Tarrafal, Sao Nicolau
Rhapsode
Mon 8 Nov 2010 10:04
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16 34 N 24 22 W
Here we are bobbing (Dear High Admiral Lord Nelson,
would you mind adding this to your lexicon please - it's perfectly descriptive
of what the boat is doing right now) gently up and down at anchor off the town
of Tarrafal, Sao Nicolau.
The trip over from Mindelo was a mixture of light
airs when we were in the lee of Sao Vincente with 30 knot gusts when we weren't.
The Autohelm didn't like the conditions very much and threw it's hand in
claiming insufficient voltage. Personally I think it was in cahoots with
the boys and just wanted to sleep. We had the radar on in case the small islands
en route were not correctly charted - and they didn't seem to be tho' I have yet
to work out how two of the small islands appeared to the north of the radar echo
as we approached them but to the south of the echo when we were leaving them
behind by quite a considerable distance.
Finding our way into the anchorage was made much
easier by shaping a course for the town lights and timing our arrival for just
after sunrise.
Then I went to bed.
And stayed there until Michael woke me up in the
afternoon with a more then welcome cup of tea.
Followed by a swim instead of a shower (trying to
conserve water in case we can't get drinking water anywhere along the
way).
Boring boat jobs most of yesterday whilst the boys
went for a swim ashore to check out the town. I don't think they were very
impressed.
The anchorage is at the base of a long line of very
impressive cliffs interspersed with ravines which funnel the wind down to the
boats' windvanes very efficiently - when there is any wind that is. I was up at
about for o'clock this morning and also discovered that they also make an
exremely good echo chamber - the howling of one or two town dogs coming pack as
the howling of a pack of them. We took the dinghy for a run along the coast to
the north to see the rock formations and the ravines. They are so weather-
beaten that they can become any shape your imagination can produce. We saw a
couple of flying saucers, one of which was embedded on its side after
crash-landing(!!), an eagle, a crusader (cos he had a cross on his helmet) tho'
the boys thought he was a character out of an Indiana Jones film, etc.,
etc.
Today we have to go and check in with the port
police and then we hope to visit the national park by aloguer.
Happy sailing.
P, M & A
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