This winter we make interesting voyages in the Cape Verde Archipelago. Next summer we' ll have many trips in European waters, which you can join.

Positions of the ship can be found in the LOG.

Latest news

On the 27th we left Santiago with a eastern wind, sometimes even a bit from the south. Therefore we could sail in the direction of São Nicolau. We were hoping to arrive in Mindelo (São Vicente) under sail, and set a course between Santa Lucia and São Nicolau.
Just below São Nicolau the wind dropped (as expected). With some help of the engine, we could sail again towards São Vicente, this time arriving from the north. While changing the watch, the wind dropped. We had already unpacked the mizzen topsail to set extra sail. But after a short while, this turned out to be unnecessary, the wind stopped completely. Frianko had to start the engine and we reached our anchorplace in Mindelo by engine. You can't have it al, but we have had a good sailing day.
In Mindelo we have bunkered for our way back towards Rotterdam, which will start in a few days. Meanwhile, our guests have wandered around in Mindelo. The weather wasn't very good, we even had some rain. On the next day, the guest crew went to Santo Antão, accompanied by Lukas, where they had a great walk! Halfway through the walk the clouds disappeared and the view over the valley was stunning. On board we had some doubts if we could start painting, but as soon as the sky cleared we did.
This morning we left Mindelo towards São Nicolau. With a nice flat ocean and a wind between 10 and 15 knots, we sail towards the other Tarrafal. We have planned our last excursion for this season on São Nicolau and expect a very nice barbecue with live music in the evening. 

Crewmember Lukas writes (this story covers a big part of our earlier message): After a whole day and half a night of sailing we arrived in Tarrafal at 04:00 o’clock. Our new first mate Frianko anchored the ship perfectly. We divided the anchor watches and then we went to bed, because the next day we where going to do an excursion on the island.
This excursion went to the prison, where between 1935 and 1974 Portuguese and Capeverdian political dissidents where held prisoner. After that we went to a park that is sponsored by the United Nations. We walked the mountain up with along the way beautiful panoramic views.
After a ride with the bus of an hour we had lunch in a little town called Santa Catarina. We ate some genuine Capeverdian food and it was very good. For me the nicest thing about the excursion was the enormous old tree, of about 10 metres broad and with a lot of twisted roots and as high as the ‘Oosterschelde’ the only thing that’s a pity is that a lot of people carved their names in the tree. Would all the couples still be together now?
Around 19:00 hours everyone was back on board and Wouter, our cook, surprised us with an Indonesian rice table. This was for a lot of our British guest something new but they liked it very much. After dinner some of our crewmembers ventured in to some swimming by night. First from the railing and later on also from the course.
Today we went further to São Vicente, with the harbour town Mindelo. We hope to arrive at 4 o’clock. We sailed close-hauled between the two islands Santa Luzia and São Nicolau, Tomorrow we are going to bunker diesel for our voyage back to Rotterdam and the day after that we have our excursion on Santo Antão.

This morning we have dropped the anchor around 05:00 o'clock in the bay of Tarrafal, Santiago, after leaving Palmeira, Sal the morning before. We had a good sailing trip, with a fair north-eastern wind 4 Bft (which decreased a bit after a while). In the afternoon we were accompanied by a few dolphins. Our guest crew is a nice group, with a mixture of Dutch, German, Swiss, Irish, Scottish and English persons. We had an excursion today on Santiago, in which we visited a former prison, in the Salazar days used by the Portuguese for political prisoners. We visited the huge 'Poilao', a centuries-old kapok tree. We also visited the town Santa Catarina and made a walk in the national park. The forecast for tomorrow is good! With a wind of 4 to 5 Bft, coming from the east, later on turning to ENE, we are expecting a nice sailing track.

The strong easterly made the roads at Santa Maria unsuitable, because of the swell coming around the south tip of the island. We decided to tack and to sail on to Palmeira. On the west side of the island the sea is more quiet. With two reefs and close-hauled we still do 8 knots. The sun makes the water blue and we all enjoy a few hours of great sailing, a great conclusion of a nice trip. We drop anchor at Palmeira at 16:10.

The last few days the wind is strong and very easterly. The northeastern trade wind is of course not as stable as the name suggests. Sometimes the wind is almost north and sometimes, like now it’s almost east. Due to this we could not sail in one straight line from São Nicolau to Boa Vista. But now, from Boa Vista to Sal, we can profit from it. Also the clouds are gone and the sun is out. The high waves and swell don’t seem so threatening anymore, they are quite beautiful. Within a few hours we hope to anchor in the bay of Santa Maria.

After a bumpy passage we have dropped anchor this morning at 07:40 at Sal Rei, on Boa Vista. 

There was also quite some wind on land. After our excursion in pick-ups, we were sandblasted, tired and a bit cold. Therefore not everyone looked forward to go away for the evening. But as soon as we were on the beach with Bertoni's friends, a barbecue with great food and live music, it turned out to be a very nice night.
While writing this, we are on our way to the next island. The strong wind has made the sea quite heavy, with many waves and a contrary swell up to 3,5 meters. With some support of the engine we make considerable progress, but every once in a while the speed is completely gone when the ship dips into a large wave. An ETA is therefore hard to tell at this moment. 

The voyage to São Vicente went prosperous. As soon as we passed the islands the wind decreased and the sea was calmer so we could get the reefs out. We had to sail pretty close-hauled to pass Santa Luzia on the upper side, but we succeeded and then we could sail with broad reach and with about 8 knots the rest of the journey was very pleasant. When the sun went down and we were almost there, a fish bit our line, but we lost it due to our speed. The sun sets very fast here, so when we dropped our anchor at Tarrafal it was already dark.
São Nicolau and Santo Antão are probably the most beautiful islands of the archipelago. Everybody was really impressed two days ago after the walk on Santo Antão. Today we have the opportunity to visit São Nicolau. With two vans we drive over the island. To the special lava structures on the southwest coast, to the top of Mont Gordo, the national park and the groque distillery that is situated on a beautiful spot and at the end of the day to the natural pool in the black rocks on the north coast. Tonight we are having a barbecue on the beach. Bertoni invited some musicians for the occasion, so it will be a nice evening.
On board we are busy with the strong wind. The wind blows strongly down from the mountains and with these gusts of wind the anchor doesn’t hold the ship in her place. On deck even the coffee cups blow away. We just lifted the anchor again to find a better place. We now dropped two anchors, let’s hope that this will work better.

‘Superman’, the mechanic who we asked to work on our generator couldn’t finish the job today. Because a small piece of iron from a bearing caused a short-circuit, he has a lot of work to fix it. We are on our way to São Nicolao and we hope that he will finish the job this evening. With a bit of luck he can give some parts along with the ‘Mar Liso’, which carries cargo between the islands. The ‘Mar Liso’ is an old wooden Danish cutter. Probably from the thirties and is currently living its third life we think. Every voyage could be its last, or will be its last, that is what you think when you see this ship. But I have been thinking this for years now and its time-table is much more reliable than the one of the official ferry, of which you don’t know if it goes at all.
Meanwhile we are sailing near the islands Santa Luzia and Ilhéu Branco, these islands are uninhabited. There was a lot of wind and high waves between São Vicente and Santo Antão, but now we can sail straight to São Nicolao and we are having a smooth journey.