Year 3 -18th September 2026 -Mindelo - Cape Verde

We woke reasonably early and it was a pleasant day. Mark and I went into the town to get some bread, bananas and yoghurt and we also got a papaya too. Some of the Motley did not wait and went off to the marina restaurant for breakfast.

Today was a day to sort jobs out with a view to leaving on Sunday for the Azores. We planned to do a tour of the island on Saturday and a day not doing boatie jobs.

Mark and Dave had prepared a provisioning list and so they set off into the town to buy what we needed and to call us when they needed people to carry everything back.

Unfortunately the forward heads had been blocked the night before and so Paul and I set about trying to unblock it. Mark the day before had taken the joker valve out and we replaced and it seemed to be a bit better but it was still not right. We had various chemicals on board and so we started to

treat various sections and we also got some caustic soda and some descaler from the town. This took most of the morning but by the end we seemed to have cleared the blockage.

John and Julian helped put away the Blue Baron lines (which were washed and rinsed) and then we all did various runs to shops to collect the provisions. It was quite well stocked here and we were able to get some good fresh fruit and vegetables. It all had to be stored and put away on the boat.

We had rolls and egg mayonnaise, meats etc for lunch.

I went off to sort out check out procedures for Sunday. John and Paul went off for a swim at the local beach. Dave and I relaxed on board and Mark went off to buy 80 apples being the last of the fruit he wanted to buy.

Julian said at one point that he could not see properly out of his right eye. He therefore went off to a medical centre and came back later having had an eye scan. He unfortunately had a detached retina and there was no one in Cape Verde who could treat it. This was serious and so we got in contact with the insurance company and looked at flights and within an hour had communication with the insurance company and had booked him on a flight tomorrow at 12.20pm to return to the UK via Lisbon. This is a real shame and so he will not be able to continue with us to the Azores. He has been a great crew member and my watchman on the trip from Cape Town. However, he needs to get his eye treated promptly and in the right place which is likely to be Moorfields in London. He rang his wife and told her the news.

This rather put a dampener on the evening so we got take away pizzas and had supper on board. We will see if the tour man can take us via the airport. We will be one crew member down for the next leg. We wish Julian a good journey home and a speedy recovery.   

 The picture of the day is another picture of Mindelo.

 Need/Opportunity Year Three

I am now on the way to Cape Verde, Azores and back to the UK.  At present I am full and there will be a change of 3 crew in the Azores for the final passage back to the UK.

The blog will continue as we continue the journey. If you have any comments or suggestions about the blog then do email me on hine.nick9@gmail.com