ARC+ Cape Verde - Day 5 (12 Nov)
Walkabout has gone Sailing
Andrew and Traci Roantree
Fri 12 Nov 2021 13:00
Day 5 and we are beyond our longest time ever at sea! Who’d have thought!! :)
793 nautical miles DONE!
And the good news is, we are loving it!
We have a routine that works really well and the night shifts are no longer a struggle. The food planning has been brilliant (if I do say so myself?!!), sail changes are improving and we have finally found time to relax and read!
Including Bruce our FD! He found time to read Pete Goss’s book ‘Close to the wind’. One I quite fancy reading myself when he’s done.
In the mean time I have been reading up on Grenada via a pilot book given to us by Jo and Rob. They did the ARC and World ARC to NZ in 2019.
We originally met Jo and Rob at an ARC Seminar weekend in 2018 and lost contact until I accidentally bumped in to Jo’s sister and exchanged contact details. Since then they have shared much of their experience and knowledge and kindly gifted us many books and charts that will be invaluable over the coming months and hopefully years.
Amongst the many books is the pilot guide to the Windward Islands.
There are four main Windward Islands which are Martinique, St Lucia, St Vincent and Grenada. They lie to the southern end of the Caribbean chain or stepping-stones from Florida to Venezuela.
We are due to arrive in Port Louis Marina, Grenada with the ARC early December and will be at the marina until 7th December for the ARC Prize Giving Celebrations. Not sure we’ll be troubling the prize givers with our conservative sail planning!
The marina is at the south western end of Grenada not far from Grand Anse which is where I have spent many a week when flying with British Airways in a previous life!
Grenada is a spectacularly beautiful island with lush green mountains, sparkling waterfalls and golden beaches and the distant fragrance of spice trees.
I look forward to revisiting and exploring the island with Andrew.
No plans have been made beyond our arrival apart from booking ourselves into Le Phare Bleu Marina (The Blue Lighthouse Marina) for Christmas and New Year.
Le Phare Bleu Marina is pictured below.
Between arriving in Grenada and heading south to Le Phare Bleu Marina, we’ll spend the time cruising and anchoring along the coast and exploring the island on foot and bike.
It’s been another wonderful day and night on the big blue with Walkabout.
Peaceful, calm and some stonking sailing too!
We still have our asymmetric G1 sail flying and we are reaching speeds of 9 knots which is pretty quick for us!
We had some VHF calls with a few boats; ‘Moanna’ a Dufour 50 skippered by Godfreid and Sandra who are a lovely Swiss couple who were moored next to us in Las Palmas. They have two crew friends who joined them a few days ahead of the sail to Cape Verde.
‘Zelda’ a Breehorn 38 (?) skippered by a Finnish couple who it’s appalling to say, we have forgotten their names!! They were the first couple we met on arrival in Baiona, Spain having just crossed Biscay.
We have bumped into them quite a lot and get on really well. They catch a lot of fish and yesterday caught a 1.2m Dorado!! With so much fish on board, we have been invited to share a fish dinner with them once in Cape Verde. Might be useful to ask for a few fishing tips at the same time!!
Looks like tomorrow, Saturday 13 November we will be arriving in Mindelo, Cape Verde.
130 nautical miles to go, one more night shift and we cross the finishing line!
Anytime between 1300 and midnight as the wind is dropping overnight and with it our speed!
We will never tire of watching the sun slowly sink out of view and watch the stars appear for yet another incredible night on the Atlantic!
