ARC day 11: getting ready for part two

With the water pump fixed we are getting ready to resume the voyage. Wind and wave in the Atlantic look awful at the moment but conditions are improving and it looks as though by the weekend we will be in good shape.

The Mindelo marina is horrible. 30+ knot winds blast across if between the mountains and the pontoons are not fixed to piles. The boats are moored stern to so that their bows are fixed to mooring buoys while the stern lines are fixed to the pontoon. If the pontoon was fixed this would be fine, but the pontoons are only anchored to he bottom so they are free o move horizontally as well. This means that everything moves all the time, often with the boats forming a link in a chain of objects joining two or three anchor points together. Sometimes the pontoon moves away front he boat while th boat moves away from the pontoon, then a big jerk and they move together again. The motion is on many ways worst than waves at sea!

I really hate this marina because of this. The water is also very dirtyy with rubbish and worse floating past. 
Hopefully we will be leavig on Saturday with a few other boats together. I am really looking forward to leaving and to getting to St Lucia. It's just the bit in between that is a bit worrying. We have to get the right route and try to get the most fronm the wind while avoiding the worst do the waves.

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