Salvagem Islands
Saved!
30º08.312' N
15º52.352' W
We arrived at the larger of the two Salvagem Islands at 1:30 PM today. The sea conditions were not very good, and Robert would not have stopped, except that I was so sick and needed a break.
At first we just anchored, but we didn't feel very secure, since if the anchor slipped, we would be in danger of being pushed into the sharp rocks and cliffs of the island. Fortunately, there was a mooring buoy that we could attach ourselves to. It's normally used by military ships, so it was a very large and unwieldy buoy -- tying ourselves to it was no easy task. For our first attempt, I steered the boat and ended up hitting the buoy head on. (Oops!) Robert suggested that we switch roles after that, and I managed to hook us onto the buoy.
Because of the choppy sea conditions, the boat was still rocking a fair amount, but I felt considerably better. Later in the afternoon, we took the dinghy to the shore. The dock on the island was mossy and extremely slick, and I ended up falling into the water and getting completely soaked. Luckily I wasn't hurt, and the adrenaline rush that I got from the ordeal actually made me feel even better.
The island was quite deserted: the only inhabitants of the island were two people who were stationed there, two dogs, and a bunch of terns that nested in the rocks.
After tramping around the island for a couple hours, I felt back to normal and quite happy. There was definitely a 5-point swing in my happy-o-meter in the span of a couple hours -- something like going from a 3.8 to 8.8. B+!
I'll post some pictures of the island later. It's a national protected reserve, and we had to get special permission to visit it. It's actually kind of barren and empty, and Robert said he'd be happy to forget it. To me though, it was Salvation Island, an oasis of paradise!
Back on the boat, I put on a Scopalmine patch to help with the seasickness. I had used one on our trip from Sines to Madeira, but had decided to try going without one for this trip, in an attempt to adjust "naturally" to the sea. Forget that -- I'm sticking to the patches from now on!
We're staying the night here to rest and recover, and we'll continue our journey to Canarias tomorrow morning.
30º08.312' N
15º52.352' W
We arrived at the larger of the two Salvagem Islands at 1:30 PM today. The sea conditions were not very good, and Robert would not have stopped, except that I was so sick and needed a break.
At first we just anchored, but we didn't feel very secure, since if the anchor slipped, we would be in danger of being pushed into the sharp rocks and cliffs of the island. Fortunately, there was a mooring buoy that we could attach ourselves to. It's normally used by military ships, so it was a very large and unwieldy buoy -- tying ourselves to it was no easy task. For our first attempt, I steered the boat and ended up hitting the buoy head on. (Oops!) Robert suggested that we switch roles after that, and I managed to hook us onto the buoy.
Because of the choppy sea conditions, the boat was still rocking a fair amount, but I felt considerably better. Later in the afternoon, we took the dinghy to the shore. The dock on the island was mossy and extremely slick, and I ended up falling into the water and getting completely soaked. Luckily I wasn't hurt, and the adrenaline rush that I got from the ordeal actually made me feel even better.
The island was quite deserted: the only inhabitants of the island were two people who were stationed there, two dogs, and a bunch of terns that nested in the rocks.
After tramping around the island for a couple hours, I felt back to normal and quite happy. There was definitely a 5-point swing in my happy-o-meter in the span of a couple hours -- something like going from a 3.8 to 8.8. B+!
I'll post some pictures of the island later. It's a national protected reserve, and we had to get special permission to visit it. It's actually kind of barren and empty, and Robert said he'd be happy to forget it. To me though, it was Salvation Island, an oasis of paradise!
Back on the boat, I put on a Scopalmine patch to help with the seasickness. I had used one on our trip from Sines to Madeira, but had decided to try going without one for this trip, in an attempt to adjust "naturally" to the sea. Forget that -- I'm sticking to the patches from now on!
We're staying the night here to rest and recover, and we'll continue our journey to Canarias tomorrow morning.
posted by james at 8:20 PM
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