the hydraulic cap/vent at the top of the Capilano steering system on the flybridge. Knowing this is a sign of leak somewhere in the system we could trace it to the primary autopilot pumpmotor. For autopilot steering we can use the secondary autopilot,but for manual power steering we have to switch back to the primary system. That meant we where switching systems (which means "bilgediving" under the bed in aft cabin to switch valves between the ram of primary and secondary system. 

Never the less we made landfall in Mindelo Marina at 16.45 local time (same as UTC). We immidiately got the feeling that this is not an extended part of Europe for tourists. This is an indipendent country of islands in Africa !