SAL. 26-28 NOVEMBER 2016

We have to share with you the fabulous meal we had this evening! In the middle of our little town is a Yacht Club, in fact it’s a B & B run by a very elegant, bubbly French lady called Nellie with her spaniel Coffee. If you come to Palmeira you must go and see her. We booked a table for two, Nellie has little English, we have a bit of French. The menu is decided by Nellie based on what you like and what she can get. At 8pm, we sat on her little verandah, just the two of us, it was romantic! We had no idea of cost or what we would get. Firstly, Nellie asked if we’d like an aperitif, oh yes! Nellie came out with two stonking Daquiris, gorgeous! Accompanying these were fresh warm bread, olive tapenade on crostini and small, I think tuna pate type pasties, beautifully shaped. Then, prawn cocktails served in tall cocktail glasses, crisp lettuce and big, big prawns and perfect avocado. She cleared our plates, then followed a shortcrust tart, filled with chopped scallops and topped with a big langoustine, beautiful! Asking us if we enjoyed that, she came out with a plate of twirled up spaghetti, in a concentrated fish and tomato sauce and on the side an even bigger langoustine! We couldn’t believe it and the flavours were superb! We thought that must be it now surely Nellie will serve dessert. Nope. Again, Nellie cleared our plates away, and returned with half a lobster, it’s meat chopped up in a fish sauce with a perfect triangle of tasty spinach topped with what we think was finely chopped salsa. Perfect! Then Nellie excelled herself even more. Dessert. A fine crepe oozing with fresh orange and lashing of Grand Marnier syrup, I truly didn’t want to finish it and made this divine dessert last as long as I could. Then…. out came Nellie again, coffee in pretty little cups and saucers, with shot glasses of her home made Lemoncello liquer, we also sampled her orange liquer! By this time we were joined by Jay and Roberto. Roberto has a charter yacht, White Time moored next to us. Nellie and her helper were done for the evening, what an incredible meal we had, we’ve both eaten in top restaurants, but this meal was far better than anything we’ve had before. Nellie sat down and generously shared her liquers around, we enjoyed a very happy evening sharing our stories and laughter with French, Portuguese, Italian and some English! All this cost Esc 10,200, around £80 including wine and what a fabulous evening. Thank you Nellie!! Terry still hasn’t washed his cheek where he got a kiss from a very elegant French woman! We’ve eaten so well here in this little town, there’s a café that has moist, sticky pineapple upside down cake and chocolate cake, home made and wonderful!

We took some time out from jobs to visit Pedra de Lume, just outside Espargos. Salt was the main export years ago and the salt was dried by pumping sea water inside the crater of an extinct volcano where it evaporated leaving the salt, now it’s only partly used and has been turned into a tourist site. The tunnel into the crater has been opened up and walking through it, you come out into the basin of the crater, with all these salt pools in the middle, it’s incredible! You can swim in the salt lakes, and after a shower, you can have a beer and even a meal, as there’s a bar and restaurant in one of the administration buildings of the old salt works. We spent a good afternoon here bobbing about. If you can manage to get your feet lower into the water, and touch the bottom of the lake, it feels very hot indeed, now we know how a lobster feels in a pan! We were absolutely coated in salt, so much so, we could taste it, so after showering we had to have a beer, or two, by way of a change!

 

SAL, CAPE VERDE. 24-25 NOVEMBER 2016

We still had to visit the Immigration office to get our passports checked, so after a quick swim, we jumped in the dinghy, together with our rubbish we’d accumulated over the last week. The young lads here are keen to earn their own money. As we arrived, lads of 6 to 10 I guess, were jostling to take our rope, already they’ve a good grasp of English, and I strongly suspect many other languages too, handing one of the boys our rope, in a flash he’s tied a perfect bowline knot! We clamber up the uneven, black volcanic rocky side of the quay, dinghies moor further down the quayside to where the fishermen work, it’s no hardship. We hand him some small change and he’s happy, they do well as boaties are coming and going all day, good for them! We’ve no idea where to take our rubbish, there’s nowhere obvious. As we walk down the wide street, another young lad comes up and points to our rubbish and beckons us to follow him. We follow and he takes us to the community dump some small distance away. It’s very good of him and again we hand him some change, though we know he wasn’t doing it for that reason, he simply wanted to help. He’s made up though. We know now that when we come in by dinghy, the boat boys will also take our rubbish if we want them to. There’s no hassling, everything is done with politeness and fun, if you don’t want them to help, it’s no stress and their good humour doesn’t stop.

We go into the Police Station. The immigration office is still shut, we’re asked by another Policeman to come back at 0930. I look at my watch, it says 0940. I let him know and he says “No, no” and points to his watch, it says 0830hrs. We haven’t changed our watches, no wonder if felt way too early when we jumped in over the side for a swim! Doh……. We went for a coffee and eventually got our passports sorted. The day before we met a lovely couple who also sailed here, Mats and Eva, from Sweden. They’d invited us over for drinks, that evening, when we’d got there they were still having tea. We realised now that we’d been an hour early! We were meeting them later today for a meal, so we apologised, it was a good laugh!

We also realised our SIM card wasn’t for calls, just internet. So back to the internet shop and the Manageress. We explained what we needed. “No,no,no!!! You came here, you say you need internet, you get what you ask for!” At 5 foot nothing, with her arms crossed, she was a formidable force and told us off, all the time laced with humour. I took tips, Terry was putty in her hands. She tutted, and with good humour sorted us out yet again. In between telling Terry off, she was multi tasking rollocking another guy, all done with belts of laughter from the rollocker and the rollockee!

That evening we had a really good meal at a café/bar which was very basic, rough wooden floors, clean tables and chairs, rusting light shades above us, with Mats and Eva, and the food was excellent. Fresh meaty grilled fish, no idea what it was, possibly a type of Bonito, freshly cooked onions, carrots and potatoes and a timbale of perfectly cooked rice, washed down with local Cape Verde beer and Portuguese wine, and very reasonably priced.

 

Next day I had to tackle the mountain of washing. Jay had offered to take our laundry, but as some of it had been festering for a few days in salt water, I couldn’t give someone else such a crappy job to do, I love doing laundry by hand. Not. Much. So, back in the dinghy to fill up our containers with water. Being on the anchor, we don’t want to run our water maker unless it’s for a routine check. We’ve got a 250 litre tank and probably half that at present till we fill up before we go. I use sea water for the first wash with detergent, then final rinses in fresh. We have to conserve water where ever we can! It works, the wind blows steadily here, when I hang up two large sheets and a duvet cover, on the lines Terry’s put up for me, it’s enough to move the boat in stronger gusts! Water on the Island comes from a distillation plant and in Palmeira the locals go to the Fountainera and fill up their jerry cans, taking them home in wheelbarrows. It’s a bustling communal place, lots of laughter and children running round. Terry and I wait our turn and for about 20 cents handed to the lady who controls the main water pipe, we fill our containers under one of the four taps. The pressure varies and there’s hoots of laughter when we get splashed by a sudden boost of pressure from the tap! During our time in Palmeira and what ever we are doing alongside the folks who live here, there are bus and coachloads of tourists being taken around the main areas of the town. The Fountainera is a prime spot for these tours. The locals take being gawped at and photographed with indifference, tourists coming into the room where the taps are, brazenly filming folk filling their cans, and not even moving when they are in the way of people trying to get on with life. I feel like we’re in a zoo, it’s not comfortable to be honest. They peer in through the window, crowding around us. Terry and I take photos too, but we ask first, and can see further than the rough buildings and lack of internet, we see people who are handsome, proud, welcoming, intelligent, clean, care for each other and great fun. Their children are loved, well cared for, dressed well, and time given to them, so they are smiley and confident from babyhood. Terry and I love doing day to day jobs in their company, sharing a joke or pleasantry and they like our company too, we’re spending money in the town, beers, food, buying fish off the quay, pocket money for the children, and so on. I hope the tourists who fly in here can see beyond the roads that aren’t made up and the meagre supermarkets. And I’d have the local food any time above the all you can buffet in a tourist hotel further up the coast, my word we’ve eaten well and the hygiene is faultless, puts some cafes in the UK to shame! Terry and I were sat in an Aluguera the other day, we sat in a packed bus full of ease and laughter, what really struck me was how good they smelt, we had come off the boat from working on it, the women were gorgeous and dressed up, I was the grubby one! These people and Sal will stay with us for a long, long time.

