Fogo and Brava

From San Vincente we left for the last 2 islands before beginning the crossing, Fogo and Brava. We had a 24h sail to get to Fogo, which was Anton’s first proper sail with us!

We arrived around midday in a small anchorage, that was not really ideal for yachts as we were anchored between a ferry dock, a cargo landing dock, a harbour wall and steep rocks with waves crushing against them.

We had read online not to take the advice of the locals and put a stern landline to the pontoon, as they can often tip when an unexpected big wave comes in and so we just had our anchor. Another big fishing boat that was tied up with one of those stern lines did come loose the next day and we were calling the harbour to tell them it was drifting towards us, but luckily its anchor held and it didn’t come too close to us. We then saw a guy swimming out to the boat, grabbing a line and pulling it back to shore! Quite a mission!

The next day we rented a taxi to drive us around the island and went to check out a village that is located in the middle of the caldera. Fogo, like the other islands in this archipelago is volcanic, and the whole island is basically one big mountain.

On the top was the main town, where we did a quick provisioning stop at a bakery, before driving ontowards the national park.

However, here the last volcano eruption took place in 2014 and quite a lot of the houses got covered in lava or very narrowly didn’t get submerged! Today, the houses are being rebuilt in the exact same place, which was impressive to see. In the caldera they also grow grapes and we bought some wine and raisins for the christmas cookie baking we have planned!

After the tour it was just 1.5h sail over to Brava, the final island where we arrive with strong winds and waves. We arrived in the village of Furna and dropped our anchor next to the fishing boats and had to go on a landline-mission. Anton rowed Franzi to shore and she was then clambering over the rocks to find a place for our 2 landlines, which then made us sit nice and steady.

The next day we got a public minibustaxi up to the town of Nova Sintra. We were the first and only ones in the taxi and so the driver asked if we would mind taking on other passengers, which was no problem for us but we were quite surprised though when the first new passenger was a bucket of freshly caught tuna! Shortly followed by their owner, who was selling them out the window on our way through town.

(Photos: me and the tuna, main square in Nova Sintra with wavy tiles like Lisbon, all you need in one place, precious cargo: new gas bottle, street art)

Nova Sintra was a beautiful small town set in the hills of Brava, also called the flower island. It has been a while since the rainy season so it was not that flowery, but still a very green island! We had a walk around town and then split up, with Franzi and me taking a ride back down to the boat and Thomas, Ellie and Anton going on a hike down a valley to the seaside.

(Photos: views on the hike and a lunchspot!)