Pitufa.at

Yesterday we reached the next of the Cape Verde islands. Boa Vista lies only 20 nm to the South of Sal, but looks quite different, even though it’s also one of the dry islands. We’re anchored in a huge bay off the main town (which still isn’t big) and the view around is just phantastic. The sea shimmers in innocent shades of green and blue, but that’s deceptive as rocks and reefs are hiding underneath the glittering surface, an impressive statistic of over 200 wrecks around the island speaks for itself… At low tide an impressive surf breaks in these places and also on the golden sand dunes on shore. The mountains in the background are quite high and look dark and ragged. The anchorage is also sheltered by a little island with almost white sand on the beach, but tufts of grass, shrubbery and even low trees further up. We took Leeloo ashore this island in the evening. She didn’t like the splashy ride in the dinghy, but once ashore she quickly jumped out, inspected confidently sand and shrubs and returned only half an hour later to the dinghy announcing with loud meowing that she had seen enough of this giant litter box. We’re planning to return tomorrow during the day for a BBQ on the beach

Planning passages and cruising itineraries in order to avoid storms and to profit from favourable winds is really complicated. After listening to plenty of opinions and doing some more reading we decided yesterday that our plan of crossing the Atlantic early (still in October) was not feasible this year, because the Atlantic is unseasonably warm, which may mean a prolongued hurricane season. After crossing later we’d have to rush even more quickly through the Caribbean in order to get to the Panama canal in time. Aditionally we’d also have to leave out Suriname. As a result of this we’ve now changed our whole cruising itinerary completely. Our preliminary plan now looks now like this (planning too far ahead doesn’t make sense anyway…): We’ll spend a few months here in the Cape Verdes, cross the Atlantic end of December or beginning of January at the best time for the trade winds, take another 2 or 3 months to explore Suriname and will then head on slowly at the Southern edge of the Caribbean (Trinidad and Tobago, Venezuelan and Dutch Antilles, Panama…) thus keeping out of the way of hurricanes. This way we’ll arrive a year later than planned in the South Pacific, but we feel really relieved now. The constant feeling of having to push on and the ticking of the clock in the back of our heads is gone and we can enjoy our journey a lot more.

Yesterday we left Palmeira in the company of two British single-handed sailors we met there, but our “passage” only took us 7 miles to the next bay No other boats are here in Mordeira, just sand dunes ashore and turquoise water in the bay. Leeloo is also glad that there are fewer boats and dinghys around, lonely bays are more after her taste. After our first experimental self-made panbread turned out just perfect this morning (crispy crust, moist and fluffy inside) we feel like we could stay out of civilization’s path for a very long time

We’ve arrived this morning on Sal, one of the entry ports of the Cape Verde Islands. We’re really tired, but happy

We spent the last night becalmed drifting on the open sea (as an alternative to motoring…). We scanned the moonlit horizon for freighters every 20 minutes. There were no ships, but at 6 o’clock something big was splashing about 50 meters away from Pitufa. First we were not sure what it was, but then, the blow noises and the fishy smell revealed our visitor as a whale. He stayed for a while, curiously inspecting Pitufa and came closer to about 20 meters. We were quite impressed but also a bit nervous. Finally he disappeared with a mighty splash of his tail fin. Leeloo also had a fun night, because a little bird mistook our predator’s swimming home for a save resting point…

This passage was rather strenous. First becalmed, then headwinds, then too much wind (but from the right direction), and now becalmed again. At least we swapped thermo underwear and tea against bathing suit and cold beer.

Less wind and waves and life gets comfortable again. The last 2 days were rather miserable (just imagine living in a tumble dryer…).

Last night was rough, but we are making good progress.

Running southwards quickly.

We left Las Palmas Tuesday evening towards the Cape Verde Islands. Instead of the expected constant northeasterly wind that predominates here, we found changing winds from different directions—that means many strenuous maneuvers (saves the fitness centre…). This morning the northeasterly wind finally returned and is hopefully come to stay!

We’ve been in the marina of Las Palmas since Thursday. We usually try to avoid marinas, but before setting off towards the Cape Verdes we wanted to go shopping for the last time, fix some things on the boat, fill up the water tanks, etc.
At first we were worried if noisy work on the boat would be frowned upon by the marina personal, but in this port many people like DIY and so we’re not the only ones who contribute with screeching angle grinders to the symphony going on around. Many yachts are preparing to cross the Atlantic and so the cashier in the supermarket isn’t the least bit surprised when you ask to have two full shopping carts delivered to the harbour…
We also wanted to use the chance to “sniff some city air” for the last time and visit the old town of Las Palmas, but somehow we don’t get round to it. There’s just too many projects that need finishing on the boat (new solar panels, security for the washboards and skylights, a translation, laundry, etc.), but tonight we want to do some sightseeing and also inspect some tapas-bars

On our way to Gran Canaria we stopped overnight in the bay next to the marina in Morro Jable, because the weather looked weird: gusts of up to 30 knots from different directions, a dark cloud ahead – we decided to have a quiet night at anchor instead of fighting such conditions in the dark.

The capital of Fuerteventura is a rather quiet, untouristy place. There are a few shops and restaurants though and the anchorage next to the port is not exactly pretty, but safe and calm.

We spend some days anchored off this little desert island with my Mom, who’s visiting at the moment. The water’s extremely clear, turquoise and very inviting – so we go swimming even though the wind is rather cool. We just have a hot tea afterwards