Satellite photo of Madeira and Porto Santos to the north, courtesty of Madeira Tourist Board
The bottle of champagne we have in fridge to be drunk upon our arrival in Madeira remains unopened. We have now been hoping and waiting to get to Madeira for two weeks and although we have shortened the distance considerably over the last 5 days by sailing over 500 nautical miles/926 kilometers/575 real miles, we’re still not there. At the moment we are holed up at the tiny island of Porto Santos, 42.17 km2 (16 sq mi), population 5,000, which lies 43 kilometres (27 mi) northeast of the island of Madeira. The fact the Christopher Columbus met and married his wife Isabel on this island and may have retired here as well, is their claim to fame.
The reason we decided to stop in Porto Santos was because we were running low on fuel and it was getting late in the day. It’s never a good idea to arrive in a new port at night and we would never have made it to Madeira in daylight at that point.
The reason we decided to stop in Porto Santos was because we were running low on fuel and it was getting late in the day. It’s never a good idea to arrive in a new port at night and we would never have made it to Madeira in daylight at that point.
As you know, we set off from Cascais in a hurry 5 days ago on Sunday morning when a weather window unexpectedly opened up. In retrospect, it wasn’t the best window, but it was the only one on the horizon for quite awhile and for better or worse, we went for it. In a nutshell, it was a most uncomfortable ride and we battled with variable wind and swells and intermittent rain showers the whole way. Consequently we motored more than we like in an attempt to go as quickly as possible.
About half-way through the journey, our fuel gauge showed our fuel was being used at an alarmingly fast rate although we had filled the tanks before we left and according to Patrice’s calculations, we should’ve had plenty of fuel. We used the satellite phone to call the boat manufacturer to try to determine what could be wrong praying that it was something as simple as a faulty gauge. To make a long story short, they had given us the wrong measurement. We were basing our consumption on liters, while we should've been using gallons !!! Mamma Mia!
About half-way through the journey, our fuel gauge showed our fuel was being used at an alarmingly fast rate although we had filled the tanks before we left and according to Patrice’s calculations, we should’ve had plenty of fuel. We used the satellite phone to call the boat manufacturer to try to determine what could be wrong praying that it was something as simple as a faulty gauge. To make a long story short, they had given us the wrong measurement. We were basing our consumption on liters, while we should've been using gallons !!! Mamma Mia!
So we had no choice but to do our best to sail in extremely difficult conditions. At this point we had the wind from behind and with the size of the waves and their varying direction, we were in constant danger of gybing. For the uninitiated, a gybe or jibe is a sailing maneuver where a sailboat which is sailing in the same direction of the wind turns its stern, or back, through the wind, such that the wind direction changes from one side of the boat to the other. If uncontrolled or unexpected, it can be very violent and dangerous. I can tell you it’s a very scary thing to witness a boat the size of Taka Trois doing an gybe--something we did our best to avoid, but couldn’t help nevertheless due to the conditions we were facing. I promise you, before our next passage we will have installed something to avoid this ever happening again.
I should add that not all was bad. We made fairly good time and arrived safely here in Porto Santos on Wednesday evening albeit a little battered and bruised. We did enjoy some delightful sailing at the start and the finish, saw many dolphins and we even got a little bit of comic relief mid-way during the passage when we took on an unexpected passenger. A little bird came to shelter aboard Taka Trois during the second night and stayed with us for most of the next day. We gave her shelter and bread crumbs (interestingly she preferred whole wheat over white) and she provided us with good entertainment and a boost in morale that we desperately needed at the time. We imagine she’s a transient bird and has been flitting from boat to boat for awhile now. When she left us without further adieu at the end of the second day, we felt as though something precious had gone. I like to think that she went to another boat that needed her for a boost in morale as well.
Please forgive me for boring you with probably too many pictures of our little mascot below, I just couldn't help myself--she was so cute and such a savior to us.
Please forgive me for boring you with probably too many pictures of our little mascot below, I just couldn't help myself--she was so cute and such a savior to us.
No sooner had we thanked God upon arrival for getting us here safely, than we received a terrible shock when we learned of the extent of devastation that hurricane Sandy had wreaked on New York and New Jersey, home of our loved ones. We had been in touch with our daughters who live in lower Manhattan via satellite phone during our journey and we knew some of what was happening. They kept assuring us that they were fine and didn't elaborate, quite rightly in retrospect, as they didn't want to worry us. Therefore it wasn't until we got onto the internet and saw the news that we realized how bad it really was. To say that we're heart-sick doesn't even come close, but we are very very grateful that our loved ones are indeed safe albeit without power.
A very welcome sight: The entrance to the port of Porto Santos (you know that I couldn't have been all that traumatized if I'm still taking pictures at this point.)
Our plan was to leave for Madeira yesterday morning after refueling and in fact, we were all geared up to go at 11:00 yesterday morning, but when we tried to start up our engine Volvo, she refused to start. Urrgh! As it was November 1st, All Saints Day and a public holiday in this largely Catholic country, there wasn’t an engine mechanic to be found. Patrice tinkered around with it and with the help of a seasoned sailor on our pontoon, managed to diagnose the problem and get it fixed. Too late, however, to set off for Madeira, which is fine, in the end as we’re really really tired. We did absolutely nothing yesterday and as the weather is not looking great, aside from writing and adding two posts to my blog*, we're planning on doing more of the same today. Madeira has waited this long for us, I think she wait another day or two...
Happy happy skipper arriving in port after 76 hours at sea!
*For the first time I am adding two posts simultaneously to my blog. The first one, an account of life in the marina--just scroll down a bit to see it--was written in Cascais. Due to our precipitous departure, I didn't have time to post (it takes a really long time to upload photos on this website).
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