At Last - Tropical Paradise

Serendipity
David Caukill
Sun 6 Nov 2011 10:35

Sunday November 6th: Furna, Ihla Brava – 14 53.3N  24 40.7W

Today’s Blog by Keith.

 

We continue to be impressed by the Island of Brava.

 

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As the novice on the team I have been learning how to do things in a yachting style. David told me that sleeping in a yacht is similar to sleeping in a tumble dryer. After having  the experience twice now I proudly announced to David that I knew what he meant but he indicated that the tumble dryer effect was yet to start properly – oh dear! I have also been learning about the impressive navigation system on board. I became less impressed when I discovered that it was useful to have a radar overlay on the navigation map to make sure that the land was where the system said it was. After learning this lesson in caution when using the system, we found some proof that the system maps can have odd errors, when we discovered that according to the computer map we are currently parked halfway up a mountain.

 

 

Maintenance is a job for the crew when the skipper is away negotiating with the local immigration office to let us leave the islands gracefully and legally. The captain instructed us to ease his cocks while he was away. This consisted of crawling about the floor of the cabin pulling up boards and pushing and pulling handles on valves until they were free. Richard and I are  sure there was a good reason for this.

 

You will have seen pictures of dolphins in a previous blog. We have seen them twice now en route and the wildlife continues to be impressive. We have seen yet another turtle and this time it was quite clearly having trouble locating fish to eat even though he could be seen in the middle of a shoal in the clear harbour water. Once he caught a fish but gave up on it and it swam a way. To see this kind of wildlife action at close proximity is breath-taking. The amount of fish around the Islands and here in Brava is enormous. The population only have fish as their income. There is no other way to make a living. The kids go out in the morning and fish from all available points using bamboo sticks with hook and line tied to the end. They can be seen pulling tiddlers out of the water one after the other and putting them in buckets. They use them as bate to give to the older fishermen who go out (when the weather is OK – not today it was too windy!) in their small boats to catch Tuna and Sara. They catch about 5 large tuna per boat which is sold for about 1-1.50 Euro per Kilo locally, 3 Euro  in the main town and up to 20 Euro when transported to Sal Island in the north.

 

This is  evidently – using a universally recognisable posture - a concerned mother trying to get her son back home to go to school. She couldn’t even see her son who had swum far out into the harbour.

 

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We were invited to travel to Nova Sintra, the capital of Brava up in the hills. Our guide, Beto, had laid on a trip for our party divided into two groups, morning and afternoon. Richard, Bob and William went in the morning and David and I took the afternoon slot. In the morning the first team were given a tour of the town after being transported to its 1000m elevation on the back of a small truck. We discovered before we went that we were a bit short of small denomination notes for the taxi and so on and so we asked Mama (the lady who cooked for us at the bar and has a broken arm) if she could change a Esc2000 note (about £20) and she could not. She dug out all the money she had in her bar and gave us Esc600 as a loan. This is totally unbelievable trust and generosity when you recall the dishonesty and money grabbing we found in some of the other islands.

 

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In addition to the tour of the town they were also taken into a local school they were greeted warmly and the openness of the welcome and lack of formalities was impressive.

 

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Nova Sintra is a town locked in a former age. The architecture is colonial and dilapidated. The streets are made from the same granite offcuts as we have seen in other islands but they are formed in square blocks and paved very neatly.

 

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There is evidence everywhere of work on roads. The road up the mountain is being widened and improved.

 

 

The roads in the town were being rebuilt. Our guide told us this was for the  tourists. There was only one tourist in the town apart from us reading a map on a stone bench whilst drinking local Strela beer from a large bottle. We had heard about the Cape Verdes trying to become a new tourist destination. We would certainly recommend Brava as a destination as long as you like a basic get away from the crowds experience.

 

On our visit David and I were asking for green bananas and eventually were taken to a man who had a banana forest in his back garden. He invited us in and showed us his half built new house and then lead us to his banana trees. We were shown small, medium, large and red bananas, yes, red bananas. We took 3 kilos of green ones which will ripen off in the boat.

 

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At the start of the day we had ordered some bread from the shop in the port. When in Nova Sintra we were passed by two boys with large plastic buckets on wheelbarrows covered in cloth and smelling wonderfully of fresh made bread. They were making their way to our bus for the return journey down the mountain. When we reached the port again we delivered the bread to the shop and then took our order.

 

The evening was rounded off with a meal of lobster caught fresh that day. The whole meal with wine and beers was about 50 Euros. Mama again provided what we all agreed was the best rice we have ever tasted. Back to the boat and the only negative for the island of Brava. It is very difficult and a little dangerous making the boat transfer to shore. We have all got our feet and bums wet and had a bruise or cut on the way in and out of the dinghy.

 

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Before the end of the day we posed for a group photo to show you all we are still well and in good form for our crossing starting later today. We have discussed games to play whilst away. Scrabble and crosswords were agreed. The suggestions of Boat Jenga, darts and I-spy will be reconsidered.

 

Oh my God we’re really going now!!!