Landfalll at the Verde Islands
Stargazer of Southampton
Susie and Adam (both think they are skipper)
Sun 19 Dec 2010 12:49
|
19:12.10, 16:53.023N 24:59.623W
Fantastic sail from yesterday morning through to
8pm last night - conditions perfect, fairly light winds but as we were having to
go across them we have been getting good speed, Stargazer has been going
steadily at 5 to 6 knots. The sea has looked amazing - really calm but
occassionally you get into areas that start to look like land more than sea -
the swell has only been light but broad swell has been there and if you stare
too long the sea starts to look like undulating grasslands (despite being blue
not green - perhaps this is what happens when you have been at sea too
long) The weather is now feeling pretty much tropical and the sea is over
26 degrees. Last night was warm with an almost full moon casting shadows..
. . unfortunately for us though the wind has now shifted behind us on
Sunday night and from that angle it's too light to move the boat at any
reasonable pace so sadly the engine has had to go on for the final stretch to
the Verde islands.
Yesterday lunchtime we were doing a bit of steering
by hand (for a change) - the wheel seemed to be taking too much effort to turn
it at certain points, remembering the ball of netting that we got wrapped round
the rudder and prop on our crossing of biscay, and as the conditions were very
calm - it was agreed that a check of the prop and rudder were in order. I
went in (I think Adam went in the water last time we had to do some task or
other), Adam did a good job of heaving the boat to since it is usually pretty
difficult to get her to stop. I was considering not getting a bikini wet
and just getting in wearing nothing since it is not as if anyone is around to
see - however, had one of those moments where you imagine something going
horribly wrong . . . me needing rescuing or something after some freak
accident meaning that Adam couldn't pick me up (despite the fact that I was
attached to the boat with a line). . . and I decided that if I was to be
recovered by any kind or rescue authority - then I wanted to be wearing at
least something. So in bikini and with a line tied around me in I got in -
water was very nice and warm and absolutely crystal clear. I did a quick
check of the rudder and prop - all fine so must have been our imagination, then
had a quick look around in the hope of seeing some sea life. Didn't see
anything but looking down into the blue was wierd - the colour was amazing and
it is strange to think that there was three and a half thousand metres of water
beneath me. Even though I Scuba dive - still got out pretty quick as
I was wondering what was lurking in the blue out of my sight.
Another large whale sighted as well on Saturday
afternoon, unfortunately it wasn't doing anything particularly spectacular like
the previous day - it was just sitting at the surface doing short dives and
coming up and blowing - it was a few hundred metres off the side of the boat so
we didn't get a really close view - but it must have been similar size to
yesterdays whale for us to see it, we could see from the fin to the head and it
looked like the size of a small 5 - 6 metre boat.
Much excitement having dinner in the cockpit at 6pm
on Saturday evening - Land Sighted, not yet San Vincente - but several
islands could clearly be seen to the south of us which would have been the more
easterly islands, visibility must have been good as we were about 50 miles away
from them. It was the first land seen in a week!
Now it's 0830 on Sunday - about 45 mins ago I
watched the most spectacular sunrise over Saao Nicolau which is just to the east
of San (or Saao Vincente), when I get a chance I'll put a photo up - the
colours in the sky were absolutely amazing, I have got to see a few
sunrises over the last week - but this one was the best. We're now
approaching the channel between Saao Vincente and Saao Antaao, only about 14
miles left to go, I can see another two islands and several little islets to the
east of us and Saao Antaao appears to be quite high with clouds just around the
top of the highest point. The Cape Verdean flag that I made is flying and
it doesn't look half bad - even the circle of 10 stars I had to put on each side
look pretty much circular, hope it passes the port captains flag quality
requirements.
1130 on Sunday and we have arrived at Mindelo on
Saao Vincente - we're anchored in another packed anchorage! The scenery
here is much more impressive than we had thought it would be - the islands
are very mountainous, don't appear to be much in the way of trees but the
mountainsides are fairly green. It is Very warm - 30 degress in the
shade. The anchorage consists of yachts and ships - yachts on the
inside. We think it looks nicer than we expected - we will go ashore when
we have blown up the dinghy, work out how to clear customs. We have
covered one third of the miles between the canaries and the windward islands
which feels like a good achievement, we had a really good passage here - managed
to avoid the nasty weather and not get too caught in the calms (some people have
motored most of the way!) plus we've seen dolphins, whales, been for a mid
atlantic dip and managed to get lots of sleep on the
way.
|