Boa Vista

13 January 2015

Eva continues: “Yesterday we lifted anchor very early in the morning and headed for Boa Vista. Unfortunately the wind was against us (one more time on this trip) and so we needed the engine for a few hours. As soon as we left the leeward side of São Nicolau the ship started rolling and lunch was a real challenge for all of us.
After a good meal almost everybody was ready and strong enough for setting sails. The wind had changed for a few degrees and so we hoisted schooner-, main-, mizzen- and foresail to keep the ship more stable and in order at least to get some more speed. Two times we saw dolphins swimming around the ship and playing with the waves.
Dinnertime came and the ship was still rolling, even more than in the afternoon, so we set the tables only on the sides with benches, to avoid some accidents. Despite of all precautions one bowl was broken, but nothing else.
We arrived in Boa Vista before midnight, dropped anchor outside the reefs and finally went to bed. 20 hours of sailing made us really tired.
Our trip on the island included a quick tour through Sal Rei. Our guide Juki showed us the first bank, music school and the church (catholic), and then we drove to the shipwreck of the Santa Maria on the northern coast. On that side of Boa Vista the former inhabitants had built walls of the volcanic stones to keep the sand on the island. Together with the wreck and the big waves it is an astonishing landscape.
We went further to the desert and everybody was curious about it. At least we made a short walk on almost white sand dunes and admired the patterns of the wind on the sandy ground, very similar to waves on the ocean. To read about it is definitely a big difference than to see it by yourselves.
On the way back we stopped in Rabil, in former times the main city of Boa Vista, and visited a shop where you can buy souvenirs really made on that island. We could watch the people making turtles, bottles for wine, everything made of clay and wonderful colored.
That was our last stop for this trip and back on board we had late lunch and now free time till the barbecue tonight.”