I’m doing the second part of the Atlantic crossing with the Baici family again, after some back and forth, and I’m very happy about it, because we get on< like a house on fire!
After I was already ready to go on the boat of Jack and Jill from Texas, the departure was delayed several times due to illness and weather, so I then decided to go on the catamaran again, on which I have already had such good experiences. My buddy and school friend Jakob has also come to the Canary Islands as a boat hitchhiker and can also join us – that’s of course mega cool to have this experience together. From Cap Verde we will be joined by Peter, a friend of the family, who I don’t know any more about yet – I’m excited and looking forward to it. That means there will be seven of us from Cap Verde to the Caribbean!
Here you can read my diary from the crossing from Gran Canaria to Cap Verde, enjoy reading it.
Day 1:
Today we finally set sail. After being in Gran Canaria for a long time, it’s nice to be back on the water now 😊.
The last few days have been very exhausting with all the preparations and we haven’t slept much, so everyone went to bed early today. Also because there are night shifts again from now on: compared to the trip from Gibraltar to the Canary Islands, we are now one more person for the guards with Jakob. Therefore we do 2.5 hour shifts 😊
I’m on from 3 – 5:30 right now. Which I was a bit late for:
My watch jumped back to German time (+1) just before the alarm was supposed to ring, so it didn’t ring at all. When I woke up and apologised to Jakob a thousand times, he didn’t understand why, because I was only 15 minutes late and not 75 minutes 😃
For dinner I made Vegan Mac and Cheese, a great recipe from my friend Lioba. Everyone seemed to like it, which makes me happy. Baicis like to eat meat sometimes (although not all the time), while Jakob and I cook vegan in Germany. (He is definitely more consistent than I am, on the trip Jakob eats vegetarian and I also eat meat sometimes).
I’m going to learn some Portuguese and then I’m happy to go back to sleep 😊 but not without admiring the luminescent algae out of Jakob’s and my window for another 5 minutes 😍 I already did that tonight with the kids from their bunk 😊
Day 2:
I woke up really happy today. After my night shift and the exhausting last few days, I slept until half past eleven and my first view was of the sun-drenched, open sea – what more could you want 😃
For breakfast I made guacamole and fruit salad, together with the last fresh bread and Spanish cheese it was very fine (Swiss word for delicious) 😊
This afternoon we changed the sail and are now sailing with a downwind sail. The wind direction is relatively constant and also the wind strength is ok, although it has decreased a bit and a bit more wind would be nice.
After a wonderful sunset, I played the guitar and we sang. Later I played Eile mit Weile with Siro and Stella – a Swiss version of Mensch Ärgere Dich Nicht.
Because of our 2.5-hour shift system, the shifts are always different, which is really cool 😊.
Right now I have to work until half past two and then I go to bed dead tired. I’m using the time during my shift to learn Portuguese. I can’t wait to see how much I know when we arrive on Cap Verde 😊
Day 3:
Christmas Eve on the Atlantic feels like being in a parallel world, but a very beautiful one!
I feel like I can’t even describe in words how special it is to be out on the open sea in a boat, driven only by the wind. To wake up with a view of the sea and be lulled to sleep by the surging waves 😊
And that too at Christmas with a new family – I’m one of them now say Baicis ☺️
We really picked up speed this morning, reaching up to 10 knots 😍
But since afternoon it’s been a break and we’re chugging across the Atlantic at 3 knots.
We baked biscuits, played guitar and sang and had a very tasty and nice dinner.
There were presents too, of course. Jakob and I gave the kids a game (that’s exactly what Stella wanted to have, good coincidence ✌🏻) and Silke & Fedi glass straws for the ship. I got Rocher and a pendant from Stella ☺️☺️
Before, I thought I might want to go home for Christmas, but right now I feel like I’m in exactly the right place 🥰
Small drawback: we just had a cable fire 😮 luckily Baicis have installed a smoke detector in the engine compartment, which gave us an early warning. Nothing worse happened, but we’re not sure if we can still use the generator 😱
Day 4:
Slept late again today after watching the sunrise on my shift. There is probably no more beautiful place than watching the sun rise and set on the ocean. There is nothing in the way and you can watch exactly on the horizon how the ball of light appears and disappears again after many hours of enlightenment 😊.