 

We had a bit of excitement this morning!!! As we were preparing breakfast Terry looked out of the hatch, all he could see was the blue bow of the biggest tanker we’ve seen here yet! Yachts have to anchor inside a marked line of buoys. We were definitely inside the line, just. I grabbed my camera, Terry grabbed the engine keys, and we both nipped into the cockpit. He looked skywards, shielding his eyes from the sun and shouted up to the two guys in orange overalls peering over the bow waaayyy above us but oh so close. “Are you ok?” They’d be ok, would we?? The two guys rested their hands on the rail of the bow and looked down at us, I was reminded of the scene in the Monty Python film, Search for the Holy Grail with the two knights peering over the castle ramparts. I was waiting for the response “We fart in your general direction and your mother smells of elderberries!” However, they reassured us with a polite  “Oh yes, it’s fine, plenty of room” With open mouths we watched the tanker swing literally twenty foot from us, the bow waved rocked our boat, round the tanker came under complete control and gently stopped at the harbour wall. I don’t ever want to see a tanker that close again!

 

SAL, CAPE VERDES 23 NOVEMBER 2016

Slightly overcast, windy and very warm, we still can’t believe we’re here, on the west coast, anchored in the bay of Palmeira, though the sounds of calypso/salsa drum rhythms and loud lively bantering between fishermen in a language that seems to be a blend of French and Portuguese carrying over the bay towards us makes us realise this isn’t a dream, we really made it this far! All that planning last winter, and studying the group of these tiny Islands on the charts in our cottage dining room seems so far away. It’s incredibly exciting!

Sal is the northernmost Island of the Cape Verdes, it’s the obvious landfall for boats coming from the North because of its port entry in Palmeira, its got an international airport too making it an added advantage for boats changing crews and meeting family and friends. Sal’s main economy years ago was the export of salt, that now has now ceased and tourism is becoming popular. The Cape Verdes were known about in Roman times, but was re-discovered in 1465 by Alvise Cadamosto, a Venetian working for Prince Henry of Portugal. Because of its strategic position on the trade routes, the English and the French fought over the Islands, but Portugal established them as a colony. Francis Drake had a crack in 1584 and 1586. The Portuguese got into the slave trade in the early 17^th century, having a virtual monopoly on it. They traded salt for slaves, shipping large numbers of slave to the Cape Verdes, selling them to the slave ships which would carry them across the Atlantic. Slavery was finally abolished in Portugal in 1879 and not a year too soon. In the first half of the 19^th century Portugal shipped out large numbers of criminals to the Cape Verdes, far more men than woman, resulting in intermarriage between Caucasians and Africans, making a very attractive blend of races. According to Don Street’s Guide to the Cape Verdes in 2011 the population breaks to roughly 10% white, 60% mixed blood and 30% African. The whole history of Cape Verde is fascinating, too much to go into here in any depth, google if it you wish! Today the Islands are seeing a boost from increasing tourism, through yachting and eco tourists who come to walk the hills of the higher Cape Verde islands. Fishing too is an important money earner, especially offshore tuna fishing. They fish for tuna in the proper way, with hook and line rather than nets. Lobsters too, for local consumption and export frozen to Europe. Agriculture is challenging here, so products are grown mainly for their own use. They’re certainly very resourceful in making a living, starting from a young age as we find out! They speak Portuguese and the local patois is Crioulo and spoken everywhere. On listening, there seems to be a smattering of French too, it’s fascinating.

As we were getting the dinghy out, a local motored up to us in his boat and introduced himself as Jay. After asking where we were from and what language we spoke, – he could speak many languages pretty well – he let us know that he could get us anything we need, water, diesel, laundry, shopping, bits for the boat, you name it he can get it. He goes around the boats anchored in the bay each day fetching and delivering, gives him a good living and certainly helps us. On chatting to him later we are reassured there is no crime here, the Police are very active, they don’t want crime here as it would turn away the good business that we bring when we stop here. Things can be left in dinghies, and the dinghies themselves are safe too. It’s reassuring to here this, we have “burglar bars” which we were going to fit to our hatches, but during the time we stayed here, there was no need.

First job is to get checked in with our Ship Registry documents and passports, before that though, a swim! We jump off the side of the boat, it’s really warm, warmer than La Gomera, fabulous! It’s odd seeing Sisu from the water, staring up at her, I feel like the little mermaid looking for her Prince! Terry had his snorkel, mask and fins on, he wanted to check the anchor holding. We discover that actually its only wedged under a rock, not the best! We were going to move anyway and now that some boats have gone, once we’re dried off we up anchor and move to a sandy bed where we drop a couple of anchors for extra security.

Motoring in to the quay we squeeze in between other dinghies, young lads were playing in the water around us a few feet away, up to their knees, Terry leapt out over the side and landed in water up to his chest! He’d found a deeper bit! They roared with laughter as did Terry, when you land in warm water it’s no big deal is it? He went to tie up in a rocky corner of the quay, one of the lads called to him and said “no good, no good!” We didn’t understand at first what he meant, there were other dinghies there so what was the problem? He made a round shape with both his hands together, “sharp” he said. Ah…. Sea urchins! He pointed to where Terry was about to tread, “there, in corner”. Terry’s had an encounter with a sea urchin and didn’t want to reacquaint himself with another! We thanked him. We were met with this willingness to help the whole time.

The folk here are very African, beautiful, chilled and always up for fun, between themselves and with us, they have a sparkle and ready smile. “No stress!” is their mantra, and we hear it time and time again. It’s how they live.

We find the local Police Station which is also the Maritime Police. The Policeman checked our papers, he spoke reasonable English and kept our Ships Registration papers, we’ll get these back when we leave. The immigration office, manned by another Policeman, across the small “hall” is shut. We have to come back next day to get our passports stamped. No stress. Next we need cash, Escudos are the currency here, it’s no surprise to find there’s no ATM in this little town. I still have some Euros and luckily we can change these at the tiny internet shop, now we’ve got enough cash to catch the bus (there are taxis, but these are expensive) to get to an ATM. We’ve missed the bank at Espargos, the capital, which closes at 3pm so we’ll carry on to the airport which has an ATM. I say “bus”, it’s a minibus, of which there are lots, they’re called “aluguer” and are brilliant! The drivers round up people, and they tell the driver where they want to go! If they see you walking on the street, they’ll slow down, beep and ask if you need a ride, they’re not hassling, just asking, as there are no bus stops to speak of. We pile into one, its basic, a bit rough, loud calypso/reggae music blares out from the radio and the dashboard is covered with fake fur, like a stretched out Sesame Street puppet, this keeps the dashboard cool, looks cool too! We squeeze in beside folks with produce, a guy comes on board with a big bag of luggage and goods he is selling, there’s lots of laughter as he passes the luggage through door and we take it across our knees and he squashes in! People are humming to the music and generally enjoying the ride. The windows are wide open and the warm wind blows through, the driver often beeps his horn and shouts to those he knows, asking if people need lifts. We love this place already! We drive through large areas of nothing much, very basic half built houses and buildings, some live in what looks like a house that has the basic outer rendering but not finished, some houses are brightly painted in bright yellow, lime green, striking purple, it all works here. They are all proud of their homes, and outside their doors are always swept and kept free of rubbish. We find this in the town too, the streets are swept clean and though dogs of all mixes roam around, any dog mess is quickly swept up, we’ve been to UK cities where the streets are filthy, not here, there are brooms propped up all over the place, and people are always cleaning up their part of the street or pavement. We are the only two left in the Aluguer when we reach the tiny airport, the driver says he’ll wait for us. We’ve find the ATM and get cash! Now we can get sorted with other things. We take ATM’s for granted at home, here it’s a change of culture, not a culture shock. On the Aluguer we got chatting to a local guy who had good English. He, like other Verdeans are very proud, and rightly so, of where they live, they enjoy their lives here, and yes, it’s basic, but their quality of life and attitude is relaxed and far healthier than many places in the UK. We’re going to enjoy living amongst them.

