Christmas in Mindelo

Bart’s time with us in Cabo Verde was about to come to an end, and he had a plane to catch on the next island, São Vincente, on the 23th of December. So, we left Santa Luzia the day before for yet another sporty sail, with three reefs in the main and two in the jib, and the sea state being a bit like a washing machine. Still, we sped along at 7.7kts with the tidal current giving us an extra little bit of oomph, and were in the marina in Mindelo in no time.

Mindelo Marina

Mindelo sits on the western side of the island of São Vincente, in the corner of a round bay that opens up part way along a dramatic coast line of plunging, ragged black cliffs, serrated pinnacles and towering mountains.

Despite appearing to be well protected from the prevailing winds and swell, the harbour, though not the town, seems to be perpetually swept by NE winds while at the same time being rocked by a constant rolling swell from the SW.

This combination is all a bit mysterious, but it makes for a very active anchorage as boats and pontoons are pushed one way by the wind and tossed another by the swell. In the marina, the movement of the boats is amplified by the constant swinging and rocking of the floating pontoons that move to their own rhythm and tug and push the boats tied to them to a third beat.

Even walking along these pontoons becomes a bit of a balancing act, and, because boats have to be moored away from the pontoon to avoid damage, getting on and off them can be a challenge and it is one that doesn’t always go well.

Then why stop in Mindelo Marina?

Despite all this, Mindelo Marina is one of those ports that is renowned amongst long distance cruisers. It sits at the north-western tip of the Cabo Verde archipelago, well within the north Atlantic trades, a position that makes it an ideal jumping off point for crossing the Atlantic to Brazil and far more commonly, to the Caribbean.

A departure from the Canaries, the other choice for departure from the east Atlantic, will usually dip south and pass close by Cabo Verde, and so most sailor will include a stop off in these islands to break up the passage and making for a crossing of shorter hops.

As a result of this Mindelo’s marina and harbour go through a cycle of filling up with boats coming in from the Canaries to rest and reprovision, and then emptying quickly as good weather windows open up, or when a group of boats decide to form a flotilla for the crossing and depart together.

Preparing for Atlantic crossings

There is an atmosphere of busyness with boats repairing, preparing and relaxing that makes for an extremely friendly environment. People wander the bouncing and swaying pontoons, asking about plans, admiring boats, commiserating on the never-ending list of boat jobs, offering advice on repairs, planning catch ups at the floating bar and providing recommendations on restaurants, supermarkets and places to visit.

This is also a place where sailing boat hitchhikers, usually French, also pitch up having gotten a ride to Mindelo but no further. These folk wander along asking whether crew are needed and trying to give the impression, well founded or otherwise, of being experienced sailors and good company. We ended up getting very good at turning them down though it always felt a bit harsh saying, yep, we are going to where you want to go but we don’t have room for you, particularly for those that had been there for a long time.

Floating bar

At the land end of the pontoons, a floating bar-restaurant, serves as a meeting place and serves up caipirinhas of formidable strength that further oil social wheels, while simultaneously making the return trip along the treacherous pontoons all the more dangerous.

Here, we had our final drinks (a caipirinha) and meal with Bart to celebrate a great two weeks sailing together in Cabo Verde, and to toast to our next sailing trip together. Perhaps Patagonia? Who knows, in addition to Bart there are a few other relatives and friends who are keen to join us there. Either way, it was good to have Bart on board again and while he did not want to leave us and Yuma, family Christmas happenings were waiting for him back in the Netherlands. And we had Yuma and ourselves to prepare for our first ocean crossing.

Xmas lunch next door

Our neighbours in the adjacent berth turned out to be the French couple who had passed astern of us a day or two north of Sal coming down from the Canaries. They were as cheerful and friendly as when we met them ever so briefly in Palmeira, and they immediately invited us to join them and some other French cruisers for a Xmas lunch. This event was to be held on the 24^th so that everyone could do their own thing on the 25^th, like contact family at home.

The day before we found a little, hole-in-the-wall bakery that sold, at great expense, large Christmassy fruit breads in a festive donut shape, complete with melt-in-the-heat-and-humidity powdered sugar glazing, and all served up in a decorative paper tray. One of these delightful rounds immediately became our offering for the French gathering.

The gathering consisted of a very happy group of mostly young French cruisers along with the odd relative or two. People turned up in dribs and drabs but within an hour the cockpit of the 37-footer was full of food and drinks with people squeezed in together around the cockpit table or perched on the coamings. Food was passed around, drinks were shared and spilled amongst a babble of chatter and laughter in French, English and various degrees of Franglais.

Once the savory foods were dealt with desserts such as our fruit loaf and a banana cake that featured entire bananas and slabs of chocolate were shared around. This was followed by the surprise appearance of a button accordion and the playing of a waltz and a schottise. This prompted David to fetch out his mandolin and soon enough we had a button accordion, a mandolin, a ukelele, a guitar, a recorder and a rattle joining in on a range of French tunes and songs. Naturellement, this included what must be the mandatory playing at any European gathering of ‘Oh, Champs-élysées’.

After a jolly couple of hours, we packed up the remains of a very satisfactory Xmas lunch and all headed back to our respective boats and boat jobs.

Xmas mass

Later that day we wandered around Mindelo to see what else might be happening the night before Christmas. Not much as it turned out to be, except for the late mass in the cathedral in the centre of town. Being in Portuguese we had a better than usual excuse for it not making much sense of it all, but it was delivered in a very engaging style and the singing, while by no means wonderful, was a lot of fun. So much so that we went again on Christmas morning and even got a welcome in English during the sermon. That made it all the more worthwhile.