Departure from Boa Vista and maintenance

4 February 2013

After our guests left the ship in Boa Vista, we waited to see if the flight they were on really departed. Boa Vista Airport does not have any radar guidance and due to dust storms (hartmattan) and poor visibility, airplanes cannot always depart on time. But this time it wasn’t a problem and we saw the aeroplane depart even a few minutes early. We departed and set sail for Sal. A long journey, because the sea was rough and it took a lot of work and gas oil to make any headway. At 9PM we dropped the anchor at Santa Maria.
Today we used the whole day for maintenance. We removed rust from the deck, adjusted the rigging, checked the handles of the watertight doors, a postponed welding job, fixed a clogged drain, etc, etc. We could use some extra days, but tomorrow we will welcome new guests on board for the last 12-day roundtrip of this season in Cape Verde.