We need to buy a SIM card, so back in Palmeira we go to the little internet shop and hope we can be understood. The Manageress and a guy are having a lively conversation, the gist of it being about a man and woman in a hotel room, we suspect it’s bawdy going by the raucous laughter! She is so laid back, just getting the card took ages, no stress! We find a couple of grocery shops. In Palmeira groceries are basic, and there’s just a handful of shelves with tinned food, UHT milk, veg consisting of potatoes, carrots, onions, squashes,

peppers and tomatoes. Fruit mainly tired apples, oranges, melons, papaya and rock hard bananas. Eggs are sold in trays, we’ve brought our egg box luckily, otherwise we’d be making an omelette as soon as we got our dry bag back to the boat! There’s beer and wine though so we’re going to be fine! There was chicken, or at least I think it was, it was grey, in a bucket under the veg shelf, hmmm….. pass on that.  I saw one card machine in a café in our town, I tried our Revolut card but it didn’t like that. It’s a cash only place, which is fine, the bus ride to Palmeira to get cash when we need more is only 50cents and worth the fun! Fish is freshly caught every day, and this seems to be the main staple.

We can’t wait to explore further and slot in with the people here, just after our first day, we’re really enjoying ourselves!

 

 

 

LA GOMERA TO SAL, CAPE VERDE, PART 2. 16 – 23 NOVEMBER 2016

Day 4. Sat 19.11.16 Almost half way there, at 1035hrs we had 464 Nm to go, and with very light winds we were motoring! We’ve enough fuel to motor some of the way on this passage, the next one we won’t! The forecast from our Delorme tells us we should have more wind by 2300hrs, possibly rain and rain Sunday, what?? Rain??! Terry saw a couple of dolphins come past us whilst he was having a quick loo break and I was asleep in the berth, but they didn’t stop, not even to ride our bow wave, no audience to put on a show for! We scrubbed out the cockpit, there was still some black volcanic sand from La Gomera and crap that somehow accumulates under seats and up in the sprayhood as we sail, how? Like navel fluff, how does that get there? These things are life’s mysteries.

It was good to do normal housework jobs, brushing the floor, it felt good to be doing jobs, the seas are so much more settled now, and makes daily life so much easier, cooking becomes a pleasure and not a circus clown’s act, I was able to stir eggs into fried rice, rather than inadvertently throw them around the galley! Another dark night, the moon and stars tried to peer through the clouds, muffled as if cloaked in black muslin. Phospherence sparkled around us, it’s far brighter in these seas, big lumps of phospherence too, glowing white hot in our wake. Looking across the darkness I could see cresting waves bearing crowns of stars and diamonds, really very beautiful.

Day 5. Sun 20.11.16. I came off my watch at 0500hrs, Terry took over and at 0900hrs, Terry woke me, “Dolphins!!” A small pod of Spotted Atlantic Dolphins were thoroughly enjoying themselves around Sisu, looking at us as they went past our cockpit. As the seas were settled and so clear, we clipped on and went to the bow to watch them better. Slightly smaller than their common dolphin cousins, they rolled and twisted, cruised and powered underneath, around and ahead of us, not going too far ahead, with a flick of their tail they would twist and come in behind us for another ride. We could clearly see their spotted bodies, the younger ones yet to develop the markings which give them their name. They have a slightly longer beak too. It never ceases to amaze, they have the space of the oceans around them, we are hundreds of miles from anywhere, yet they chose to come and make contact with us, playing around us for nearly an hour, yet the other day when no one was on deck for a few minutes they didn’t stay. We watch these stunning creatures race through waves from a great distance to see us, we witness this time and after time. They trust us, how do they know we won’t harm them? How I wish we could understand their language. It’s always such a privilege and lifts our spirits every time.

Today I washed my hair! Felt good too. Our clothes feel “sticky” due to being outside most of the time, apart from sleeping, and the salt in the air clings. The fleece and trousers we wear at night are really tacky to put on, but still, it’s far better than the layers of t shirts, fleeces, trousers, over trousers, hats and gloves we need to keep warm when we’re sailing back at home! I’m even able to write up some blog on the laptop! This is more like it. Our surroundings feel natural now, sea 360 degrees around us nearest land the coast of Africa over 200 miles away, and apart from the dolphins we haven’t seen anything else, not even birds. Terry had had the sails goose-winged  (one either side as the wind was directly behind us) early on in the evening, by 0200hrs the wind had changed so we carried out a controlled gybe, easier this time as we were ready for it!

Day 6. Mon 21.11.16. brought heavy rain! Terry grabbed the opportunity of being a naturist, any excuse…. Stripping off, he got his shower gel and had a good old scrub in the downpour showering in the cockpit, working up a lather he sang a rousing chorus of “Just One Cornetto” he’s class! It was a pity we didn’t have any washing to speak of, I could have done that too!

Our GPS stated we were 36 hours from Sal, what a mental boost! In the rain the winds came and went, by lunchtime the wind had got up enough to put a reef in, so out we went from under the shelter of the sprayhood, a bit later, the wind died down, so out we ventured again to shake the reef out, a bit later we put the reef back in, a sailing boat version of the Hokey Cokey!

Whilst reefing Terry noticed that on the mast, a car slide just above the first reef had parted from the car, it’s fixable, and luckily not a big job. Sisu is having to work hard and it’s not unusual to have bits wear and tear, this is why checking and maintenance is vital and a priority. This becomes apparent later on when we reach Sal, as you’ll find out!

The early evening and curtain up time for yet another Dolphin show!! Fifteen or more Spotted Atlantic Dolphins, the sea was brisk and it was raining so I didn’t want to risk damaging our decent camera, so we just enjoyed the time with them and what a show! Tail slapping, leaping out high into the air, spinning and throwing themselves back into the sea, a final burst of high energy before settling down, tremendous! We’ve seen this massive level of activity around this time of day, early dusk before in the Scillies, the noise they make hurling themselves around is such that you can almost feel the sound waves! Flying fish are making a more regular appearance too, a large one flew not far from us, it’s common to have them fly across your boat and occasionally thwack you, that’s going to be an experience!

Day 7. Tues 22.11.16. After regular attempts at fishing and much teasing, Terry finally caught a fish!!! A decent sized Bonito, with mixed feelings of exhilaration of the catch and sadness at having to kill it, we appreciated it’s beauty, and, with the absence of vodka, we swiftly despatched the noble, green and gold fish with Lidl’s Gin, any alcohol kills them instantly when dripped in the gills ( thank goodness we’re not fish!) . Terry gutted it over the side, we saw the full extent of the blood bath when once anchored in Sal, we swam around to the stern! We only catch what we need.  Quickly and simply fried in olive oil it tasted fabulous, meaty, not unlike tuna.

By 1230hrs we had 79 Nm to go, yippeeee! After trying to make as good a speed as comfortable, we then, conversely, had to slow down so as not to arrive in the night at Baia da Palmeira. According to Don Street’s pilot book there are unlit mooring buoys for tankers and we have to stay outside a box formed by four buoys, the pick up buoy for the fuel line is in that area, unmarked and usually a couple of feet under water! Good enough reason to arrive in good daylight then. We also have to stay outside a no anchoring area so that ships and tankers can manoeuvre alongside the quay. A few days later we witnessed just what he meant!

