Mindelo
05/01/08 20:30 Filed in: Ilha de Sao Vicente
| Cape Verdes
This
anchorage is very calm. We enjoyed a very restful night.
Our excitement for the day started with Tomas having a dish washing malfunction which resulted in our only pressure cooker gasket going over the side along with the dishwater. To his very great credit an my amazement Tomas donned fins and mask, jumped overboard and 20 minutes later retrieved the gasket.
Kiriwina at anchor in Mindelo harbour. Ilha de Santo Antão is in the background and an old fort is at centre right.
We deployed "Kiriwini" and went ashore to see if the marina was operational. It was but only partially. We would have electricity and a "bows to" mooring but no water showers or toilets. This for €12.50. We returned to the boat and moved into the marina. Walking out the gate to get a cool drink at the Club Nautico our first hustle started in 6 seconds. Fortunately it was also our last apart from some unenthusiastic begging.
Back on board and tidying up Kiriwina was filthy with salt and dust. The marineros offer boat cleaning services but quite how they do this without water was not clear.
Later we went ashore. Mindelo seems a pleasant enough place. It was unthreatening and reminded me more of the poorer parts of southern europe 30 years ago rather than Africa. We got cash from a bank machine and found a place where we could eat, check our e-mail and listen to live music.
Tomas reckoned his knife was picked from his backpack by a couple of children on the way back to the boat. I'm not totally convinced but he is going to try and find them and buy it back.
Our excitement for the day started with Tomas having a dish washing malfunction which resulted in our only pressure cooker gasket going over the side along with the dishwater. To his very great credit an my amazement Tomas donned fins and mask, jumped overboard and 20 minutes later retrieved the gasket.
Kiriwina at anchor in Mindelo harbour. Ilha de Santo Antão is in the background and an old fort is at centre right.
We deployed "Kiriwini" and went ashore to see if the marina was operational. It was but only partially. We would have electricity and a "bows to" mooring but no water showers or toilets. This for €12.50. We returned to the boat and moved into the marina. Walking out the gate to get a cool drink at the Club Nautico our first hustle started in 6 seconds. Fortunately it was also our last apart from some unenthusiastic begging.
Back on board and tidying up Kiriwina was filthy with salt and dust. The marineros offer boat cleaning services but quite how they do this without water was not clear.
Later we went ashore. Mindelo seems a pleasant enough place. It was unthreatening and reminded me more of the poorer parts of southern europe 30 years ago rather than Africa. We got cash from a bank machine and found a place where we could eat, check our e-mail and listen to live music.
Tomas reckoned his knife was picked from his backpack by a couple of children on the way back to the boat. I'm not totally convinced but he is going to try and find them and buy it back.