Xenial - Day 10 - Santo Antão and Prize Giving for Leg 1

CJ and I took a day off from boat duty and went on a tour of the neighborhood island of Santo Antão. This required waking up before 6am to catch the ferry across the channel, and we weren’t entirely sure it was going to be worth it…but trust me it was!

The island needs some better PR, because it is absolutely stunning and we had no idea. The scenery switches between volcanic formed lunar landscapes, to cliffs plunging into blue water, to villages with colorful houses next to black pebble beaches, to hidden green valleys fed by irrigation canals excavated in the rock, to mountains lined with laboriously built terraces to grow sugar cane and corn, to basalt cobble roads winding to the top of ancient craters, to peaks covered in pine trees, and then back to deep red earth dotted with moisture hungry shrubs. At every turn, a new view opened before us, and we just couldn’t get enough!

Back on board, the crew allegedly was put to work by the captain on a number of projects. We can confirm that upon our return, the table on deck had a fresh coat of oil on it. We’re not sure what else they did all day. With regards to the captain himself, he took a trip of his own, but to the top of the mast. He made an unfortunate discovery…something about a block that should be on top of the mast but is not. As I am sure you have realized by now, my technical knowledge about sail boats is close to 0, so don’t ask me more details. I have been told that it can be fixed and it will be fixed, and I am happy to trust the multiple engineers on board with the matter. If you want more details, please contact Captain Ulrik.

Tonight was the prize giving ceremony for Leg 1. We unfortunately didn’t win anything, but felt that we were well represented anyway: The Italian boat Fra Diavolo won the fastest time ever, and the A class, and the podium of Class B (our class) was all Swedish boats. The major found the bar situation quite unsatisfactory and tried to help fix whatever issue they were having with the beer on draft, but eventually gave up and was found drinking whiskey on Xenial. The rest of us opted for an equally unconventional meal. We did what most of our mothers and wives would forbid - we had ice cream for dinner. But it was suggested by Monica, who is a mother, wife and doctor, so it must be allowed! The Captain had a huge cone with three scoops and was in need of a shower after finishing it. I must say, given the challenges we have had finding good food and provisions on the island, I am surprised they have this one place that makes amazing Italian gelato!

And we just got our official results for Leg 1: We came 6th (out of 18) in our class! Not bad at all!

Over and out,
Mavi