Falcon - Sea Day 6

We made it… to Cape Verde at least! Final tally for the passage from Las Palmas to Mindelo was 903 nautical miles over 5 days and 15 hours at sea - not too shabby if we say so ourselves!

Yesterday was Remembrance Day; with Falcon’s crew representing the RAF, Army reserves, and Police service, we all silently paid our respects to fallen friends at the 11th hour of the 11th day.

On a more upbeat note… Finally we found signs of intelligent life on (well, more accurately, alongside) Falcon, when we were visited by dolphins! Skipper Ade rushed to the foredeck to video our mammalian friends, but it was James who had the best view of the playful pod as he was being keel-hauled at the time, probably for some serious misdemeanour such as ‘looking at the captain in a funny way’!

Wary of an arrival at a strange location in darkness, we planned to arrive at first light on Saturday. The plan failed spectacularly! We made far too rapid progress, so enjoyed all the thrills of navigating a strange harbour under the sheen of the dancing moonlight … as stressful a situation for the captain as it was romantic for his 1st Mate! Successfully tied up by 0530, it was a well-earned pat on the back celebrated with a breakfast of champions in the cockpit for the three of us - a couple of beers and stale ship’s biscuits (possibly with a weevil accompaniment)!

Time now to see what Cape Verde has to offer. Bev is excited about the cafés and restaurants, the boys are grinning ear-to-ear at the news there is a chandlery! We depart for Grenada next Friday… 6 days to get the cocktails in before our next 14-16 days of ocean abstinence.