Praia, Cape Verde, lies 360 miles west of Dakar and to be there on the 19th required the sedate speed of 10 knots, 11 mph, 18 kph. The 18th saw HAL’s 145th anniversary.
Praia lies on the southern end of the island of Santiago and, as usual, there was a strong northeasterly wind. I was hoping that there would be some lee from the 40 mph winds as we approached the harbor and as we approached the pilot boarding ground the seas were calmer, although there was not a great deal of wind reduction until we neared the harbour breakwaters; even then it was gusty. It was our intention to swing in the harbour and then go port side alongside. The docking was complicated by the presence of a large cargo ship, also on the pier. As I started our swing and having completed about 30° of the swing, the pesky wind blew up, coming down through valleys to the north of the harbour and it became apparent that swinging and then docking was going to be difficult, to say the least. A quick change of plan and a decision to dock starboard side alongside, bow into the wind which was then achieved without incident.
An overview of the island
The turn into the harbour
and the docking. The ‘kink’ is where we had to change our docking side
I was meant to go fishing with a group of guests and crew, however the boats, due to a misunderstanding, were on another island and so it was time to go and see some of the sights. We had been here before of course, so my photographs may be a repetition of that visit, but what the heck…….. A shuttle bus took us into Praia and then it was time to barter with a taxi driver for a tour, we wanted to go to the World Heritage site of Cidade Velha, the first colonial outpost in the tropics. It features an old fortress, built by the Portuguese around 1585, after that pesky Brit, Sir Francis Drake had attacked Portuguese ships and towns.
Cidade Velha below
It has the remains of 2 churches, some of the original streets and Pillory Square, a reminder of the slave trade to colonial territories.
Karen outside the President’s Palace, Praia, (just out of shot is an armed guard)
Local lady with her stall
Where we partook of lunch
Bringing the groceries home
Tending to their boats and nets
How to disguise a communications tower
The pillory, circa 1518-1520
This will be last post of the 2018 Grand World Voyage. I have so much to do before arriving in Port Everglades on the 28th, that there just won’t be time to sit here and write to you; we arrive in San Juan on the 25th and in between I have a plethora of ‘farewell’ social functions and reports to write. I will, all being well start again when I rejoin the “Amsterdam” in August, when in Alaska and, of course, the 2019 Grand World Voyage. It has been fun and relaxing writing these posts and travelling the World has opened my eyes to other cultures and customs.
There is a famous quote about travel “The real voyage of discovery consists of not in seeking new landscapes, but having new eyes”.