We planned to arrive the following morning, and were looking forward to it. However, the sea hadn’t quite finished having fun with us. I went below to rest at 2200hrs in readiness for my watch at 2300hrs. Over that hour I could hear the winds increasing, I poked my head out of the cockpit to find Terry concentrating hard at the wheel, steering in extremely strong conditions. The noise was terrific, howling through the rigging, he’d fitted a preventor on the boom so we couldn’t accidentally gybe. He’d let the mainsail out to lessen the impact of the wind but in the end we could not hold our course with the main sail up as the wind was hard on the stern. I quickly dashed below and got dressed. Once again I was terrified, but there’s no time for fear, fear brings panic and panic can bring injury or worse, it just has to be bitten down. I took the helm from Terry, and focussed on the job in hand. We would need to take the sail down completely. The headsail was already in. Again, I must stress here, it wasn’t dangerous, just a lot of noise and speed, lions and tigers and bears oh no!! I did have a whimper, Terry said there’s no time for that – just get behind the wheel! I stood firm, again, we’ve faced just the same coming out of Peel harbour – but it was dark which adds to the whole scenario. I got a grip, Terry clipped on and went forward, earlier I’d put on the decklight so he could see. Staying low, he worked his way to the mast and bracing himself on the granny bars, he perched low as I turned Sisu bucking and prancing into the wind, Terry was outlined, the spray lit up as high as he was sat there were still flying fish leaping out of the waves higher than him, they shone bright white, caught in the glare of the big decklight. In the middle of this, what was actually about five minutes of madness and noise these bizarre fish were flying around Terry, flying against our bouncing boat hull! I could hear the thwack! as they accidently hurled themselves against Sisu’s side, flying way above the guard rails, some reaching Terry’s head height, it was too surreal and funny for me to be properly scared, how the hell did life turn out like this? It’s as far removed from watching Strictly slobbed out on the couch as could be. On his way back towards the cockpit, he suddenly stopped. “What’s wrong?!” Terry said grinning, “I had to pick up a flying fish which had landed on the deck, I slipped on it when I first went past to take the sail down!” With the main sail dropped things calmed down and we bare poled onwards at 5-6 knots. We still had the rest of the night to go, watches weren’t an option, and though Terry said to go below and sleep, I was too wired up with adrenalin and wanted to keep Terry company. The winds settled and we took it in turns to doze in the cockpit, that first beer in Sal is going to taste fabulous!

Day 8. Wed 23.11.16 In the small hours, we could make out the loom of Sal, what a heartening sight. It was overcast and cloudy, hmmmm…. Like home! By 10am after easily motoring round the fuel line buoys we were anchored, not quite where we wanted, the bay was pretty full, but good enough for tonight. Beer first with a good breakfast, hey wouldn’t you have beer at that time in the morning too?! Then, we slept. We’d arrived in the Cape Verdes!!!!! 810 Nautical miles in 8 days!! When we awoke later, we took a walk around the deck to check out our new surroundings, there were flying fish on the deck and it was 24 C, we’re definitely not in Peel anymore!

LA GOMERA TO SAL, CAPE VERDES, PART ONE. 16 – 23 NOVEMBER 2016 810 Nautical Miles 8 Days

 

810 Nautical Miles 8 DAYS

Day 1. 16.11.16 A bright sunny morning, 10am, John, Ellie, Steve,Jody and Julia wave us off, Mike, her partner, is teaching a sailing course this week, so he’s already out sailing. We exchange our goodbye’s and “see you soon!”, I’m quite teary this time, as we motor out of our pontoon and past our friends, I miss them already, we’ve had such a good time, but this is the way it is in the sailing community, they are all moving on too, and catching up somewhere on our travels will be all the richer.

Just outside the harbour, as we put up the mainsail we see Mike on his training yacht with his crew for the week and give each other a big wave, and we are off! In a short while we are in the company of Pilot whales, including calves. What a send off! They stay with us for a while, cruising round us within a 100 yards, completely relaxed, their bulbous black heads taking a casual glance once in a while, we can hear their breaths as they take their time travelling past us. The calves keep close to their mothers, and we can see the exchange of touch with a fin or flank, reassuring each other that they are close, the mother gently guiding her baby along if he or she dawdles, as toddlers tend to do. A Cory’s Shearwater  circles around us, flying ahead then turning at our bow and gliding past our stern. She stayed with us for a while, a turtle paddled past, following the path of his ancestors, these are sights we miss when we’re moored up in a Marina and we settle into knocking the miles off our GPS, each 100 clocked off is a mental boost and boy we enjoy seeing the 100 digit drop!

No time to daydream, we hit a wind acceleration zone, one of many around the Islands here, the wind increases immediately our speed accordingly, keeps you on your toes! The zones are marked in Pilot books and on internet wind sights you can clearly see the effect of wind around the Islands however they are not constant and you cannot see them coming. The Islands also have “wind shadows” at the end of an Island, due to wind blowing over the top of each Island depending on its topography. Between Tenerife and Las Palmas are wind acceleration zones, dividing the strong winds down the side of Hierro, these Islands are renowned for the changeable winds, they can be exhilarating, unpredictable or down right trouble and occasionally scary. Dusk was creeping in, and I was glad we’d had a good lunch earlier, we suspected evening watches & tea were unlikely, the sea became rather lively, winds were gusting stronger than predicted, due to the zones, predictions are not an exact science. Now dark, I took the helm steering as Terry went forward to reef the mainsail. I was scared, with knees knocking I kept her steered into the wind, we weren’t in any danger, but it was very dark, making the situation dramatic, we’ve been in worse in the Irish Sea!!! Once again, I tell myself “It’s just a bit of sea, just a bit of wind, just a bit of noise”, Like Dorothy in The Wizard of Oz, “Lions and tigers and bears oh no!!!!” Once the mainsail was reefed, Terry came back into the cockpit and took over. Suddenly, the moon illuminated the scene as the wind ramped up a few knots, we stared up at the boom as in that split second it whammed across the cockpit in a massive gybe and back again, SLAMMMMM!! The noise and violence of the action made us grit our teeth and flinch. A gybe can cause major damage to a boom, in some cases breaking it off from the mast or sweep the crew off the deck, we were lucky, but it’s definitely not something you want to happen. I’ll be honest, I lost some nerve here and felt I couldn’t do this, I was terrified. We were not in danger, it was just very uncomfortable, Terry doesn’t enjoy these conditions either, do many sailors?! (I’m writing this sat in the saloon in chilled Sal, Cape Verde, trying to recapture the feeling for our blog, it’s funny how looking back, I now think, well, that wasn’t so bad, bit scary, but that was all!) in daylight and if it had happened in the Irish sea we are familiar with but which are notorious for sailing in, I would have been fine, but here, in the dark, with the seas hissing and roaring past us, strong winds, and the long night still ahead of us, it was suddenly too much for me. I was bitterly disappointed in myself, we’d sailed over 2,800 miles, through loads of rough stuff, I knew the facts, that sailing gets better the further South we journeyed, and the Trade Winds are predictable, but my personal self-belief took a knock. I never thought I’d feel like this. Terry was utterly supportive and kind, our relationship mattered more to him than anything and we would work through this together. For now, though we had a long first night ahead of us. Terry steered all night, Sisu pitched, rolled and corkscrewed.

Day 2. 17.11.16 After a long, exhausting night, the day dawned, bathing our two knackered bodies in bright early morning sunshine. We were hungry, dehydrated and tired. The sea had settled, we had Frederick our wind vane steering us and we ate and dozed through the day, head and main sail poled out in a goosewing. Talk about from the ridiculous to the sublime! Terry assessed the boom for damage, the bracket that secures the main sheet (rope) that controls the boom had nearly sheared off and was hanging on with one bolt, but that was all and he could easily fix this when we reached Sal, one of the Cape Verde Islands, which was a relief.  We were rolling from side to side all the time, making simple tasks a huge effort, making tea, going to the loo, washing ourselves, every action requires you to brace yourself and time your moves, and this was only the second day! Great for firming up muscles, we’ve got six packs, no bingo wings and butts of steel! Even better is the sheer amount of calories burnt up, cakes, chocolate all manner of goodies are inhaled with abandon, we need the fuel! I’m learning passages take time to bed in, and adapt to, and when you get a first night like that it’s not the best start! The day passed well, and by 6pm it was already dark, when we ate a tasty tea of chorizo and beans and got ready for our respective shifts. There had been a super moon three or four nights ago, and by 10pm the super moon was still bright enough to make night like a dull day, we read our kindles, wondered at the universe above us and saw one ship, which was quite startling actually, we’d got used to seeing the single line of our course on the chart screen with nothing else within 50 miles!!!

