Cabo Verde Mindelo
Old and new faces, Cape Verdean New Year's party, break-in at the anchorage and cachupa to say goodbye.
Off into the city!
We haul anchor in Santa Luzia early in the morning so that we can still get through between the islands with the north-setting current. This works out great and the CERVINO ploughs through the waves like a hot knife through warm butter.
When we arrive in Mindelo, we immediately get a berth in the marina and moor up. As always in the harbour, there are one or two things to do. This will also be our last stop before crossing the Atlantic. As Mindelo is the jumping-off point for many Transat sailors, we also see some faces from the previous weeks again. We also make a few new acquaintances, because for the first time since we have been travelling, we meet the same boat as ours. And twice!
We don't let ourselves get carried away on Silverster: with a four-course menu on board the Cervino (each crew member is responsible for one course) we build up our energy for a long night! We enjoy ourselves and take far too few photos. With garlic naan and a Wulfi special drink as an aperitif, a funky lentil salad starter from Thierry, a main course of cholera (a Valais speciality) from Mogli and three desserts from Marti, we are also very busy 😉 The streets of Mindelo are a party with live music until 08:00 in the morning. We don't have any photos as we left our mobile phones on the boat. But the streets are packed with people, everyone is dancing and going crazy! A really cool New Year's Eve party. As the sun rises, we fall into our beds, tired but happy.
Happy New Year!!
Unfortunately, not everyone had as good a night as we did. Our French friends, whom we had already met in Sal, were robbed at the anchorage. The companionway was kicked in and all the electrical appliances and cash were stolen. It's really annoying, but unfortunately we can't change the situation. Now it's almost time for us to prepare for the 3 week Atlantic crossing. We now also have a destination: Bequia in the Genadines. We eat our first and last cachupa, the Cap Verdian hot breakfast of beans and egg, and then we say goodbye everyone, we're off.
We set off, 20 days at sea and 2200 nautical miles lie between us and our destination in the Caribbean.
Keep your fingers crossed for us!
