|
THE CROSSING : We left Tenerife in the afternoon of May 9th, a couple
of hours after "Joline", another wooden French boat we met
some time ago. On board Joline, there are Patrick and Viviane, and their
two young children, Max and Mano (2 years old and 5 months old). We
had planned to sail closely and keep in touch with the VHF -it's always
nice to have company around and share each others experience and infos-
but during the first night, we lost eyesight and contact and never saw
them again until we arrived in Palmeira. So much for the company...
On our first night, we tried to put on the auto pilot, but it wouldn't
work ! The truth is that we forgot to connect a plug... Neverthless,
we spent the first two days steering 4 hours at a time each, day and
night, of course. It was good practice for me, but really, two days
was enough. On saturday, we tried again, with the plug connected, and
we were able to rest and relax a little more. Jojo (the auto pilot),
actually steered all the way to Cabo Verde except for the last night
when the wind got too strong. The pilot's fuse blew twice !
A week sailing goes by so fast ! Maybe because we get into a routine
that goes on until the end of the trip (keeping watch, daily radio contacts,
frequent meals, reading, and simply enjoying the scenery). Only the
weather and the strength of the wind changed. On the last night we had
force 6 to 7 with a big waves from the back, which made sailing very
uncomfortable. Rolling, rolling, rolling...
During one of his watches Ludo go totally soaked by a wave which flooded
the cockpit, this happens too often, it's time we think of something
to stop the water from coming in this way...
|
A pretty big wave coming from
the back...
We did have some company after all ! No picture can discribe what one
feels in front of dolphins swimming around the boat !
|
|
THE ARRIVAL : We arrived just before sunset, a week after the departure.
There was just enough light to recognize Joline anchored in the bay
since dawn the same day. It was pretty windy, but the air was warmer.
Once anchored, the quietness of the boat surprised us. She had been
moving and making noises for a week, and her sudden immobility maked
us feel as if we were floating in the air...
FIRST IMPRESSIONS : Green (Verde) is not exactly what
comes to one's mind when arriving to Sal. The first thing we saw was
a perfectly cone-shaped volcano, then two more, then some land. Usually,
as the boat makes headway, life in some way begins to appear. It's really
fun to watch shapes and colors appear, and little by little houses and
trees become distinguishable. But here, nothing like that ! Almost until
we reached the bay of Palmeira, it all remained the same. Three volcanos
and dirt ! Nothing else. Life appeared once in the bay. A colorful and
very different life than that of Canarias.
|
Arrival on May 16th, 2002
Let's be honest : at first sight, Palmeira doesn't strike by its beauty
and a gorgeous beach. On one side is a pier with containers piled up,
on the other side, right along the beach, in the middle of some dried
up trees, rises the island's petrole stock. In the bay there are quite
a few boats among them two or three very old and rusty ones. I wonder
how they manage to float !
The village, with its coloured houses and stoned streets is very pleasant.
Children play everywhere, some dunkeys and chicken walk freely around,
an old lady sells bread on a bench, near a guy who sells second hand
shoes.
Palmeira is a good place to enter Cabo Verde. The anchorage is good,
clearance papers were made at the airport nearby, and we began to practice
portuguese with the local people who have been very patient with us
! I can't say that our three months in Lisbon did us a lot of good in
that respect...
.
 But,
when it comes to fishing, Ludo is doing a lot better ! On his first
day out fishing, he came back with 4 kilos of fish, including one big
one. He had never caught fish this big in Canarias. We made our first
barbecue on the beach. Delicious !
On the next day, Viviane went fishing with Ludo for the first time,
and she hadn't been in the water for 5 minutes that she caught a fish
that fed 14 people !!!
Life here is really "tranquilo, tranquilo" for us, and that's
what we needed. Tudo bom !
|
