Day 2: Transatlantic passage

Atlantic Ocean---I realize that having a schedule at sea is important or you get really bored and then depressed. So I worked on finances for an hour. Lunch. Showered. Read. But then in an effort to refill the shampoo, I got soap on the head's faucet and The Captain had a small tantrum. Now I feel bad. Mostly because when he's mad he's uncensored and he told me to stop consolidating things. I thought I was helping but my organizing has been driving him crazy I think! and now I got yelled at. It put me in a funk. Although he apologised and I know he is under so much stress with everything to manage on this boat, I still just went to bed early. Night watch we motored. I am set for sleeping about 2-3 hours at 8pm and take my first watch at 11pm to 1am. Then to sleep for 4 hours and up at 4:50am to start watch at 5am to 7am.

Video Diary Day 2: "Hi, this is Edee Dalke on Sailing Yacht Juno and is day 2 of our transatlantic passage from the Cape Verde Islands to Barbados. It's November 30, 2010. We have about a 10 foot swell, coming down from about a 15 to 20 foot swell that we experienced yesterday and through the night. The one big thing that has happened is that there are no Trade winds. And that is what we are counting on to get us across. We're heading southwest towards Barbados. We have the poles out and we're ready for the wind, we just need it to happen. A little view of the swell.... Yesterday we saw a small pod of whales which was really cool. Other than that, go fast."

From Edee's sister - Edee left for Barbados

Hi everyone,
Edee asked that I post.  The Juno left  Bravo, Cape Verde yesterday, November 29 for Barbados.  Crossing will take 16+ days, I calculate that she won't be able to be online until December 13, possibly later. 

The last email I got from her a couple of days ago required a $30 ride to a photo shop with a bad connection - but at least there were no chickens vying for space. 

I have our Mom's "worrying gene" and the thought of her in the middle of the Atlantic in that tiny boat is one that I manage only with much prayer.  Courage is facing fear and that is certainly what Edee is doing. 

 Hopefully the crossing will be boring and she will have nothing to report but that she finished all the reading that she planned to do!

Ruth

Day 1: Transatlantic passage

Faja Aqua, Brava. Cape Verde Islands---We left in a rush. Huge waves had built through the night and were crashing on the shore of Faja Aqua, the tiny village we had been anchored at for several days.

Our Anchor was set strong, dug deep in a sandy bottom. But our position was close to the beach. To close. The adults had a evening pow wow and decided to wait until morning to leave around noon, giving us one last good night's sleep. Now that morning was here and we could SEE what we had been hearing all night, we decided to leave immediately. With a huge rock behind us there was NO room for error. We had pulled up the anchor hundreds of times but now we were nervous. It had to be perfect. And it was, we pulled free and motored quickly past the breaks.

Unfortunitly, as we headed west, there was no wind. So we continued to motor. A small pod of whales came to examine us. Later we cut the motor and SLOWLY sailed most of the day.
I did a video diary of the trip. Here is day one!
"Hi, this is Edee Dalke on Sailing Yacht Juno, today is November 29, 2010 and it's day one of our transatlantic passage. We're leaving a little bit early because of what you see behind us. The waves have built through the night and we spent a little bit of a restless night being churned in the middle of this frothy, washing-machine-like ocean. So we have 2110 miles to go. Pray for good trade winds!"

LOCATION of Sail Boat

http://www.findmespot.com/mylocation/?id=3unmZ/14.87301/-24.73215

Impressions of the island Brava, Cape Verde Islands



This is one anchorage we had in Brava. We made a big scene as the locals seemed to think we were free entertainment and pulled up boats near us sitting and starring. The boats on shore were very heavy wooden boats that took several men to launch, still they would get up early and fish all day working very, very hard for little. We paid $4 for a huge tuna straight from a boat.




Some spoke English but they turned out to be very friendly. It seemed that everywhere we went, one person would be wearing an Obama t-shirt!



Locals watching us...




I had a great afternoon swimming. It was crystal clear to the bottom. The water temp was about 73...perfect.




This is the anchorage at sunset.




At the tiny village of Faja Aqua, there was NOTHING. So we had to ride in the back of a pick up for about 30-40 minutes to get to a town with  a market and find the internet. The little truck was very fast over bumpy, mountainous terrain. We all hung on tight.




