A Taste of Senegalese Music

We wanted to check out the music scene for which Senegal, and particularly Dakar is famous for ad had visited the premier live music venue, Just 4 U, on Wednesday evening. Unfortunately our timing was off and we arrived to find Ussou N'Dour (world-renowned) setting up for that night. We listened to the rehearsal over a couple of beers and met various people including his brother-in-law, but nothing was going to start before 10pm and we had to get back for the last water taxi to our boat. Not wanting to miss out we decided, on Thursday, to launch our dinghy and try again. Dressed-up and arriving at 9pm we hoped to have dinner and watch the concert only to find the entrance mobbed with people. We were told it was his last night and it sold out at 8am that morning! A doorman finally promised he'd get us in if we returned at midnight so we walked around the corner for a delicious Thai meal. Returning, we found it even busier and our doorman apologised but could do nothing. Nic saved the day by managing to buy a couple of tickets off a tout at a good price. We were in and it was well worth the effort. The club was packed with glamorously dressed Senegalese and the atmosphere was fantastic. Ussou N'Dour was joined for cameo performances by a variety of singers and musicians, all well-known to the audience. We returned to Irony at 3am, relieved to find our dinghy still tied to the wooden jetty! A great night out.

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Dakar

We arrived in Dakar just after midnight on Friday. We had a great passage - 894 miles in 6.5 days - a good shakedown cruise for our Atlantic crossing. The only negative part of the experience was the cold - it was a surprise to us that this far south we were dressed innumerable layers and snuggling under blankets on our night watches.

We are anchored off a long stretch of fine, white sand and the Cercle de Voile "yacht club", a friendly place with a bar, showers etc. They provide a "water taxi" from the anchored boats to a rickety wooden jetty which one hails by blowing a fog horn and gesticulating wildly. This morning we hopped onboard and, before we reached shore, ended up being involved in the dramatic rescue of a sailboat which had broken its mooring in the high winds we have had for the last few days. The water taxi is a wet experience at the best of times but was made all the more exhilarating by towing the sailboat to a new mooring aided by a rib towing us! Our boat boy eventually had to leap onboard the renegade yacht leaving Nic to pilot his boat. All was saved and we finally managed to make our way into town to do our check-in with police and customs in the company of a lovely French couple from another boat. Our school French is being tested, no one speaks English here!

Dakar is definitely a culture shock after the Canaries - firmly 3rd world, it is quite shocking to see such an extensive degree of poverty in one of the world's capital cities. It's hard even to describe it as a city, more an overgrown, dilapidated town. It is really the people who make the place - very tall and slim, at first sight one can feel intimidated but as soon as they speak their faces light up and they are helpful, friendly and welcoming with a great sense of humour; a joy to meet. The women in particular are gorgeous and swathed in exotic colours. Nic had to visit at dentist here and is trying to find a reason to go back!

We took the ferry over to Goree Island, famous for being where the slaves were held and then loaded onto ships. It's a tranquil and picturesque place with 18th/19th century buildings. It is also where local artists show their wares.

Possibly departure for Banjul and the Gambia River on Wednesday or Thursday.

More pics at http://picasaweb.google.co.uk/Ironylondon/Dakar

On the way to Dakar

We left Santa Cruz late on 2nd. We had to refuel in the fishing port to the north and by the time we were finished it was 7pm and dark. The wind had dropped and we thought it best to anchor for the night and set off the next morning. So, on the 3rd, we put the snow-capped peak of El Teide behind us and sailed south. We are now 260 miles south at the start of our 3rd day of the passage. We are off the coast of the Western Sahara but it has been a very cold passage and we are wrapped up in lots of layers. The winds have been fairly steady and we are finally acclimatising to our routine of watches and the Atlantic roll. Our fridge door decided to break yesterday but Nic has managed a short-term fix which we hope will get us to Dakar. We also managed to lose all our breakfast to the lurch of a couple of large waves - it launched off the table dousing us and the saloon in tea! I am posting our GPS position each morning on www.yachtplot.com (password: onboard).

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Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to everyone!

We are ready to leave Tenerife for Senegal but currently have adverse winds (what a surprise!!!). It looks like they should be in a more favourable direction on the 1st so we hope to depart then.

To see our pics from the Canary Islands go to
http://picasaweb.google.com/Ironylondon/LanzaroteGranCanaria
http://picasaweb.google.com/Ironylondon/GomeraLaPalma
http://picasaweb.google.com/Ironylondon/Tenerife

Still in Tenerfie

The problems with our rental flat are still not resolved...it looks like we are going to be here for Christmas now.

We enjoyed our sightseeing tour of the island. The highlight was going up to the top of El Teide volcano. It's the highest point in all of Spain at 3718 metres and reached by a cable car up to around 3600 metres and then a climb up to crest of the crater. We were very lucky with the weather on the day we did it, we've had rain almost every day since.

Tenerife

We arrived in Tenerife on 29th November and are moored in Santa Cruz. I have made a flying visit to London to have some treatment for the prolapsed disc in my back and to collect some boat parts. We are going to again rent a car for a couple of days to explore the island and do our last provisioning before Senegal.

Unfortunately we have a major problem in one of our flats so we can't set out on the long passage to Dakar (it will probably take a week) and be out of contact until we are sure things are being sorted out. Fingers crossed we can deal with it and get going.