Pottering about and meeting other cruisers
Ile Jeudi
Bob and Lin Griffiths
Wed 6 Feb 2013 22:45
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Sunday 3 February 2013
We emptied and cleaned the saltwater out of a
number of bilges. No more signs of water ingress and it was good to remove
the salt.
One of the characteristics of the Cape Verde
islands is that there is so little rainfall, especially now in the dry
season This island in particular suffers from a lack of rain so LIn hand
washed some clothes. It poured down today. Nowhere to hang the
clothes to dry which resulted in a sense of humour loss.
Monday 4 to Wednesday 6 February 2013
The time was taken up with visits to the
supermarkets, getting some laundry done (Lin was particularly impressed with how
well this was done at a local 'Laundry'), defrosting the fridge, adjusting the
way the towed generator was set up and other small jobs. I would also like
it to be known that I won 3-0 at backgammon (this is rare).
On Tuesday we met Paul and Rachel Chandler off
their boat 'Lynn Rival'. We had sundowners in the evening and went out for
dinner with them afterwards. They are a really nice couple who some might
remember came to public notice when they were captured at gunpoint by Somali
pirates in October 2009 when less than 24 hours out of the Seychelle
islands. The pirates had travelled thousands of miles from Somalia to do
their evil deeds. Paul and Rachel were transferred to the
pirates' 'mother ship' and taken to Somalia where they were held captive
for 13 months. They were eventually released as a result of work done by
someone they describe very affectionately as their 'rescuer' - a Somali native
living in the UK. Their boat was lifted on to a Navy vessel and taken back
to the UK and they were reunited with her after their release.
Having spent 18 months refitting their boat they
were desperate to return home and to normality, which in their case is at sea in
their boat and they left Dartmouth in her in September last year. We
tried to steer clear of the subject in the evening for fear that they had had
enough of all that but Paul and Rachel were more than happy to talk about their
ordeal. The next day we visited their boat to return a magazine and
buy a copy of their book. I was shown the entry and exit holes
in their boom from one of the bullets fired which rather brought things
home! It was good to see that Paul and Rachel feel they are now returning
to 'normal' although they 'have a moment' when they think of all the people
currently held hostage in Somalia.
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