We finally got everything fixed after spending what felt like months here in Las Palmas. Now it was time to head over to Tenerife to pick up our crew so that we could make that 8 day trip down to Cape Verde. On route we discovered that we still had a problem with the water maker. Seems the gauge was reading ok when you glanced at it, but it had a small icon in the corner of the display that showed (x10). So we should have been multiplying the number by 10, resulting in having to order another membrane to be delivered to Tenerife. We addressed our top loader fridge issue turning on and off randomly which took the technician over a week to fix. A rig check was performed, all was good but a couple of rivets to replace and roller beads for the mainsail traveller. Our 3 weeks in Las Palmas went by quickly and one by one the “to do list” was addressed. Jacqui managed to get a dentist to fix a tooth infection issue she had been battling with since last Xmas so off the Tenerife we go.

Adam the rigger came by to diagnose a noise that we had in the foresail furler, it was like a squealing noise whenever it was furled in or out. He had trouble understanding what it was and finally decided that the best thing would be to dismantle the furler and replace some of the spacers. This resulted in waiting again for parts to be ordered and arrive, The top cap was broken and we had lost one of the spacers so eventually with all hands on deck we all helped with the final repair Organizing all these repairs and parts in the Canaries was frustrating as there were so many yachts (Arc+ and Arc fleet) all crossing the Atlantic at a similar time that the trades were always super busy and really not in the need of work.

The trip to Mindelo in Cape Verde was uneventful except for the bit of fishing net that we snagged on the prop. Dragged that for 100 nautical miles and because it was on the prop we couldn’t use the engine. Had the Go-Pro down to see what exactly it was caught on and we figured it was snagged on a lug nut. We attempted a few things to try to disengage it with no luck. This meant that we needed to go into the anchorage under sail as we couldn’t use the engine without damaging things further. We requested and received permission from the Mindelo Harbour Master to go into the next island over from Mindelo as the anchorage in Mindelo was not suitable for this maneuver.

We had sailed into an anchorage once before when we lost the use of the engine because of a damaged fuel filter. This happened in Nydri, Greece and we had help from a passing motor yacht to get into the anchorage in that instance. So, we figured out how to do it. Small amount of headsail and then turn up into the wind and just let that anchor freefall from the cradle. Worked like a charm. As the boat backed up on the anchor the offending piece of net just fell off. Had a local fisherman check it out for us and sure enough it was gone and no damage to the prop. Next day we sailed over to the marina in Mindelo in 30 knots of wind. Fast sail!

Caught 4 fish coming down to Cape Verde. Seems whenever the line went out there was a fish (Mahi Mahi) waiting for it. Didn’t catch anything else.

Pete and Deb had booked a sight seeing tour of the island and I joined them. Jacs unfortunately had done some damage to her back pulling on the mooring line so was unable to come with us. The tour of the island was great, narrated by our host. He had a lot of knowledge of the history of the islands

One of the other items that we discovered on our trip down to Cape Verde was that the batteries were not holding the charge. One of the things that we had done while in Santa Cruz was get a new battery monitor and after hooking it up we started to notice anomalies with the batteries. We had been getting a high voltage alarm on the way to Cape Verde. When we got to Mindelo we had an electrician come over and check out our battery issue. The batteries had bulged (all of them) which indicates a high voltage problem. Had to change out all the batteries and after installing them there were still some issues. Turns out we had a faulty alternator that was not sensing when the batteries were full so kept on putting in volts causing them to be over charged. Luckily we had a spare alternator on the boat so the electrician came back and swapped it out for us. With all of that accomplished it was time to go on our cross-Atlantic journey.

Picked up another crew member as the crew that we had from the Canary’s decided it was not for them and they needed to get off the boat (sailing is not for everyone or suited to many). It was very easy to find someone as there are so many young adventurous types looking for a crossing. He turned out to be a real bonus. No troubles, liked to cook, appreciated the opportunity offered to him, polite, diligent and made a proposal for a different shift schedule. Turns out that we could get 11 hours off! For 3 of us it worked out very well. He is actually still with us and heading for his next adventure in Costa Rico mid January.

The actual crossing was mostly uneventful. Only issue was a lack of wind for a few days where we needed to run the engine. Had the pole out for most of the trip. Took us 17 days which isn’t bad for us old folks. Had a few passengers on for part of the journey, flying fish and a bunch of “sea grass” which interfered with the fishing line, however we did get a couple of fish. Had a big one on that got away, don’t even know what it was as couldn’t get it close to the boat to find out. Got to Barbados and celebrated with a beverage. Nice to see that there are some nice yachts here. Vertigo is one of them rumoured to belong to Rupert Murdoch (Newspaper Baron). But apparently owned by a European couple. It is available for charter if anyone is interested.

Barbados is hot, humid and expensive!! Welcome to the Caribe.