Some maintenance and general boat fettling needed to be done. Fist off was one of the gas bottles needed refilling - a composite, ie plastic, green and see-through bottle sold in the UK under the BP brand. It was simplicity itself! We took it to the local oil company office just past the fish market and about 200m from the marina and a young man in smart hard hat and overalls took it away and brought it back full after a few mins. In fact paying took longer: several forms to be filled out before the princely sum of £4.25 changed hands. It was last refilled at Homebase in Newmarket for nearer £35.

 

Next was attempting to seal the deck leak from the genoa car track. We hope successful: it wasn't hard to do except that squirting sealant upwards is harder than down and one of the roof panels needed undoing in order to get at the bolts.

 

Tackling the bolts before re-seating with additional sealant. From the deck and from underneath. Note the green ‘teach yourself Portuguese’ book open on the chart table: thank you Peter and Plum!

 

James has also had for some time a project to mount a small Linux computer at the nav station, aka chart table. To do this we needed a small sheet of aluminium, about 10 x 25 cm. This took ages to find and we visited many shops selling building materials until finally one told us which shop to go to - Lojo Alufer - but was unable to draw where it was on our map. But asking next day at the marina for directions the boss of the workshop there simply gave us a scrap piece he had lying around. v generous, and the job is now done! Not that the computer works that well.

 

Computer in action on its smart Aluminium bracket, and the brass stud we contrived to which said bracket is bolted.

 

More successful was vegetable and fruit buying. The pilot book speaks dismissively about Cape Verde and says it's better to shop in the Canaries but we've found the opposite. It may depend on what one wants: European tinned goods are cheaper and better stocked in the Canaries it's true, but fruit and veg are much better here. Perhaps because it's (i) not from supermarkets or hidden away in industrial estates but right here in town, and (ii) it's never been refrigerated. Veg that's been refrigerated goes off in a few days whereas if it's natural it can last for weeks. Anything, including butternut squash (NB: Andy) seems available in any one of three of four covered markets.

 

One of the smaller veg markets and some of its produce.

 

Coffee is the other thing much better here. It's grown here after-all, and besides Spanish coffee roasting is a mystery, worth looking up on Wikipedia! We seem inadvertently to have bought a type called ‘Torrefacto’ which said it was very dark, but actually seems to involve the roasters adding sugar to the beans to make them look black while avoiding actually imparting any flavour to the beans. We may have to throw out the 8 or so packets we bought on La Palma: it really is filthy and just like institutional coffee was in the UK in the 1970s.

 

We also found a Cape Verdean institution in what's called here the 'African market': the stall of a lady from Nigeria called Mercy Cole who will make any flag you want. We have ordered some courtesy flags for collection tomorrow.

 

Some stalls in the ‘African market’: tailoring, radio or bicycle repair, flag making – you name it.

 

In fact Mindelo feels to be on the up and a good place to invest: some fine properties just needing a lick of paint and perhaps the odd door?

 

Then back to the marina, where we had been invited to drinks, which evolved to going out to a local restaurant, by a couple from France sailing a beautiful traditional two-masted galette. A very convivial evening in good company.

 

The wind continues from the NE, and we are tied up on the down-wind side of the pontoon which is good for the boat but means we are stern-to the wind. This wind brings sand from the Sahara which settles everywhere and we are trying to keep it out. The cockpit tent made by Penrose - which was designed against the Patagonian rain really - has already proved its worth.

 

Close-up of the spray-hood covered in red dust.