Day 3. 18.11.16 dawned with more cloud cover, cooler too, so it was easier to do jobs on the boat and we felt more rested. A good wash makes us feel better too, some normality! Terry put out the towed generator over the stern, Jeanette we call her, giving us free energy. There’s many apocryphal stories about sharks biting off the propeller on the end of the towed generator, I think we’re ok here! He then had a walk around the boat, checking over things, then some repair work to the floor in the heads, I write up my hand written diary, it’s surprising how fast the time goes! By 1300hrs we’ve 567 Nm to go, doing 4 to 5 knots, a steady enough speed and the conditions are stable. Terry went below to rest around 1800hrs after a good tea of Canary potatoes and courgettes, so full of flavour, chorizo, tin of tomatoes and Suzy Wongs seasoning we brought from home, a hearty one pot meal. We had the main and head sail up, winds were light Easterly. The moon finally made an appearance at 2300hrs, it makes such a difference mentally to have her watching us. At 0400hrs we weren’t making any progress, 2 knots – that’s how contrary the conditions can be around here – so Terry fired up the engine, we’re not purists!

LA GOMERA PART TWO 8 – 16 NOVEMBER 2016

TOURISTS, PART TWO!

We’d hired the car for two days so we explored the south to Playa de Alojera. I swear the seat of the hire car must have indents gouged into the passenger seat where I’ve gripped as we drive down the tight, often one car width corkscrewing road, down, down, down from the top of a valley between the ravines to find, remarkably to me, villages and towns! The logistics of erecting the buildings and infrastructure is incredible, and never ceased to amaze me during our time here. The town is split into two, the road continues down to the sea, and in a tiny bay were just a handful of houses along the beach, what a hideaway! There was even a little restaurant! Terry chose a tuna salad, it was fabulous and fresh, no stinting on quantity. There were several cats roaming around the seats and tables, they thought they’d be in luck as this human had a tuna salad, so they bided their time under Terry’s seat. No chance. Sorry cats, you lucked out with this diner!

We’ve been incredibly impressed with the scenery here, do visit if you can. Everyone is familiar with Tenerife and Lanzarote, but La Gomera is a little haven of excellent walking, spectacular views, great food very well priced and a friendly chilled atmosphere.

 

Time to move on.

Soon it was back to jobs and shift our focus and mental space onto the next passage to Sal, Cape Verde. The time has flown, we’ve enjoyed the company, laughter and advice of Americans John and Ellie of Sincerity who were next door to us. They’ve sailed everywhere, yet so understated, they’ve really expanded our goals, and have been a source of inspiration, support and superb one liners! We’ve enjoyed Mike Brooks and Julia of Exulans. Great couple, Mike, like us, was fed up with the dreary winters in the UK and with Julia his Romanian partner took off sailing. How wise, they’ve got at least two decades head start on us, the world really is their oyster! They’re boat is a similar size, they too have been a driving force for us, we shared a convivial evening on Sisu celebrating our three months being away! Steve and Jody of EnaVego whom we first met in Santa Cruz, then Madeira and now here again have been great fun and good to know better. Neil and Helen McCubbin and Pam and Dennis whom we’ve sailed with now for some months and places always a welcome sight to see their Canadian flag, the friendship and fun gets better! As we’ve travelled we’ve been catching up with friends we’ve got to know and meeting new ones, it’s a friendly, sharing and helpful community, I now look out for boats we may have seen earlier. It’s like train or plane spotting, and this is reciprocated, it’s good to tick off a boat you’ve come across earlier, and ask each other where and when you were there and what your plans are.

As we’ve sailed, the weather, mostly, has been improving. It’s hard to believe it’s November, back home Christmas preparations will have started, there’s evidence here too, it’s odd seeing Christmas lights going up in the street in 24 deg of heat and sun, I think we’ll be sailing across the Atlantic on Christmas Day, where the heck will I get a turkey?! Terry and I have packed away a present to give each other, actually it’s the two things I know for sure where it was put way back at the beginning of August! It’s common to lose stuff on boats, and a great fount of conversation and comparison!

 

The last day consists of saying goodbye, for now, to our friends, “see you further on!” I’d hoped to get the blog up to date, no chance, too many happy evenings in great company, there’ll be time another day. Final goodbye to the lovely staff in the Marina who complete our clearance papers for leaving Europe, later we’ll hand our security card back which gives us access into the Marina. We stock up again, this time there’s so much we take the supermarket trolley down the streets, back to the Marina, unpack and wheel it back again! Label up the tins, as the paper around the tin may come off, this saves the peaches and potatoes meal……. Try to stop Terry tearing into the chocolate! I log what food we have on the Ipad and where it is, at least we know at the start of the passage what we’ve got, so we can plan meals, not that we ever do but the theory is good, at the next long leg we do the same again. What a job, food goes under the seats so again it’s take the “settee” apart and fill underneath with tins and packets. It’s hot and sweaty work, time for final beer once this job’s done! I like to give Sisu a clean up inside, there won’t be much chance once we get going. I put bits away that make our floating home, a home, the fruit bowl, cushions, secure anything loose, put the tea light holder into bubble wrap for now, get out the lifejackets. Get the bedding out and ready for sharing the single berth as we’ll be on watch each night. While Terry sorts the sails, checks the engine and sets the lines ready to cast off. There’s a definite shift in mind set, starting to cut ourselves loose again, mentally preparing for the trip ahead, we’ve watched the weather and wind, now it’s time to set off for Sal in the Cape Verde Isles 810 Nautical miles away. We will be sailing at least 200 miles offshore with the Sahara desert on our Port (left side) and the expanse of the Atlantic ocean on our Starboard ( right side) with nowhere to stop in between.

LA GOMERA 8 – 16 NOVEMBER 2016

TOURISTS!

We found time to have a look round this beautiful Island, hiring a car for a couple of days. As much as we’d like to be tourists and go into holiday mode each place we visit, Sisu has to work hard and she is our priority, she’s our transport and our home! Boat jobs and cleaning her up are never finished…… but at least got on top of for a while, then we can take a look round.

Garajonay National Park is in the central uplands covering 10% of the total area of La Gomera. Alto de Garajonay is it’s highest point at 1,487 metres, rising out of the luxuriant evergreen forest, contrasting to the predominantly arid island. The forests have come about due to the peculiar climate in the area, with frequent mists and high humidity due the altitude. The mist is vital to the functioning of the unique ecosystem of Garanjonay, reducing evaporation loss and at the same time depositing water on the vegetation below. The forestation is vast, with just under 20 tree species, including Wax Myrtle, Laurisilva, Indian Avocado, (the small, pale green turnips masquerading as avocados as home bear no resemblance to these gorgeous, and dare I say it, unctuous, beauties we’re enjoying here) and Mahogany Laurel. The lichen covering the tree bark and pretty, spiral ferns make for enchanted forests as we peer into their depths. The forests are a veritable relic, typical of the forests that populated the Mediterranean region millions of years ago, during the Tertiary Age. The Island hosts flora and fauna unique in the world due to its isolation. As we drove higher towards the mountain, we travelled through hot dry winding hairpin roads onto twisting narrower roads running with water! The mist dripped off the lichen covered bushes and Laurel trees, even having to resort to windscreen wipers! There is excellent walking here, we managed a quick hike, the routes for walkers are those trod for centuries, criss crossing the island and well signed, I wish we’d had more time, we can always come back! Another unique feature of La Gomera is Silbo, a kind of whistling language. The locals use it, and in fact it’s being taught in schools here, for transmitting spoken language over the long distances, shouting isn’t going to work here in this mountainous terrain, however whistling does, carrying superbly between the deep ravines and canyons. This could have been a useful skill when Terry and I are attempting to communicate when it’s blowing a hoolie!

