Anchors away

Serendipity
David Caukill
Sat 29 Oct 2011 11:21

Friday 28th October  Ilha de Sao Nicolau 16 34.1N  24 21.76W

 

 

Up early to sail to Sao Nicolau where we have to go through the next set of formalities and it is important that we arrive before noon in case the authorities go off for a long lunch.

 

We had a cracking sail with a Force 5 on the beam all the way – 26 miles in 3 ½ hours and were in Tarrafal Bay before 11. We continue to see some interesting views of the islands – the clouds on this one look like palls of smoke.

 

 

Anchoring is proving to be a challenge for this crew. This time, Keith noticed in the nick of time that the tripping line was not tied on to the buoy which he was about to throw overboard! Later, when the second anchor was set, a knot slipped on part of the anchoring arrangement, so a bit of recovery to be done tomorrow morning!

 

 

 

As you can see, Tarrafal is a small town. A French boat at anchor close to us advised us to employ a “minder” for our tender when we went ashore and recommended Francois (for some reason, they seem to speak a lot of French here). Keith and Richard had a bit of fun roaring around the bay in the tender and we were all given a lesson in using the sextant by David. Other than having burnt retinas, we didn’t progress too well – could do better.

 

 

 

Anyway, into Tarrafal, which is a town of contrasting architecture, which allowed us to take some nice shots of Serendipity from the shore

 

 

 

 

We decided to go ashore for dinner but were a bit nervous about our “tender protection” arrangements as there was a couple of suss-looking individuals lurking around the harbour. However, Francois was as good as his word and all was well when we were ready to return to Serendipity. We all ate excellent fresh fish (grouper and tuna) and chips – perfect for a Friday. We risked a bottle of local white wine but we won’t be doing that again. Anyone who remembers Vihno Verde will know what I mean.