Afriki from Sweden – Day 7 – November 5^th 2010

Today was dedicated to the Sailors Bar with the Swedish fellow. Sailors Bar is the place to hang out in the harbor. Lot of captains, free internet and a great sandwich for just €2.35 - then you don’t need more convincing. Five hours easily goes by with internet and good company. 

At 17.00 hours I had the appointment with the Swedish couple searching for a crewmember. I met them at port G exactly five minutes before and walked with them to the boat “Afriki”: a charming 36 foot boat with a lot of wood and scent of history inside. Sheila and Gunnar proved to be really nice and easy going couple which I immediately felt confident to be around. They had originally planned to have one of their sons on board with them but since he was occupied with his business they needed a stand in and I had no problem in being stand in for their son at all.
Afriki just finished a two year world tour with a Canadian guy who left the boat in Las Palmas where they had invested in the boat one month ago and arrived here themselves just a week ago so they were in the phase of checking up on the equipment before leaving probably around November 10^th.

What I also found positive was that being in such a tight team of just the three of us will leave me with much more experience and also great to experience their virgin tour with the boat as well.

The destination is Sal in Cape Verde where they have a house and plan to stay away from the nasty Scandinavian winter until April – not bad idea I must give them. My initial dream was to go to Brazil but after they told me about the place I felt no rush at all:) Ships pass here though going to Brazil so should also be possible to go there if I decide. Cape Verde is also Portuguese speaking so it suits me perfect to refresh that language.

Leaving the boat after 1 ½ hour of talk we decided that we both would confirm to each other tomorrow and they also had communication with someone in Sweden but I think both parties felt quite assured about the situation. I definitely felt very lucky and happy about the whole situation. Now I can’t wait until Monday when I we have agreed that I will move in if we both agree. I will be having the front cabin with double bed and quite spacious for the boats limits. My mind is already there...