I really can't believe it but we've been home for more than 10 days already!!
It's really hot and very sticky here at the moment even though it is pretty windy too! Somewhere around 32*C (90*F) inside the boat and we're finding it difficult to do anything but the most basic of jobs as we are totally not acclimatised to this kind of weather.
We arrived back in Mindelo, Sao Vicente, on Friday 19th after an over-night stop in Lisbon, arriving quite late and leaving early so there was no time for any sight-seeing and I'm not sure we were up to it as Chris was fretting about Moontide! Getting through customs at San Pedro Airport was a little time-consuming but no problem and we took a taxi to the marina. Walking out along the pier to the marina office we could see that Moontide was where we left her and afloat!! Chris spoke to the port captain asking for help getting aboard while I popped to the nearby supermarket to get some water as we did not want to use the water in our tanks without checking it out first. Normally we filter the water from the tank and drink it quite happily but unfortunately we are having problems with our filter and obviously after 8 months we couldn't take any chances!!!
It's really hot and very sticky here at the moment even though it is pretty windy too! Somewhere around 32*C (90*F) inside the boat and we're finding it difficult to do anything but the most basic of jobs as we are totally not acclimatised to this kind of weather.
We arrived back in Mindelo, Sao Vicente, on Friday 19th after an over-night stop in Lisbon, arriving quite late and leaving early so there was no time for any sight-seeing and I'm not sure we were up to it as Chris was fretting about Moontide! Getting through customs at San Pedro Airport was a little time-consuming but no problem and we took a taxi to the marina. Walking out along the pier to the marina office we could see that Moontide was where we left her and afloat!! Chris spoke to the port captain asking for help getting aboard while I popped to the nearby supermarket to get some water as we did not want to use the water in our tanks without checking it out first. Normally we filter the water from the tank and drink it quite happily but unfortunately we are having problems with our filter and obviously after 8 months we couldn't take any chances!!!
Two "crew" lads came to help (with longs legs and fit enough to climb over the bow!) - getting the dinghy out of the boat, pumping it up for us and then putting our bags on board. Once inside we could see that everything was fine and Chris could finally relax - I don't think he'd slept for the last few nights worrying about what might have happened! Moontide was fine but totally covered in the red dust that blows of the land so our first job was cleaning. The deck has now been scrubbed and the spray hood and cockpit cleaned down so she is looking a lo better although there are some rust patches we need to work on and the galley really does need a thorough spring-clean; but at the moment though it's all we can do to go shopping so it will need to cool down a bit first. August and September are the hottest (and wettest) months out here so hopefully it will get better and we will get more used to it.
To back-track a little: Thankfully, the sale of Chris' dad's house was finally completed on the Tuesday before we left. We had been getting worried it would fall through again which would have made things a bit complicated (but not impossible) had Chris not been in the UK.
Also we managed to get a tenant for the flat - a mature student at Exeter University so we're hoping she will stay for a couple of years which will be good. She did need to move in on the Monday before we left though and Chris' brother and sister-in-law (Bill & Jane) came to our rescue and put us up (or put up with us!) for the 4 days. We had a really good time with them and it made things so much easier for us.
Well, there's not much other news so I finish here. As you can see I've stated a new blog page as the other one was getting pretty big and it seems appropriate to have a new start at this stage!!! Somehow the date is now showing in American date form!
To back-track a little: Thankfully, the sale of Chris' dad's house was finally completed on the Tuesday before we left. We had been getting worried it would fall through again which would have made things a bit complicated (but not impossible) had Chris not been in the UK.
Also we managed to get a tenant for the flat - a mature student at Exeter University so we're hoping she will stay for a couple of years which will be good. She did need to move in on the Monday before we left though and Chris' brother and sister-in-law (Bill & Jane) came to our rescue and put us up (or put up with us!) for the 4 days. We had a really good time with them and it made things so much easier for us.
Well, there's not much other news so I finish here. As you can see I've stated a new blog page as the other one was getting pretty big and it seems appropriate to have a new start at this stage!!! Somehow the date is now showing in American date form!