Inasmuch as it consists of just a few fragments of rock, flung far away from the continent and strewn across almost two hundred miles of ocean, the Republic of Cape Verde is superficially similar to the Canaries or the Azores; but in reality, geographic structure and a similar sort of lingo are pretty much the only things that this archipelago holds in common with those other two places.
Las Palmas, political capital of the Canary Islands, has been nominated as Europe’s Cultural Capital for the year 2016. Well… I don’t know what a city has to do to qualify for this role, but I would have thought that it might involve having a bit of… well, you know… a bit of culture, and all that… European cultural centres which spring to mind include Rome, Athens, Venice, London, Lisbon, Edinburgh, Paris, Avignon, Seville, Toledo, Santiago de Compostela, Cadiz, Granada;…
Much as we enjoy gawping at the super-yachts and at the Big Stuff going about its daily business on the other side of the port, for us the best thing about Las Palmas is the other cruising folk. As I said at the outset of the previous article, hundreds of yachts pass through the port each year and amongst this little lot there are bound to be friends, old or new. Usually it is the boats themselves which attract our…
You meet some nice people cruising. Nice people, and interesting boats. A few months ago we happened upon a multi-national team of English, Indonesian, and South African nationals who were sailing a Phoenician ship around Africa. And then we ran into a bunch of really crazy guys who were just about to set off across the ocean on a plastic raft. One of the best places to see a wide variety of interesting boats is Las Palmas, Gran Canaria. The…
The following article was penned by Adam Ziv, a young Israeli musician who hitched a ride with us for the passage from La Gomera to the Cape Verdes. We always said that we would never take hitch-hikers – but Adam was… Well, he was different. Without exerting any effort at all this young man charmed his way into our lives, so that we actually WANTED to take him sailing! I can’t pretend that it isn’t also quite nice to have…
Crew available. Hi there! My name is Ninja. I’m 23 years old and I want to sail to the Caribbean. I’ve already walked across Europe! I’m a vegetarian. Expert juggler. No sailing experience yet, but I’m very enthusiastic. Willing to work my passage. So read the advert on the notice board in Las Palmas. It was one of about 30 similar ads – some nicely printed on an A4 page; some scrawled in biro on a scrap of paper –…
The sun was sinking towards the sea. The crew were scattered about the cockpit enjoying a glass of wine. The day had been gorgeous; although perhaps not quite so gorgeous as the ones which preceded it, because the anchorage had been beset by an unusually big and very annoying swell. By evening time, however, we had all grown accustomed to the rolling, and we were paying scant attention to anything except the golden light on the orange-brown cliffs and the ruby nectar…
What Can We Do To Help? (Martha Hezemans and the Sea Couriers of Las Palmas) We first met Martha at a pop concert. To be more exact, she was outside the concert, sitting on the grass. Small and skinny, the woman was hardly the sort who naturally attracts attention; but, right now, she was determined to do so. With one hand pressed against her throat she greeted us as loudly as she could – yet all we heard was a…
A window in the weather enabled the Mollymawks to pop across to La Gomera for Christmas, and here we met up with some other seafarers – or would-be seafarers – with a rather unusual vessel. The frail old man sitting on the quayside in La Gomera does not look like an adventurer. As we approach he waves a crutch in greeting, and I think to myself, “He looks just like any other aged old grand-pa. He might be on day…
(with a few additional remarks by the editor-in-chief) It was early afternoon and we were in Flores, just nearing the end of one of the scenic walks for which the Azores are famous. We had started that morning, leaving Mollymawk anchored in the bay behind us, and we had now been walking, at a leisurely pace, for most of the day – along a road, up a track, along a footpath, and past a lake which had eleven waterfalls pouring…