SURFING ON OCEAN - SAILING TRIP FROM HIERRO TILL SAL

OUR MID DAY BEER TIME!

Years ago we were so much surprised  to see cruisers couples who were arriving  to totally new places and taking  day or two staying on boat before landing on coast for a visit.. We could not understand how they can stay still on their boats when we two were dying to see what was waiting us there everytime we anchored . 
But now we know.  We really know:)  Because now  we are the ones who are strange.   We arrived to Sal…and guess what?  We were so tired that all the next day no one of us had energy to go ashore and discover the  island.  We needed time to relax…take a swim…tidy up the boat , check how is holding the anchor ….and sleep. 

SO BUT HOW WAS OUR TRIP? 
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GOOD! Was a great experience to know our boat better, to try all ways of sailing down wind, to discover best timetable for watch keeping hours and to see that there are still so many  things we need to learn about sailing in Oceans…..  

SAILING DOWN WIND USING A MAIN SAIL BOOM AND A POLE

AND HERE USING THE TWO POLES....

During all six days we had all kind of strenght of wind and sea. From almost no wind during the first night till more than 30 knots of wind the last days. Luckily our wind pilot made in Lithuania by Arunas Speicys worked exellent so we did not need to stear by ourselves. We didnt use it too much in previous sailings, so we were worried how it will work with strong winds and big waves from the back. But it made all trip steering without any problem ¡!!

WIND PILOT IN ACTION!

Also there were no sunny days in all trip. Nights were moonless and so dark that we could not see a horizont. After leaving sunny Canarian islands we were missing so much that blue sky and the sun.  If not the temperature which was rising up mile after mile we could not believe we were sailing south towards Africa. 
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One sailing boat, two cargo ships, some birds and dolphins were all what we saw in all 6 days at sea. And the last days it came winds with sand so even if there were more boats around we could not see them anyway.

BIRDS, BIRDS, BIRDS...

But apart from that we never felt borring. Probably because we had no time for that. Our watch keepings were changing every 3 hours so during the watch we were checking the boat, adjusting sails , cleaning around, eating  reading about Cape Verde or fixing some small things around. The other 3 hours one just wanted to rest and sleep.  First two days were the hardest..Our bodies needed to get use to new timetable and movement so we felt more tired and exausted than normal. But with the time we started feeling better. In few days entered the rhythm and the world started looking  brighter:)

PAINTING CAPE VERDE FLAG

MAKING ,Q, FLAG. GOOD BY OLD T-SHIRT!

IS ALMOST DONE!

Our Bimbache got used to the movement easy. Looked like it didnt worry him at all . Just his daily walk around the deck had to finish because more far than the cockpit he was not brave enough to go. What he really loved was to play with his small gummy ball and run behind like crazy when the ball was moving itself because of the boat healing.
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But there is one thing he hated.  It,s the engine. Straight after we start leaving the pantoon in Hierro and motoring  out of the harbour till we raised the sails Bimbache started his loud MIAAAAUUUU concert . And once the engine was off he went relaxed to sleep as if nothing has happened. Lets say its clear that till we have Bimbache on board our engine will have to work as little as possible. 
​Good for boat good for our pockets:)

BIMBACHE IN HIS FAVOURITE PLACE OUTSIDE

​And now we are anchored in the bay of Palmeira vilage in Sal surounded by many sailing boats like ours. Our dinghy is in the wáter so lets see what is waiting us ashore. Winds continue blowing very strong here so probably we will spend more time than we planned here.

IN THE HORIZONT- ISLAND OF SAL!

AT ANCHOR IN PALMEIRA, SAL