Of Course, It’s Africa!

Mindelo, Cape Verde Islands

Mindelo, Sao Vicente.  Taken from the Ferry Wharf

After all the downhill momentum, and of course the thrilling, butt-clenching ride through the channel into Mindelo Harbour, it was a relief to see the marina.  Somehow, the swell never left us though and made its presence known even whilst tied at the dock.  Getting on or off WJ3 required coordination, balance and a little nerve - not always the GS’s strong points.  Wobbling & lurching to the floating bar (for coffee & wi-fi – sure!!) gave the impression that most of us were already above respectable limits, even at 10am.  To add to the milieu, nightly pummeling by wicked katabatics kept us on our toes, fenders working overtime to prevent other yachts from getting too cosy.  Long-termers had stainless springs (that squeaked) to dampen movement whilst the inventive Frenchies next to us used motorbike tyres.  Even after a few days our mooring lines had stretch beyond belief.  Judging by the number and size of the wrecks in the harbour, island life is still pretty harsh.  That said, it was a great place to break our journey.  Mindelo is lively with song and dance; the fish market, located beside that architectural giggle (the old Customs House and parody of Belem Tower in Lisbon) is well supplied with a variety of seafoods and stalls at the Market Square offer a surprising range of fresh produce.  In all, it’s a character town with lots of charm.
  

Mindelo's own Belem Tower, now a Museum

View back over Face Mountain at dusk.

The Cape Verdes are made up a group of 14 islands of volcanic origin along the Mid-Atlantic Ridge. (Google Earth is quite useful here to see the extent of that ridge.)  They sit well off the African coast (325nm) and given the harmattan (a hot, dry & dusty wind) and proximity to hurricane breeding grounds, are relatively desolate and poor; lack of water being the most critical issue.  Charles Darwin (in 1832) described them as “utterly sterile”.  That said, Mindelo is now regarded as the “Riviera” of Cape Verdes and colourful modern concrete constructions sit perfectly in tune with Portuguese colonial architecture.  De-salination plants and international airports help sustain a growing tourist industry (including the ARC and many more migrating yachties like us) and thus valuable income and employment for islanders. 

Mindelo Marina in a deceptively flat bay

Just to prove that We were There

Despite their barren appearance, Prince Henry the Navigator, with a strong business sense, saw their long-term value and so settled these uninhabited islands in the mid 1400’s.  Columbus visited on his third voyage, launching this as the perfect Trade Wind passage.  Eventually the Cape Verdes established itself as a successful merchant trading base for goods from both Africa and the West Indies.  Its history is then, the usual Atlantic island story of plunder, pilfering, pirates (Think of Drake in 1585. That man was never home!) and slavery.  In later years, the islands served as ports of call for whaling ships and trans-Atlantic steamships.  It’s not difficult to conjure up images of the tough men and women who risked their lives in these remote and rough islands to eke out a living and yet still sustain a welcome stop for sailors on this watery superhighway.  We certainly appreciated the opportunity to stretch our land legs, stock the larder, enjoy (slightly) warmer weather and get out and about a bit to learn a little more about an outlying post of Africa.