Next stop Agulo, a pretty and small district, with one of the best preserved architectural centres of the archipelago, in the deep valley basin. Just in time for lunch! Agulo is in shadow from the end of November to 3 February, no, we’ve no idea how this date is so precise, caused by the incredibly steep slopes of Risco de la Zula, the story goes this is Zula’s revenge to the death of his beloved Brante as punishment to the family’s opposition to their love. I guess if you’re used to wall to wall sunshine as you would be living here, then months spent in shade is a real bummer, to be honest we thought it was just like an average November day, in fact a reasonable day, when we visited in the time “of the great shadow”! We could see a skywalk building way up above us, so we took a drive up to see what it was all about. Just before we reached Mirador de Abrante, we bumped into Steve and Jody, (we met in Maderia, and also staying in the marina and following a similar route as us) the expression on Steve’s face is priceless as we walked over the glass floor, way, way, way out over a sheer drop down a canyon! When you dare look over the balcony outside, it’s worth it, with the view of the majestic Teide Peak on Tenerife in the  distance.

The Isle of Man is full of traditions and Agulo has a pretty neat one, one of many in fact, but you can google them if you wish. This particular tradition held on the 24^th April is the Feast of San Marcos. The Feast’s highlight is that they jump over bonfires. Along the street in front of the church are placed a series of bonfires made of juniper wood in a row with a small gap in between. One of the photos on an information board showed men  leaping over the fires in gratitude to the patron saint of the municipality. I suspect there’s a larger and heartfelt leap of gratitude afterwards to the saint of fire proof underwear………

 

The four of us in two separate cars then took a spin to Vellehermoso. A wrong turn on the way, proved four sailors who can plot courses across the seas with no road signs can mis read a map on land, there’s only one around the perimeter of the island and one road branching into two over the top!! The boys blamed us girls, naturally….. I don’t think so!

Bananas are the main crop here and we came across a disused banana factory built right on the edge of the volcanic rocks of a small bay, it was like no other factory we have ever seen, like a small medieval castle with a narrow one person wide walkway, leading us up to one of the factory buildings, which itself was topped with castellation’s like a miniature castle, rather Pirates of the Caribbean! All in all, good day away from chores in excellent company!

 

 

LA GOMERA, TENERIFE 9 – 15 NOVEMBER 2016

 

La Gomera is the 2^nd smallest Island in the 7 Canary Isles archipelago, with approx 22,000 smiling and friendly folk. Our marina is in San Sebastian, the capital. The clean streets are laid out in a grid pattern with excellent cafes, bars and restaurants, and as there’s only 4 to 5 streets crossing each other, for once I can re find shops! Two huge ferries arrive daily dropping off tourists. One, a fast craft is guided in by a small pilot boat, helping the ferry to slot in its tight spot between the other ferry and a classic 3 masted schooner, for these 3 vessels, the harbour wall appears to stretch like something from Alice in Wonderland to accommodate them all. To reach the city centre the tourists file past our marina, often sitting on the low wall taking pictures of us and our boats, we feel like part of the tourist attractions! They’ve come to a good place, the atmosphere is relaxed and there’s a lot of good walking, beaches to swim off and wonderful local food.

I’m writing this en route to Sal, Cape Verde, I ran out of time at La Gomera to get up to date, don’t ask how, the days just disappeared! The seas are steady enough to type, not good for sailing which would be preferable. Tapping away reminds me of doing my homework on the bus, a bad practice which has now however proved to be a useful skill! So, referring to my daily (ish) hand written diary here’s a ramble over a few blog entries of what we got up to during our time in this beautiful place.

Our days usually began with a snorkel and dive, no sniggering in the back……… off the sandy black beach next to the marina, so many fish, wrasses, parrot fish, angel fish, big pipe fish and neons, we could watch at close quarters shoals of fish rooting and feeding around and between the black volcanic rocks. The seas are getting warmer, no faffing about now, straight in!

La Gomera is pretty much the final chance at provisioning and checking the boat over, and most importantly, socialising with our sailing friends before our final two big jumps offs to the Carribean. One job is keeping the hull as clean as we can. The marina water here is so clear we could see some barnacles growing on Sisu’s hull. After one of our swims Terry eased himself off the edge of our pontoon, past the razor sharp barnacles growing on the sides of the pontoon and as I rigged a rope from bow to aft he clung on to the rope working his way along the hull scraping of Sisu’s irritation with my wooden spatula. As we’ll be washing cutlery and crockery in sea water once we set off, an early dip in the sea with one of our utensils won’t do any harm! Once he was ok – it wasn’t practical or room for us both to scrub I went to town and treated us both to tough plastic scrapers from the local Oriental supermarket, 3 floors of “Ooh, just what we were looking for” and “that would be handy on the boat!”

Internet in the Marina is poor, so it’s a 5 minute slog in the heat to The Kiosk, where we rehydrate with a beer and check emails and see what’s happening with family and friends, of course we need an extra beer “for the road” back to the boat. The Kiosk became an informal meeting up place for us in the Marina, we would share our news and internet time could extend into the evening!

Our bimini, now a fixture in the cockpit required tweaking. It’s going to take a lot of bashing from squalls, wind and ice cold beer times as we seek shade from the sun, so we’ve been re-enforcing stitching and adding straps. Though I’m not at my best sewing, I’m pleased with my hand stitching where we needed more tape! This craftsmanship was carried out in adverse conditions, we had strong winds for about 4 days blowing a right hoolie funnelling down the valley and through the marina, we all bounced about on our ropes day and night. We couldn’t use our cockpit of an evening as it was so windy, although it was a warm wind! The boats with all round zip up side panels to their biminis could still sit out of an evening in their cockpits with their beer and local crisps, damn them. It was a few days before the wind died down we could do the same. We’re still working on our side panels, and for that we’ve got white, strong foam floor covering at Euros 3.99 a metre bought in Santa Cruz. We’re going to look unique for a fraction of the price and proud of it!

Terry also checked  the filters on our water maker, it was filthy, good to see its doing its job. He also got both salt water taps working, one in the galley, the other in the heads. Once we leave here we’ll be conserving fresh water so washing up in salt water with a quick rinse in fresh, washing hands, teeth etc. We have a towed generator and Terry checked this over, securing the rope which will go over the stern attached to this is a propeller. This turns turning the rope attached to the generator which is connected to our batteries. Our engine also charges our batteries, as we won’t be using our engine very much at all on the last leg and of course electricity is still required for our chart plotter and lights etc. We’ll use the towed generator for the first time when we leave La Gomera. We’ve also got 4 solar panels and these have been creating power for us in the marina.

There’s no washing machine here though washing can be taken to a service launderette in town. I’m happy to get my bucket out and get up to my armpits in bubbles, closest thing I’ll get to a bath for now…….. Due to the high winds in the marina a quick visit to the Oriental shop and bingo, more clothes pegs. We use large bag clips that you use to tie up bags of food and so on. No metalwork to rust and they fasten very securely on guard rails and ropes. Terrys undies are never going to fly free with these clips securing ‘em!

One major job I had to do was get my hair cut. Last time was in September at Pavoa de Varzim. I sought the advice of the marina secretary who signed us in with her tremendous sense of fun and perfect English. “Hola” she beamed and greeted me when I sat at her desk. “Hola, I wonder if you can help? My hair has gone mad and badly needs a cut. Can you recommend a hairdresser por favor?” She studied at me closely for a long second or two and said a long “Yesssss”. “Yeah, I know, it’s really bad isn’t it, I’ve just got mad hair!” I laughed. She burst out laughing too realising I thought she meant my hair really did need something doing with it and said “No, no, it’s not that!” I agreed with her, she was perfectly correct in her response, my hair has run amok, it’s also three colours, sun bleached brassy, an alarming amount of white sprinklings, and what I guess could be my original colour growing out by 2 inches from my scalp, haven’t seen it for years! It is certainly natural…….. She told me about the hairdresser she uses and how about she rang her now to see if she was free. “Si, bele, muchos gracias!” Yes, ok, many thanks! (I’m getting the hang of basic Spanish now!) She rang her hairdresser and got me an appointment straight away, fab! I sat in a smart, busy hair salon down a side street, with a gaggle of lovely old ladies, who cackled and gossiped as they got their hair coloured and cut and got the best haircut since I left home. The salon owner asked did I want it coloured, but what’s the point? It’s going to get bleached and I’m curious to see what transpires, colour wise. I reserve the right to change my mind…….

