Marina Mindelo, Sao Vincente, Cape Verdes

We awoke on Saturday morning after another very disturbed sleep due to the swell and snatching of the mooring lines. We were effectively bracing the whole of the pontoon astern to the main walkway pontoon, the only other connection being a couple of ropes lashed round a tyre to smooth the snatching. However just the sheer windage of the boats of the pontoons were causing so much movement and noise that even though the wind had now reduced a little there was a continuing movement such that moving around the boat need a hand hold even though the boats on anchor behind the marina looked to be affected little. We decided to take the advice of Kai, one of the joint owners who had greeted us the night before to move along one slot to lie off the fixed mooring buoys in front of the pontoon and away from the walkway pontoon. After confirmation from Lutz, the other joint owner, four attendants were dispatched to assist, two in the marina RIB to secure the bow lines to the buoys and two ashore on the pontoons under Lutz’s guidance. We were soon re-secured which although requires more athletic leaping to the pontoon for me means the movement is now much reduced and would hopefully mean a better night’s sleep.

Next job was to get water and power aboard now we had cycled the batteries from the engine charging the day before. We connected the power and immediately our battery charger blew the circuit breaker whilst emitting a rather worrying smell of burning, hmmmm. The shore power however was working direct to the boat but the house batteries would not now be charged as we planned. There was considerable back and forth about this and then other subsequent power problems with Lutz, checking sockets etc. Eventually we spoke to Kai who happens to be marine electronic engineer and he said he would have a look at our battery charger for us on Monday morning.

We decided to take a wander ashore around Mindelo, the marina is right on the edge of the town, which is an interesting mixture of elegant colonial buildings some dilapidated, some recently refurbished with some rougher block buildings further back.



Main street in Mindelo



Town Hall in Mindelo

There is much more of a sense of traditional Cape Verdean life with ladies selling banana or even fresh tuna from large bowls balanced on their heads, there are groups of roadside stalls all selling locally grown fruit and vegetables all the stall holders amiably chatting together and locals stopping to buy or just pass the time of day. There are lots of tiny bars, so small the regulars just all sit on the steps watching the world pass by. Chinese imports seem to predominate with many shops selling random selections of goods. We were not hassled at all as we walked round, there is the occasional beggar but no more so than your average UK city. We passed a door to roof top café and decided to grab some lunch, they provide cheap international calls, internet, cheap food and beer and unsurprisingly there was a mixture of locals and tourists. Kevin enjoyed a ham burger and chips, which although not so traditional salved his meat cravings for a while.

We went back to the boat via the supermarket for a siesta, after our few broken nights sleep. We awoke to tidy the boat a little then head ashore for some food at Club Nautico, this time two large tuna steaks served with rice and salad which were excellent. We were joined later by Tim, a solo British sailor who Kevin had met earlier that day. Tim had arrive a week or so before from South Africa where he had bought and fitted out his boat with his brother via Angola after having to stop off with equipment problems. They enjoyed a very friendly welcome in Angola and marina facilities before Tim’s brother flew home and Tim made the rest of the trip solo on his 32ft double ended steel ketch after 40 days at sea. We had an interesting night exchanging sailing stories as you do.