Salvagem Grande N30 08 W15 52

Gryphon II
Chris and Lorraine Marchant
Fri 25 Sep 2009 22:28
Having enjoyed the Desertas so much we decided to do a detour to the much more remote Salvage Islands, half way to the Canaries. This was another 140 miles, the winds were annoyingly light so this trip involved a 33 hour passage, rather longer than hoped for and with little happening at sea apart from the acrobats of the air - Corys Shearwater and some fabulous skies as the sun was downing:
 
 
 
 
Like the Desertas, the Salvages are part of the National Park and have wardens on hand. The islands are in the middle of nowhere and we needed to be extremely careful on approach as they have not been thoroughly surveyed. As the pilot book noted, "they are not called the Salvage Islands for nothing", and just for emphasis, the wreck of a supertanker lies off one island in this little archipelago.
 
We found a calm bay and anchored close in, we were soon greeted by one of the wardens who spoke excellent English. Later he snorkelled down to inspect our anchor to make sure it was bedded into something on the extremely rocky bottom. We joined him for a swim and snorkel, finding some interesting semi-tropical fish of various sizes. There were some large jacks or bonito, not sure what exactly, swimming under the boat but it is strictly no fishing in the park area unless you have a tuna fishing permit. The following morning the warden came and collected us from the  boat and took us on a 2 hour walk around the island. Here it is not seals but Corys Shearwaters that are the main species being protected together with the total environment. A successful programme has been undertaken to remove non indigenous animal species i.e. rabbits and rats, and all non indigenous plant species have been removed, apart from a rather delicious small tomato which the wardens like to eat! There are no trees, small scrubby herbaceous plants and a few small pungent succulents. There is no water on the island apart from when it rains so it is very desert like. 
 
 
 
The island is home to over 150,000 of these birds in the spring, although the numbers were far less whilst we were there as most had fledged and flown the nest. The parents were mostly out at sea but large, fat, fluffy chicks occupied nearly any hole of any size in the volcanic rock. Some of these holes are just inches apart which led to some fierce fighting taking place between neighbouring chicks. The feeling of isolation and desolation was wonderful. The islands are 150 miles to the nearest permanently inhabited place. The only reminders of civilisation being the wardens cottage and a lone tuna fishing boat, that we saw catching fish even while moored in the bay. It attracted the fish by spraying the surface of the sea and pulling out the frenzied tuna and bonito on barbless hooks.
 
At night the darkness was complete except for our anchor light and that of a German boat that arrived at the same time. The effect was slightly spoilt when the warden said he had invited the crew of the fishing boat over to watch football on his satellite telly! The only noise at night was that of the returning Shearwaters that make a very un-birdlike sound combining the qualities of an out of tune high pitched electronic organ and 2 nasally challenged children having an arguement! Shearwaters really sound like tubenoses, which they are. This is the perfect place for these birds as they now have no predators on the island.