 

 

 

SAN MIGUEL, TENERIFE TO LA GOMERA TUES 8 NOVEMBER 2016 27 Nautical Miles, 5 hours

A bright, early start for us, 7am, as Sisu isn’t keen on backing out we wanted to take advantage of the early morning calm before the wind across the marina freshened. Our cunning plan worked and we left the marina in winds too light to sail. We were aware of wind acceleration zones around the Islands and sure enough we hit them as soon we came out of the marina, winds that were meant to have been 15 knots accelerated to well over 20 knots, which is fine as we were going downwind,so we used a reefed headsail only. These zones are so rapid in change, in a matter of minutes, from steady wind to boom! An increase by 10 or more knots, which can be dramatic if they catch you unawares.

To our starboard side the volcanoTeide, towered over Tenerife, dressed in the early rose light of a new day’s sun, wearing a flattering mantle of pure white soft cloud. An elderly guardian over the Island she created, the exploding, volatile anger in her youth now spent, she appeared to just want a quiet life watching the centuries pass by.

Devoted readers of our blog will be familiar with my sea sickness, so in an effort to make the tale more pleasant for our readers I thought I’d try Stugeron. Having taken sea sickness pills in my early childhood when travelling on the ferry to Ardossan or Liverpool I just remember they made me feel more queasy than the actual sea sickness! I was rather wary of the side effects of Stugeron and didn’t want to feel drowsy either. However, on a half dose of Stugeron drops taken the night before, I must say that given how rolly our trip was due to the long rolling swells, I felt great, what a refreshing relief, to me and probably more so for Terry who didn’t have to listen to my “singing” to the sea! Must remember to take a dose before we leave La Gomera. It would be such a relief too for our readers, keep your fingers crossed folks!

Once we were a third or so of the way over we began to see Pilot whales. Tenerife has apparently up to 21 different species, from the colossal Blue whale to Orcas. Pilot whales, are also known as Calderon dolphins and part of the oceanic dolphin family. They are odontocete, a toothed cetacean. They’re considered whales because of their size, as adult males can exceed 5 metres in length or to put another way nearly half as big as our boat. They can weigh between 1 and 2 tonnes and can swim to a depth of 1,000 metres for over 20 minutes, allowing them to hunt giant squid. Luckily for us Pilot whales are the least migrant of the marine species in the world, with resident pods in Tenerife, they’re sociable and have a strong sense of family or group, and as they do not hide from humans we can study them quite easily and so we did! We were fortunate to see four separate pods over the 27 miles, as many as a dozen or more in a pod. Now we recognised the clues to where we may see whales or dolphins, as once again a flock of seabirds were diving into the jeans blue water, and in the middle of the activity were a pod of almost black coloured Pilot whales. They were fishing, their wide based dorsal fins are set forward, curving back towards the tail. Compared to a common or a bottle nosed dolphin they’re not the prettiest, to be honest, with a bulbous, globe shaped head, however, their slight beak gives them a redeeming grin. They ignored us, intent on feeding, taking their time, staying on the surface alongside, in front and behind us. This gave me the opportunity to catch some good film, including one whale in the pod “spy hopping”. They literally stand on their tails, and vertically raise the top half of their body out of the water, to “spy” what’s around them, in this case it was us. I’d never seen this before so this was really exciting and such a clear action, with his head held high out of the water he studied us as much as we were studying them! We slowed right down, we didn’t want to hit any of them, unlike common dolphins, these guys don’t play in your bows, rather like walking through a field of cows, they just carried on with their business, steadily grazing past, occasionally taking a look at us. One of the pods came right across us, so we had to stop the engine and drift, this made taking photos or film difficult due to the rolling swell, and they took their time going past, it was good to just watch instead of being behind a lens. Another pod had a couple of calves with them, and we noticed the adults kept them corralled in the middle of the group, taking care of their offspring. We could clearly study their odd shaped heads, rather like the slightly domed head of a Risso’s dolphin that we encounter back home. The Pilot whale’s fin has a definite deep curve, and solid, unlike the common dolphins narrower racing style fin, it was wonderful to be able to watch them. The thrill never goes away!

Our bimini is making such a difference to our time in the cockpit, be it sailing, at anchor or in a marina creating shade. Whilst sailing, it’s too easy to not notice we’re in direct sun all day, now with the bimini up all the time, we feel really feel better for the shade. We’ve a few modifications to make to it, and we’ll do the necessary tweaks when we’re in La Gomera, and we can have a beer after the jobs done!

Nearing La Gomera our peripheral vision caught the weirdest sight! A flying fish about 20 yards away literally flew just ahead of us!! I’d never seen one before, about the size of a mackerel, but narrower, pale coloured with slender, delicate fins/wings almost the length of it’s body, it had leapt out of the water and with it’s wings, it skittered over the surface, with it’s tail just touching the waves, for quite a distance, a good 30 yards or so before “landing”. An incredibly bizarre thing to see! We’ll see these fish more often the further south we sail, from what we’ve heard, they make quite good eating, if a little bony, I’ll give it a go!

We radioed La Gomera Marina as we drew close to find out if they space for us. This is a popular transition marina for heading South, we’d seen yachts leaving so we hoped we’d be lucky. The marina couldn’t make a reservation before we set off due to the volume of yachts coming and going, but it was fine, there was room for another marina bed fellow. The harbour is shared with Fred Olsen and the local ferries. Ferry engine noise at night yet again!!!! A long curved channel of yellow buoys marks the harbour area given to the ferries and us, following the buoys we motored into the Marina, following the Marinero in his rib, between a line of small motor boats and pontoon ends. The wind had really picked up, great timing….. another Marinero was waiting at our berth, at the end of the last finger of a pontoon. We had to turn sharply in a narrow space and facing the way we’d come, turn into our berth. A straightforward manoeuvre, but when the wind is funnelling down the valley, gusting us away from our berth and across the line of sailing and motor boats, let’s just say we had a bit of a challenge! Terry did a grand job in a tight spot and earned his beer that afternoon!

After our beer we took our papers to the Marina office. We were greeted by the Marina cat, called Marina, how original! She immediately made a fuss of Terry, climbing up onto his lap, the lovely Marina Secretary chased Marina off, Marina sloped off to lie on a nearby desktop! The Secretary made us so welcome, her humour in excellent English has been a treat each time we went into the office. We booked in for a week Euros124.75 inc a Marina discount of 5%, our time here was described by her as “for this week, we will look after you and consider you as our family, then…… after a week, when you go….. poufff……. We are separated, over!” Brilliant!! The Marina staff are friendly and helpful. The showers and loos are spotless. Though there are no laundry facilities, there’s a service laundry 5 minutes walk away, I chose to get the bucket out, give my bingo wings a work out! The Marina is secure, entry by card and there’s always Marineros around day and night. We ate out and found a great little restaurant, good house red, local produce, and very, very reasonably priced. La Gomera has a good feel about it, we’ve got a decent beach with a sheltered bay right next to us, we’re going to enjoy our time here!

 

 

SANTA CRUZ, TENERIFE, 31st OCT TO 4th NOVEMBER 2016

TEIDE

You can’t come to Tenerife without visiting Teide, the volcano which created this Island. At 3,718 metres high. It’s the third highest volcano in the world and last erupted on 18^th November, 1909, not that long ago really! Our own mountain at home, Snaefell stands at 620.9 metres high which may put Teide into come context. In our car, we willed the engine to power us up the hairpin turns taking us higher and higher. We passed lots of cyclists steadily pushing their way up too. As a cyclist I really didn’t envy them, tackling such a gradient in the heat and altitude, and of course there’s the return trip back down, we saw them, heads down, freewheeling at an eye watering speed, not for me!! We were in the company of many motorcyclists too. When we stopped en route to photograph Teide, Terry spent as much time admiring the motorbikes parked up as he did the view!! The air became finer to breathe and so clear, Teide is one monster of a volcano, dominating and fearsome even as it sleeps, clouds formed a ruff just below the summit and we could see clearly the black paths down the sides of the volcano where lava would have streamed, carrying boiling rock and boulders destroying everything in its wake. We drove on a road where, on either side of us the charcoal grey, twisted flow of the lava flood rose higher than the car, there were no birds flying in this landscape, no trees at this height and it was quite eerie. In places, copper must have been threaded through the rock, for the boulders became inflamed with opaque turquoise blue and copper green, so beautiful and magical in this stark environment. We travelled on to the pumice banks from the Montana Blanca volcano, south east of the Teide Pico Viejo complex. Through deserts of worn down pumice, blown and carried by the winds over time. Rocks, stood like lifelike statues amongst the waves and drifts of the pale yellow pumice. Incredibly, in this hostile place, small shrubs, “hierba pajorna” grew in corniches and sheltered alcoves of the rock, giving some colour, with yellow flowers in an otherwise scant palette of grey and cream.

