Carnival Cape Verde style

13 February 2013

After a great sailing day from Mindelo to São Nicolau, we anchor inthe bay of Tarrafal. It is a very quiet night and there is hardly any wind. The next morning we go to the shore for bunkering water. A water tank on the back of a 1964 Bedford drives 4 times up and down to fill our water tanks on board. When we are back at anchor, we do some maintenance. Meanwhile our guests visit the island and its beautiful scenery. At the end of the day all guests get back on board. Some people swim around the ship or dive from the ship into the sea, while others enjoy a coffee or a beer in the sun. Plans are being made to go to Ribeira Brava in the evening, to go for dinner and see the exotic carnival parades, with many Brazilian influences. We arrive around 7 PM, where we have dinner first. Our Cape Verdian contact Toi has arranged a nice restaurant.
From there we can already see the fireworks and hear the loud music. After dinner we meet all the carnival wagons, the beautiful dansers and many partying people. It is lovely to see! There are people everywhere, it is stuffed but no one is in each others space and the atmosphere is great!!! This is a place where we want to stay for a while!
Really a night to remember…