We are now even more dependent on the sun, as our generator no longer works after the cable fire. In a pinch, however, we could turn on the normal engine to generate electricity. But as long as the sun shines reliably, that’s not necessary 😊
Fedi and Siro caught 2 fish this morning while I was sleeping. It has become a running joke that you can’t catch fish with me. It’s even rumoured that I give the fish a heads up 😃
A very large school of dolphins also came by – just in time for Christmas. Not sure if they care that much about the festivities though 😃
Day 5:
The second day of Christmas was very different from the first. The wind has increased a lot, we have up to 30 knots of wind 😳 so we have reefed the sails (reduced sail area) and are still very fast: up to 11 knots 💪
With the wind comes waves, so that we are properly rocked and some of the crew are seasick. Especially the kids got it.
I enjoy it when it’s a bit more action-packed and the boat is moving properly, but it was nicer when we were all fit on deck the last few days, cooking and baking in a relaxed way. We can’t bake the cookie dough that the kids and I prepared yesterday. Due to the cable fire in the generator and the lack of electricity production under cloudy skies, we have to save electricity for the time being. Besides, it wobbles too much.
Unfortunately, the internet via satellite phone that I set up in the harbour doesn’t work, so we don’t have any up-to-date weather data. But we just radioed a French boat nearby and they said the weather should calm down tonight.
Day 6:
This morning it looked as if the French forecast would come true, but in the meantime we have been taught better. The wind remains very strong, the waves got even bigger.
Tonight, several fly fish jumped/swam aboard. We have frozen them and will feed them to the next dolphin visit. The others have also seen some flying fish, I haven’t had the luck yet. The “wings” of the dead fish look really spectacular. I’m curious to see how they “fly” with them.
Since the weather remains so difficult and electricity is scarce, no cooking is possible for the time being. So we mainly eat muesli, bagels with avocado and fresh fruit. We still have a lot of the latter, so we were optimistic when we went shopping 😃
Today I finished the grammar lessons I downloaded for the trip to Cap Verde, it’s fun and I’m looking forward to using it. I’ve also been watching a few episodes of Netflix (Designated Survivor, really exciting), practicing harmonica, sorting out photos, writing a song for the crew and learning astrology with an audio book. Very appropriate, because the starry sky here is just stunning!!!
Together we listen to a lot of music, the kids have become big fans of a Spanish band that I also recently discovered: La Pegatina. And they also find Das Lumpenpack very cool 😃 I played them some of their songs on the guitar.
Day 7:
The waves got even higher during the day and we were really rocked and pushed off course a bit. But the kids are fine again and we had a lot of jokes today 😊
A construction on the mainsail that Fedi had improvised in Las Palmas tore. Luckily the spare parts arrived at the last minute (we even turned around a bit after we had already left Las Palmas). So we can install the parts on Cap Verde. Until then we will only sail with foresail.
Today I also saw the flying fish and how many! Mega impressive and cool to see 😍
Towards late evening, the waves subsided a bit and I cooked pasta. The first warm meal in 3 days did us a world of good 😊 we’re all really looking forward to a restaurant in Mindelo 😍 we’ll arrive tomorrow – but unfortunately probably only after dark.
On Friday Peter will join us, the seventh crew member for the crossing to the Caribbean ☺️
Day 8:
We are just anchored in Mindelo on Sao Vicente and have arrived safely. Tomorrow we can enter the harbour and we are all looking forward to going ashore! Today the weather got a bit better and we saw some more dolphins and schools of flying fish 🙂
We don’t know yet how long we will stay on Cap Verde, but I will keep you posted. For now, I’m looking forward to the first country outside Europe and the many impressions that await us. Especially New Year’s Eve in Mindelo is supposed to be insanely big and great. I will report back.
Happy New Year to you all and all the best for 2023!