We reached as high up to the summit of the crater as we could, the cable cars which took tourists within a few hundred metres weren’t running unfortunately, the winds were too high and we’d heard there’d recently been snow and ice near the top. It was a pity but we could still appreciate the vastness of Teide, and the cooler air!

PROVISIONING, A PLACE FOR EVERYTHING & STILL WE LOSE STUFF!

Back on the pontoon boats were coming and going. It was like the game we used to play as children. Put twenty objects on a tray, then the person you were playing against would remove one, then two objects and you had to remember what the missing objects were. As I walked along our pontoon, there’d be gaps between the fingers of the pontoons, in some, you knew there’d been a boat there, but what had it been called and is that a new boat in it’s place? We were starting to feel the pull of moving on. Whilst we don’t have a strict timetable, we still need to maintain progress whilst waiting for the Trade Winds to establish themselves for our leg to Antigua and provision up in readiness for a weather window to go. As we still had the car, we called in at Lidl, they get everywhere! This provided a real lucky find, Pumpernickel bread, thinly sliced, in tins, and, even better, three different types of bread! This would provide steady carbs and tasty too. We also filled up on their very good chocolate, got to have treats! We filled the car boot with staples, bottles of water and goodies, this bit is fun. Putting it away is not….. Now, lets be honest, no one really likes the chore of putting away the shopping. When we get home, I will never, ever regard putting groceries away in cupboards and the fridge as a chore. Never. Ever. We carried numerous carrier bags into the cockpit. We then had to find places to store the food and water. We also had to consider ease of access to our food for the passage and weight ratio with what was already on the boat, the tools, gear and spare parts that already took up a lot of valuable space. Weight needs to be kept in the middle of the boat, so groceries and water go under the floor, behind and underneath the seats, and in the cupboards above the seats and stored in the fridge. I have an inventory on my Ipad of storage compartments and cupboards. Things can be lost so easily, put into safe places, never to be found until we accidently come across the lost treasure whilst looking for something else, which of course, had gone missing, so this inventory is a valiant attempt at keeping track. Under half of the seats on the starboard side of the cabin contain Terry’s heavy tool boxes, and on the port side, a bit less heavy gear, so this means taking what’s already there into consideration and distributing tins and bottles of water as evenly and logically as possible. I rather enjoy this process of seeing what we’ve got, maintaining a logical storage method and mentally weighing groups of tins, so if you’re looking for rice, the different types of rice, basmati, risotto etc (we eat well!) are stowed together, being a bit OCD helps here…… But… in order to achieve this there is the small process of shifting 10 to 11 long seat and back pads which make up our “settees” . It’s literally moving your front room into the bedroom in order to put groceries away in your kitchen!!! I mean, would you really do this at home??? We do, and so do the vast majority of people who live on boats which don’t have masses of spare storage. After a couple of hours, everything’s put away, and we have a beer as a reward.

We’ve also found a tremendous local market selling fruit, veg and local meat, the real bonus is underneath the veg and meat is an extremely well stock fish market. Every kind of fish, shellfish, squid and octopus recline on beds of ice. We’ve never seen such a vast range of produce from the sea. Today the rain was torrential whilst in the market, so we spent a very enjoyable long lunch perched on tall stools enjoying the buzzing atmosphere and working our way through plates of big, juicy tiger prawns, and a couple of red, fat kind of languoustine, almost the size of a lobster, freshly grilled and washed down with sparkling white wine, fabulous!

BIMINI’S & BROOM HANDLES

As we’ve been sailing south, there’s been a gradual evolution going on within Sisu. Today we put up our bimini! This was hand made by our wonderful seamstress at home and quite unique. We’d brought the rest of the UV resistant material with us, just in case. One of my gopher jobs was to track down someone who’d machine stitch a hem round the spare material so we could use this as additional cover, so we had a roof over our heads in the cockpit, providing shelter from sun and rain. With the aid of drawings, Spanish dictionary, charades and laughter, our Spanish seamstress did a good job quickly. I then sewed tabs onto the top to create a pyramid, thus when it rains, the rain runs off, clever stuff! The bimini is an homage to Heath Robinson, but by crikey it works! Another absolute gem of a find here is a shop called “Laguna”. This stocks everything and I mean everything for just a handful of Euros. Everything for the home, garden, body, season, travel, dog, cat, even bird cages of varying sizes depending on your size of bird. Tremendous! We become regulars. Terry found aluminium plastic ended broom handles which are perfect for supporting our two solar panels, for Euros2.75 each, we had four!!!! They’re strong and don’t mark the deck. We’ve bought metres of sponge matting, normally used for bathroom floors, we will use it for side panels of our bimini, it lets in the breeze yet provides shelter from the wind and it tough. We also use it in our heads and cabin floor. I’ve stocked up on melamine crockery so we can cater for our friends when they come over for dinner. Now I can relax knowing my nibbles are in little bowls, which match………. I’ve got laundry washing buckets in turquoise, and green. Even a fancy little umbrella, with a frill, which covers the aforementioned nibbles so the flies don’t lick the salt off the peanuts. Candles! I’ve now got ambience on our boat!!! The levels of entertaining friends has gone up several notches since being in Peel. Now it’s warm enough to stay outside in the cockpit we consider lighting, no more huddling in the cabin being glad to be out of the rain, wind and cold. I’ve been taking note when we’re invited onto other boats. Let me reassure you, no one judges, it’s simply being able to cater for numbers more than two….Now we too can flourish platters of figs wrapped in ham, crisps in bowls, olives in little dishes, and cater for six, it’ll still be cosy, the plates don’t match, but we can do it, and provide chilled beer and wine, we’re still working on the ice cubes for gin. But…. We can offer different gins! Sisu is becoming our second home now she’s got more in the way of home comforts. It’s the little things like a bigger frying pan, so we can cook for more than just us, we’re enjoying the company of new friends and inviting them over, returning the hospitality offered to us, something we’d hoped for, but couldn’t anticipate, and the fun in meeting like minded people has gone way past our expectations.

Yachts are coming in steadily today, another dozen, here to get ready for the Atlantic crossing, the Marina is filling up. We hope there’s room when we sail to La Gomera. We know Las Palmas Island and Marina Del Sur down the other end of Tenerife is busy with the ARC boats, we are all preparing for the migration.

We feel more ready now and getting itchy, but there’s always work to be done. In moving the boom out of the way of the cockpit, Terry noticed the shackle attaching the ropes to the pulley had worn a bit, nothing desperate but that will be replaced before we go. Checking, checking, checking for wear and tear, it’s a daily routine and will continue until we reach Antigua. Our heads are shifting from the Marina living routine to a gradual disconnection from the land once again, it’s subtle, but there. Like our little swallow, we’re flexing our wings, we look out beyond the Marina. Checking forecasts daily, loosely picking days we could go, counting down. Appreciating the comfort of the forecabin bed, late mornings reading, morning cups of tea in bed, sat at night, in the cabin, reading or writing, listening together to music over a glass of wine, once on passage, it’ll be back to watches, jumping into bed warm from me or Terry, depending who came off watch last, no wine, we’ll be looking out for each other and settling into a different routine. Juggling knives, pans, leaping vegetables in the roll of the waves. But…. with that challenge, comes adventure, a twenty four hour alertness of the senses, what will we see, what will we experience, what will we share?