Many yachtsmen choose Cape Verde as the hopping off point for a westbound Transatlantic. It’s far enough south for the Tradewinds to be very predictable and the passage to get there provides an excellent ‘shakedown’ of your watchkeeping and general preparations before setting out on the big ocean crossing.
As a result, Mindelo has something of the atmosphere of the Base Camp of Everest (not that I’ve been there). A steady stream of boats coming from the Canaries or West Africa on one side, and disappearing into the sunset on the other. There are fairly good engineering and catering facilities here – but the best asset is the wonderful spirit of cooperation and excitement amongst the yacht crews.
The archipelago is well worth taking a couple of weeks to explore as all the islands are different. By the time we got there in late 2017, we didn’t have enough time to do the place justice, so these photographs (and the Blog posts elsewhere on this site) are of Mindelo and San Antao only.
We hope some of these photographs encourage you to take your boat a bit further. Please get in touch to see how we can help you realise your dreams. We look forward to talking to you.