How many people can you fit on a fishing boat?




From our mountain ride to the next village, we stopped to look down at our anchorage in Faja Aqua. JUNO is the boat nearest to the shore...and the huge rock.




This is the island Brava. You can't tell but between the approaching rocks is the entrance to the Faja Aqua bay.



Impressions of the island Sal, Cape Verde Islands

 

Map on the side of a building

Palmeira, Sal.  Cape Verde Islands---I was warned that the Cape Verde Islands were sparse compared to where we had been. But The Captain had last been there 16 years ago, surely a McDonalds or Burger King had found their way there, I mean how bad could it be?

Why did the Chicken cross the road? To get to the Internet Cafe.

 It took us seven days to reach the first island, Sal, from the Canary Islands. These collection of 7 islands 500 miles off the coast of Senegal, Africa are also volcanic and gained their independence as recent as July 5, 1975!

When we finally anchored and stepped foot at our destination: Palmeira, Sal what I saw was “sparse”. And according to The Captain, there was a lot of new development compared to 16 years ago.

There was a rag-tag bar at water level with mismatched plastic chairs. You needed to order inside a small concrete room with no windows, yet crammed with locals standing about. For about 100 Escudos ($1) you were handed a tiny bottle of beer. But it was hot and dusty dry, so it tasted incredible.



Amazing shells and coral on the beach



Up a ramp and onto the town’s dirt or cobble stone streets lead one of two gift shops in the village. African wares were on the street and down the block and the owners of the shop were sitting under a tree nearby.

Soon we would find out that bread was sold out of a house by the women that had propane gas outside her door after 3:30pm. An internet cafe and phone booths were down the street but someone needed to walk us there the first time.

Chickens and skinny dogs roamed the streets and clusters of men playing Ourin, a game using beans with small bowls carved into wooden planks. According to a little online research, “Ourin -- also known as awale (pronounced ah-wah-leah) or mancala -- has been passed down for centuries through African culture and various parts of the world. It pre-dates Christ by more than a thousand years.”



The money is called Escudo and the exchange was about 1 Euro to 110.

The only way to get local money was to get to the next town. Transportation to the next larger town, Espargos, was only 500 escudo or 50 Euro cents via “Taxis” called “Aluguer” which literally means “to hire”. This is a shared ride system in a Van who waits or drives around yelling their destination until the van is full of enough of passengers to justify the trip. Then on the way, they will stop if they consider anyone a prospect even if the van was already full.

 

One trip I made alone had 16 people in a 12 person van. It was definitely one of those “if my friends could see me now” moments. Also I was the whitest blond girl in town and a ride with the brothers nearly sitting on my lap, with loud thump-thump music blearing through the speakers kept making me giggling at the thought of this moment in time.. They were a friendly, extremely helpful people, a bit aggressive in their selling techniques but none of us had any real trouble.



I saw a poster in town of the World Wind Surfing Championships going on and knowing the island was not large, I made plans to go to Santa Maria, where it was being held the next day.

 

Water must be carried to the homes each day from the desalinization plant.



For 400 escudos (4 Euros) round trip, I also got to see more of the island. Santa Maria is definitely more veered for tourists with a street of shops and restaurants. After having a fresh fish lunch, I found the beach and what looked like the set up of the Windsurfing competition. The Bar was crowded with young to middle aged men in baggy surf shorts eating lunch. A couple questions to the bartender later I felt completely foolish for coming. THERE WAS NO WIND. I knew that, we had had to motor the final day. The competition had been on hold for several days and was coming to a close with last year’s winner keeping his title.



A taxi ride in an overflowing van.



Nevertheless, it was good scenery for a straight single girl stuck on a boat with a married guy, 2 kids and a 21 year old Man-Boy. I got a poster, autographed and had a quick chat with Josh Angulo, World Champion surfboarder who was from Hawaii but now lives in Sal and organized the event.





After several days, we are leaving Sal for another Island called Brava. It is the last Island in this group and puts us one day closer to Barbados.

  



Leaving La Palma for Cape Verde Islands...7 day passage

Santa Cruz, La Palma. Canary Islands---I have fallen in love with this island. It is amazing. I have explored and have not had time to write about it so it will come later.