04 Dec. 2014; Mindelo, Cape Verdes.

Today we had our 2^nd day in Mindelo. The weather started out the same as yesterday but in the course of the day the wind increased and it started to become more overcast. Maybe the islands are in for a rain shower tonight. I think that would please the locals as there is a constant scarcity of water on the islands. Most areas are really arid and thus do not hold any water and that prevents a cycle of moisture going up and coming down again. And if it would be going up, it would probably come down over water again as there is the constant trade wind blowing. Ashore in Praia I saw that on the lee side of the island where most of the rain falls, that the tree’s, up on the plateau were all bending towards the west, in the same way as you see on the Caribbean Islands such as Curacao, Bonaire and Aruba.

Today we had another cruise ship in the port. Although it was more built as a yacht. The Variety Voyager with a capacity for 36 guests and 31 crew. This ship belongs to a company which has a number of these little ships and focusses on what I would call Eco-tourism, visiting areas off the beaten path.  Behind it was a normal yacht, well normal, it was longer than the Variety Voyager but it was a privately owned vessel and it listened to the name of Papi – Papi.  Hopefully it means something special, otherwise the only thing I can think about is that the owner must have been inspired by the endearments of his little boy or girl.

Another amazing thing for which I do not have an explanation either is the fact that there are no church spires in Mindelo. The whole island is Roman Catholic; the Portuguese were present for a long time, but not a single church spire in sight. I scanned the whole town twice, asked the navigators to verify and indeed no church spires. Very peculiar.

Porto Grande as seen from Mindelo. (Stock photo from Internet

Mindelo is the name of the village or town which we see when looking out from the ship. However where the ship is, is not Mindelo. It is called the Porto Grande or grand harbor and that is more or less correct. The large bay has good anchoring ground which means that even during very windy days, the anchor seldom drags.  So technically our brochure should not have said Mindelo, but Porto Grande. There are more ports that have the same confusion. Look at Florida, our ships dock in Port Everglades but nearly everybody talks about Fort Lauderdale.

The Radar/chart screen, showing the way we came in. Going out, we sailed between the yellow part of the main island and the small rock of Dom Luis.

We left right on time with the last guest hopping onboard 5 minutes before the All On Board Time and then it was a matter of giving a bit of astern power, backing out of the pier and heading for open sea. All without the help of the local pilot who was already on the ship coming in, which took our spot as soon as we were gone.  Then we sailed North West as we are now on the way to the Canary Islands.  Mindelo is located on the island of Santo Vicente, which we kept to our right and the island of Santo Antao which we kept to our left. The channel is 6 miles wide and thus plenty of room to sail safely in the middle.  The channel is called Canal de San Vicente and that keeps it all nice and simple. There is only one rock in the middle called Dom Luis with a cross and a monastery (?) on the top. Clearly visible so easy to avoid.

We will now spend two days at sea and then arrive on the 7^th. of December in Santa Cruz. We will call at two ports while in the Canary Islands and the next day we will be in Las Palmas.  To get to the Canary islands we will be sailing on a North Easterly course as the Canaries are located right off the coast of Morocco. Due to historical happenings, the islands belong to Spain and not to Morocco. No doubt that will be of great interest to our guests once they start preparing for their next land outing in the coming days.

One thing will be certain, the outside temperatures will drop. We keep heading away from the sun and moving towards Europe and thus the temperatures will plunge. Today it was still 24oC / 75oF tomorrow there will already be a dip of 2 degrees and more to come.