Location: Mindelo, Cape Verde
Duration: 3 nights (29th August – 1st September 2019)
Cost: $51.58US/day including power
Water: $2.00US/100 litres
Key card deposit: $10.00US per card (refundable on return)
Overview
Top Tip – Be mindful of submerged wrecks on your approach to this marina, all of which are not charted. On arrival at the marina look out for marina staff who will direct you to a berth, in our case via a series of whistles, arm waving and hand signals. In the main, Mediterranean berthing was the go with a couple of exceptions. The marina has bow mooring lines under the water which marina staff will direct you to use, you will need to pick these up via boat hook and secure to forward cleat/s.
NB Mindelo is an alternative starting point for the Atlantic Rally Crossing (the ARC) so berths are scarce in the lead up to this sailing event.
This marina complex is located on the edge of the town with a limited range of cafes, banks, supermarkets and a pharmacy a short walk away. Transport options are limited to bus and taxi. For more information about Mindelo check out http://seagoddessadventures.com/sailing-to-australia-cape-verde/
Staffing
Staff at this marina were friendly and most spoke English.
We arrived at this marina in the early hours of the morning and were met dockside by two staff members who assisted with mooring. Great service.
Amenities
Secure access: Yes, access is via key card. There is also a marina staff member controlling access through the gate during daylight hours.
Secure parking: Not available, street parking only.
Bathrooms: Located behind the marina office, two sets of bathrooms are available one for women and one for men. Cleanliness is very good.
Laundry: Not available onsite.
Water: Payment of $2.00US/100 litres is required. When you pay, the litre-age (Is that a new word?) is loaded up on a card. We purchased 4 cards with 100 litres on each for each member of our crew to use for showering etc., and 500 litres for the boat (filling the tank, washing dishes and so on). The ‘boat’ card is inserted on the power/tap post next to the boat. Well, we learnt a hard lesson the first day. When we came back to the boat after a few hours away all 500 litres of water had miraculously gone! So Peter trotted back up to the marina office and loaded more water on the card. This time we weren’t so naïve and kept the card on the boat and used it only as needed.
Fuel Dock: Yes, petrol and diesel are both available. Note the dock operates shorter hours on Saturday and is closed on Sundays. Payment is via cash or credit card.
Gas: We can’t speak to this as the gas bottles we purchased in Les Sables d’Olonne were still going strong.
Pump Out: No
Jerry Cans: Prior to setting off for the Atlantic Crossing, Peter was keen to get some extra fuel on board and chatted to marina staff about the best place to buy jerry cans. Marina staff got in touch with a local man and arranged for twelve jerry cans to be dropped off to us the next day. Cost $10US per can, cash only. The guy arrived with ten jerry cans which appeared to be cleaned up laundry detergent cans, 25 – 30 litre capacity. He said he would bring the other two the next day, but was a no show. Luckily, we had only paid him for ten.
Pump out: No.
Wifi: Yes, at the marina bar/restaurant.
Chandlery: none on site, and we didn’t see any in our walkabouts around town.
Noise: No issues.
Restaurant/Bar: Available onsite, and open from around 8.00 am till late offering breakfast, lunch and dinner, snacks, coffee/tea, alcoholic and non alcoholic drinks. Payment can be made by cash (US dollars or Escudos) or credit card. The restaurant menu offers a range of food options, until it comes time to order when you will find a number of items are unavailable. For example, on our first visit the first four food options we chose were not available, so we changed tack and asked the waitress what was available so that we could make a selection. And this was pretty much standard. To save time, once you receive the menu ask what is available from the menu on that day (as it will change) and order from there.
All our crew members frequented the marina restaurant/café over the course of each day – breakfast and/or coffees in the morning, sundowners in the late afternoon often staying on for dinner. So it was extremely disappointing to realise we were being consistently overcharged for food and drinks, both individually and when we went there as a group. Initially we weren’t aware of it, until a crew member checked our group docket the next day and we had been charged twice i.e. two servings of some food items when we only were served one, and the number of drinks had also been inflated. Sandra was the only person drinking white wine having two glasses with dinner, we were charged for five glasses of white wine. From this time on we checked every docket prior to payment and consistently found errors in their favour. When we raised these errors with counter staff there was never any push back or different view, the bill was immediately corrected. One could say that these errors were genuine mistakes, or one could say that there is something going on here that is not quite right. Our advice to anyone who uses this restaurant/bar is to take note of your orders and the number and type of drinks you have and check your docket prior to payment.
Overall we rated this marina 6/10.
PS During our time in Mindelo we welcomed our fourth crew member, Patrick.
Below is a photograph of the boutique hotel located next to Marina Mindelo with canopied lounges surrounding the swimming pool. Museo del Mer in the background. Quite a contrast in style and opulence to the rest of the township.
