Mindelo Ilha de São Vicente (Part 2)

BV anchored close inshore at Mindelo on Ilha de São Vicente    

During our time at Mindelo we moved position in the anchorage twice. The first time was on the 20^th when we, along with several other yachts, were told by the Port Police to move to make space for a small tanker to get out from a quay. That started a bit of a scrabbling for space but we found a spot much further in towards the shore, just off the fish market pier and the old Portuguese customs house, a rather grand tower which is modelled on Lisbon’s Torré de Belem.

View of the fish market from BV’s second anchorage    

In our new position, we were quite close to another yacht and just clear of a wreck marked on our chart. Ideally, we would have liked to have put out a bit more chain but there wasn’t space to do so. In the end, it worked as a place to anchor for 48 hours but by then we were increasingly concerned about how close to us the fishing boats were anchoring to drop off their catch at the market, half expecting them to lift our anchor along with theirs when they left. Additionally, when we got back from visiting lha de São Antão the wind was up and we really wanted to put out more chain to honour the increase in the wind. So, despite it being dark, we started lifting our anchor only to discover that the chain was snagged on something on the bottom. After a little manoeuvring, we freed the chain and then took the opportunity to move to a better position, which actually turned out to be relatively close to the position from which we had been moved on. And there was plenty of space for us to lay out a good 50m of chain – excellent. 50m was, perhaps, a little more chain than we really needed but with the strong winds and some impressive gusts BV was good and secure. We certainly weren’t the only ones with that strategy and most of the sailors we spoke to had the same or more chain out even though the depths were only about 6-7 metres.

The old Portuguese customs house (now a museum) next to the fish market pier    

Whilst we were in Mindelo exploring llha de São Antão we considered our options for cruising the islands and crossing the Atlantic. Over this period the trade winds had settled in properly, blowing strongly from the northeast and, consequently, the swell had also settled down to come from the northeast too (though this only happened after the trade winds had been blowing properly for several days). Prior to that, the swell had been from the northwest, generated by Atlantic storms far to the northwest of the islands. This northwest swell had made our original plan, to explore some of the islands en-route to Mindelo, unviable as swell from this direction makes many of the islands’ anchorages untenable. With swell from the northeast, most of the anchorages are protected and it would be feasible to visit the other islands even if some of the anchorages would probably be rather rolly. Indeed, in some anchorages, just getting ashore can be quite an adventure in a big swell, even if the swell is from the ‘right’ direction! So, we were a little concerned that if we were going to properly cruise around the Cape Verde Islands (CVI) we’d need to allocate quite a lot of time to them now. And, due to the weather delaying our departure from the Canaries and the requirement to do some running repairs in Porto Palmeira, we were already over a week behind the approximate schedule we had drawn up when we had arrived in the Canaries and were starting to (roughly) map out the next steps (Canaries – CVI – Barbados – up the Lesser Antilles chain – E coast USA). If we stayed to cruise the CVI, we probably would not leave much before 8 January, putting us 2.5 weeks behind our plan and still with a 2000nm Atlantic crossing and several thousand miles up the Lesser Antilles and E coast USA to come by the beginning of June (insurance requirement to clear out of the hurricane belt). Alternatively, we could cut our losses at this point, agree that we had seen more of the CVI than many cruising yachtsmen and aim to return in a few years’ time a little earlier in the season when the weather is said to be better for sailing around the islands. Adding in the fact that, like much of the western world, Mindelo (and the other islands presumably) would shut down for several days over Christmas, we made the decision that we would move on sooner rather than later. Based upon the forecast, we decided to set off across the Atlantic on Christmas Eve which prompted a lot of activity.

The marina at Mindelo on a clear day    

High on the list of priorities (other than shopping for fresh fruit and veg) was doing a last mega wash at the laundrette and then hanging everything out to dry in the rigging. However, during our last days of preparations, the harmattan wind brought in vast amounts of dust from Africa. Visibility was reduced to barely 2 miles and BV got browner and browner. Not great for drying the laundry; Nicky took advantage of the tumble driers at the laundrette! (The picture of the marina above was taken early on in our time in Mindelo whilst the air was reasonably clear.).

By now we’d quartered the town and come up with a full plan for our last preparations. We’d already picked up a remarkably cheap Camping Gaz bottle (382CVE, approx. €3.82!!) to replace one of ours which was empty. That left the main tasks of clearing out with the authorities and buying lots more fresh fruit and vegetables at one of the many local markets or from a street vendor (the produce in the shops has been refrigerated and so doesn’t last as long).

Some of our fresh fruit and vegetables being washed in Milton and dried ready for storing on board   

As a further step to try to make the fresh produce last for most of our passage, Nicky washed everything and then soaked them in diluted Milton before drying each item thoroughly and storing them carefully in baskets on board. [Ed: I also packed a lot of the items in Lakeland’s ‘Stay Fresh’ bags which really do help to keep produce lasting longer]. Once we are sailing, one of the daily tasks will be to check all of the fresh fruit and vegetables, dry any condensation from them and the insides of the bags/containers in which they are stored and remove and use any that are starting to get too ripe/go bad. One of the nice things about being in a country that grows bananas is that we’ve been able to get them in all stages of ripeness from dark green through to bright yellow. Hopefully these various shades of green bananas will ripen in stages as we cross the Atlantic – otherwise we may be baking lots of banana bread!

Passage meals ready prepared to make life easy for the first few days    

Whilst Nicky was busy doing all of that, I had a mega cooking session and produced lots of meals which we cooled, boxed and stored in the fridge. Goulash, beef in beer, cumin chicken and a pork and vegetable casseroles should give us sufficient menu options to keep meals interesting and, having already prepared them, will make settling into the watch routine much easier.

Immigration and the Port Police were again very helpful and efficient. Because of their office Christmas holiday times, we were able to get our departure certificate and have our passports stamped (with the correct departure date for leaving the country) a couple of days before we would actually be sailing away.

Mrs Mercy Cole at her stall in the African market   

Our final task before the day of departure was to visit Mrs Mercy Cole at her stall in the African market. As a part of her job as a seamstress, she makes all sorts of flags and repairs them too. Nicky had negotiated for her to sew yellow crosses onto 2 British ensigns that we had on board. We had planned to sew the yellow crosses on ourselves to turn the normal British red ensigns into Guernsey ensigns, however, we hadn’t got around to doing that for the best part of 2 years and so it seemed a good idea to take advantage of Mrs Cole’s sewing services whilst we could.

Looking southwest across the anchorage: our route out towards the Caribbean   

So, by the evening of Saturday 23 December we pretty much had everything organised. We still wanted to swap our genoa for a double one that we had obtained specifically to help us sail the trade winds. The wind however was not being helpful and so whilst we had sufficient of a lull to get the old sail down, hoisting the double one would have to wait until just before departure. We also had fresh bread and some frozen meat to buy as well as rubbish to put ashore before we could stow the dinghy; last chores for the morning.

Over dinner that last evening in Mindelo we contemplated what lay ahead. Nominally we were planning to head towards Barbados, a passage which should take us around 15 days but may be several days longer in light conditions. It would be our first ocean crossing and, at 2000 nautical miles, a significantly longer passage than any we have undertaken so far. It would also be a major sailing milestone for us and a new part of our adventure. Inevitably, the scale of the passage left us with a mixture of feelings. However, we knew that we had properly prepared BV and that she was well stocked for the journey. Plus, we could look forward to experiencing our first Christmas Day at sea!

Mindelo, Ilha de Sao Vicente, Cape Verde Islands