24Sep10 - Ilha Deserta Grande
Sulana's Voyage
Alan and Sue Brook
Mon 11 Oct 2010 18:20
32:30.6 N 16:30.5 W
Friday, September 24th.
Leaving Quinta Do Lorde Marina, we headed for Las Islas Desiertas through thickening rain and squally showers. We were followed by a large and playful pod of Pilot Whales for a few minutes. Later, under a greying afternoon’s sky, we headed thankfully for the only anchorage there, by Carga da Lapa, to see if we could find shelter from the swell and rain under its foreboding cliffs of many hues.
Unfortunately, for the planned photos, we found a small German yacht there before us, so it was not quite so ‘desierta’ as we had hoped. Nonetheless it was an awe-inspiring anchorage for the night, just a few cables away from cliffs that hung 100s of metres overhead.
One we will long remember for its feeling of remoteness,
despite the failure to spot even just one of the rare Monk Seals we had hoped to find in the nearby waters.
In the morning, after a quiet night, Fiona and Alan were ‘Ribbed’ ashore by Richard, only to find landing involved getting one’s shorts fairly well-soaked, through having to jump out of the RIB early, into a decent swell that rolled up the stony beach, in order to protect the outboard’s prop.
Once ashore the Wardens came to visit and said they regretted they were too busy to accompany us that day, but it would be fine for the two of us to climb up to visit the top of the island. They insisted, however, we should only do so at our own risk. If anybody were to ask, we should say we had not seen them!
The climb up above “Sulana” and the tiny anchorage, created by the Chao da Doca rockfall, was a worthy competitor to a Madeiran Levada walk.
It was an excellent stretch for a sailor’s weakened leg and knee muscles,
with many tiny ledges, overhangs and turns featuring along the narrow path.
One section included hanging onto a wire stretched between three rusty pitons, whilst negotiating a bit of path that had succumbed to natural erosion.
Halfway up it already felt if we must be near the top, but each turn revealed further heights still to be scaled. A sudden clatter of stones in front scared Alan there was going to be a cliff fall, but an equally scared, seriously shaggy, well-horned, mountain goat stopped around the next bend and looked back at him, staring malevolently at the cause of his morning disturbance.
It would have been quite funny, if it had not been for the content of last night’s TV session on board.
We had all sat in the comfort of Sulana’s saloon and watched a DVD from the BBC “Planet Earth” series, with David Attenborough narrating their celebrated Snow Leopard chase of just such a goat in the Karakoram Mountains. Alan and Fiona were no Snow Leopards when it came to surefootedness on these cliff paths!
We thought these islands had been cleared of all human introduced pests. The Portuguese are very keen on the protection of their indigenous wildlife and natural vegetation. With these islands being one of very few major nesting sites for Cory’s Shearwaters and Soft-Plumaged (Bugio) Petrels, it was surprising to find such an animal still in residence. Perhaps he was the last sole survivor, but we hoped he was not going to be allowed to strip off too much of the sparse, but protective, plants that kept the little topsoil in place.
Finally the top of the path was reached. Fiona rested there, whilst Alan stepped up onto the plateau. A surreal, moonscape surface of ancient volcanic dust, ash and lava lay around, looking for all the lack of evident changes as if it had been ever thus, since it had first belched out of its volcanic crater.
No wonder the first Portuguese sailors visiting had declared these three islands all uninhabitable! Water was nowhere in evidence, and natural plant growth was extremely limited.
Later, Richard took his own turn up the cliffs to the top, so as not to get left out. Looking up at his small, distant figure working its way around the twists and turns above made one realise just how high these cliffs were. You would not want to dislodge a stone or boulder from up there!
We left the anchorage in the early evening, for the simplicity of an overnight passage to our next remote island destination, the Islas Selvagems. Timing meant we should arrive in decent time in the afternoon, without hurrying at too fast a pace, with enough light to ensure time for safe anchoring.