Ilha do Sal, Capo Verde
02 December 2019
Paul Kember
We arrived at Porto da Palmeira on the island of Sol, Ilha do Sal, just after 7AM and were anchored by 7:30AM and having breakfast after a sail of 858NM taking us less than 7 days and using the engine for 9.5 hours but mainly for battery charging. We fortunately had an uneventful passage, which is always the best ones, and if you got chance to read our brief blog updates whilst on passage we generally had pretty good winds after the slow start. We saw quite a few pods of dolphins including over 30 large ones on one particular day, as usual using us to mask their approach and for us to flush out the flying fish for them to devour, a few turtles gently sauntered by and thousands of flying fish. We had a few flying fish land on the deck to keep us on our toes on night watch and even discovered a stowaway by the mast that we hadn't noticed on our arrival. The dawn and dusk at sea are absolutely amazing with the clarity of the skies. We saw only a few yachts during our passage, quite a few ships, generally heading to Gran Canaria, and a reasonable number of aircraft, but surprisingly mainly only at night. The photos from the sail have been added into the Cape Verde photo album.
Sally shared the watches with Dave during the night as he is colour blind and enjoyed each others company making her watches fly by.
The first job, after breakfast, upon arrival was to pump up the dinghy, go ashore to clear customs and immigration. Here the young boys rush to greet you promising to look after your dingy in exchange for your loose change. It took us a little while to find the correct building as most of the streets looked the same and there isn't the luxury of a tourist information centre or a local map to follow. We had been warned that this can be a laborious and tedious operation and we anxiously waited our turn. Thankfully they weren't terribly busy and after only half an hour wait with the Harbour police and Immigration, fortunately located in the same building in the centre of Palmeira (Policia Marítima), they registered our arrival and we received our stamped passport. We were then officially entitled to lower our yellow quarantine flag and fly the Cape Verde courtesy flag on our return to Mirage.
Whilst looking around Palmeira, a Port and fishing village, we found the fresh water taps, public showers (0.5 Euros/person), small supermarkets with expensive food, cafes and bars, the fishermen selling their fish on the quayside and ladies selling car boot style clothes and vegetables. The local guys are friendly but not too pushy when selling their 'genuine branded goods' for a few Euros as this is not the true tourist area of the island! We noticed that they all get along very well, have an amazing personality and sense of fun and comradery.
The rest of the first day was used to sort out the boat, a rigging climb and check, and going for a swim as it was 24degC using the excuse I needed to check the anodes on the boat. Dave enjoyed snorkelling whilst Sally observed from the deck. The final trip ashore in the evening was for a shower to wash away the 7 days at sea! The showers were basic but clean. Despite the water being tepid, which makes it sound warm (but we are soft Europeans) it was welcome.
After a good nights sleep we went ashore, initially to fill our three water containers, before going for a nice walk to stretch our legs. The walk headed south along the west coast, and although not very scenic as the island is pretty brown and barren with very little greenery, there was a good amount of surf coming in from the Atlantic on to the deserted rocky beaches. We even saw a herd of cows! On the very south coast of the island there are the sandy beaches but most of these are now surrounded by the tourist complexes that bring a large source of income into the island. We were joined on our walk by three local dogs who decided to follow us to ensure we didn't do anything we shouldn't. They were well behaved, friendly and didn't even scrounge for food when we stopped for lunch. If Sally could have smuggled them back in the dingy undetected I think she would have. Again on the return to Mirage we went for a swim and found the spoon that Sally had thrown out by mistake earlier on in the day! This was a joint effort with Dave doing the spotting and me diving down to the bottom as I had fins on.
We used the local transport, mini-buses and pickups called Aluguer (literally translates as 'to hire') to visit Espargos, the main town on the island, to have a look around and for Dave to visit the airport where he flies home from. The key thing to remember is that this is Africa and not an off-shoot of Europe to fully appreciate the place and to understand how the island operates but this all adds to the wonder of Sol. The local currency can't be purchased outside of Cape Verde but they do accept Euros at a direct rate of exchange which naturally is higher than their Escudos. The town is a lively place with market stalls, shops, cafes, supermarkets and even a fantastic ice cream parlour that needed to be sampled with each of us having a two scoop cone, albeit at European type prices so definitely a treat for the locals, thanks Dave for the treat. Sally did a check on two supermarkets for fresh and frozen food ready for our small amount of restocking needed for the next part of our journey before we returned to Mirage. The Christmas decorations are up, including a giant snowman and street lights depicting snowflakes, reindeer etc. just as we would see at home. I wonder when it last snowed here, may be back in the last ice age!
On Sunday we caught two Aluger each way to the southern point of the island, Santa Maria, where the area is much more touristy. We made use of the sandy beaches to swim and sunbath, exploring the reefs snorkelling and admired the local marine life, before walking along in the surf a couple of miles to where the developments ended. The beaches are used by turtle to lay their eggs and if you see a turtle laying it's eggs you are supposed to record the serial number of the turtle but not go near it, a bit contradictory!
The beaches are also used as anchorages for the various charter boats, fishing boats and yachts that make it down to this end. Any travelling yacht should then in theory sail back to Palmeria to check out of customs but I bet the Aluger would be used in reality!
When we returned back to the tourist area Dave treated us to a delicious meal in one of the local restaurants, with Sally having a local spicy tuna dish, I had roasted squid and Dave had a local bean and pork dish. We returned via the local minibus now like pros and enjoyed the banter of the locals returning home from work. After returning to the boat I had a final dive on the boat giving the underside a final clean with a scrubbing brush to remove the slight trace of fouling to help with our sailing speeds.
The final day on Sol was spent getting the last water, the fresh and frozen food with another Aluger trip to Espargos. All this before finally, clearing out of customs and preparing the boat for departure. We also said goodbye to Dave as he flew back to a lovely warm UK in the afternoon.
We will try to update the blog and blog map as we sail across the Atlantic to Barbados and we are hoping to take around 16 days to complete the crossing, so we should be there by Christmas but just in case we are not we wish you all a Merry Christmas!.