Day 22 – Have Arrived Cape Verde Islands

Hi Everyone,                   Welcome to day 22 of our voyage. Well we have reached the Cape Verde Islands, well almost. We are currently 10nm to the south of the Verdes and as it is to late to berth in Mindelo this evening we are going to proceed to anchor then berth at 0900 tomorrow morning.  The weather has improved so rather than fighting the stong NNE winds that we have been over the past 48hrs we are now enjoying light – moderate NE winds with only a small swell.  My entry in tonight\’s Log  is only a short one as I am due on the bridge shortly to take the Ship to anchor. Bridge from Blue Watch volunteered her services to write tonights edition so please enjoy.    Until our next entry which will be on the evening of the 12 March 2015, take care.  Yours Aye  Captain Gav  Captains Log 09 Mar 15Good Day or Good Evening, whatever time it may be where you are reading this from, welcome you to Monday 9th of March’s log.  As yesterdays Sunday Sea wrapped up yesterday, a few of us decided a sunset ‘sesh’ on the bow sprit was in order. Without much thought we headed up to the bridge to request permission from the officer of watch – Dion. He looked at Cassie and I with a worried expression, took 30 or so seconds to make his decision, then said that if we stood up the bow of the ship for 5 minutes first and thought we were capable then we could report back to him with a decision. Cassie and I had a discussion and decided to go ahead with our harnesses on and assess the situation. About 30 seconds post clipping on to the rail, a massive wave had covered the bow sprit with water and subsequently drenched us. We looked back at the bridge to find the whole watch laughing hysterically. Then, we looked at each other, with cheeky grins on our faces. Not too much needed to be said really, this was fun and we weren’t going anywhere soon. Before too long, Teddy, Vinny, and Sian had joined us too.  After this a good old card game called president was played in the café by those who dared stay up when they should be sleeping. Dion of course joined in on the fun as he is a true sufferer of FOMO disease, a disease that is slowly taking the youth crew (and staffies) down one by one. Unfortunately those who played and were on the guts watch (0000 – 0400) somewhat regretted this today as they tried to catch up on sleep. We now have a commonly used quote on board – “Sleep when you die”- it generally works quite well when trying to persuade someone to stay up a little longer and join in on the fun.  Today was another chilled day. Another big mission was conquered by Vinnie and I from Blue watch. A long story cut short, the previous night our blue watch was brailing the Main Sail when one of the peak inhauls got caught. This is hard to explain, but basically it then made the Main Sail very difficult to sea furl (tie ropes around the sail, securing it to the mast). We ascended the main mast that night, muscles fatigued, bodies shaking, heads hanging low. Jodie our team leader reassured us we did the best job possible under the circumstances. However, we were still disheartened. Nevertheless, it only really made us more determined. So, today when the Sail was properly brailed, we jumped at the opportunity to give it another go under better and less impossible conditions. We came down from the main mast today with absolute looks of happiness and accomplishment on our faces. The crew even congratulated us on how good it looked. Thanks to everyone for the encouragement and support, it went a long way.  We also got the pleasure of seeing a pod of beautiful dolphins in the arvo today. So majestic, the air they got drew ‘oos’ and ‘aahs’ from the crew. It was awesome to see how happy each person looked, to see what looked like a show that was put on especially for us all.  Last but not least, tonight was made special as a Slideshow presentation of our time together so far was shared for all to see. Thanks to Tilda, Eva and Helena for putting in so much effort. I know everyone will be happy to look back on this in years to come and reminisce. Vinny also performed a comic song about the voyage thus far which drew minute’s worth of claps and a happy/red face from Vinny. Everyone agrees, he is one talented lad. Mac filled us in on all things Cape Verde, including exchange rates, things to do etc, Thanks Mac! And as I’m writing this, Tom is busily putting a navigation ‘fix’ on the map and reports to me that we are currently about 11 Nautical Miles from the Verdes – yay!!! We all have a massive fear of land sickness and regaining sea sickness upon our next leg, fingers are firmly crossed.So that’s all for today folks. Over and out,   Bridge  (Blue Watch)Ps. Hi Mum and Cait and O’Brien family. Caz, tell baby Louise I miss her, I hope she’s talking now!    “