All of us aboard Amistad had hoped that Praia would only be a port of refuge and that we would be able to go to Dakar and visit the slave fortress at Goree Island before returning to Praia for our official visit at the end of February. The last few days, however, have shown us that it will not be possible, as our journey to Senegal would be against the wind and currents, which is complicated by the little problem that we’ve developed a leak in the foc’s’le that requires us to pump the bilge every hour or so while we’re under way. Now, the official plan is that we’re going to stay here in the Cape Verde islands, traveling from island to island, publicizing the Cape Verdean history of the slave trade and making the repairs necessary for Amistad’s transatlantic crossing to Barbados. Unfortunately, all of these changes in Amistad’s schedule make it impossible for me to make the transatlantic crossing, so I’ll be leaving Cape Verde by plane when my time with the ship is done.

Over the last few days, we’ve made some very good friends here in Cape Verde, including Ramiro Mendes, a Cape Verdean musician who splits his time between here and his home in Beverly Hills. He has made lots of contacts for us and is doing a fantastic job of getting us pointed in the right direction. Last night, he took the members of the starboard watch (my watch) out to hear come Cape Verdean music. It is beautiful music with lots of influences from African and European cultures. I’m looking forward to learning more about it and hearing more of the local musicians perform.

After listening to the music, we went to the airport to pick up four new members for Amistad’s crew. Now, we’ve got US, Sierra Leonean, Canadian, British, and Barbadian crew members and the spreaders of the ship are filled with the flags of all of our countries, along with the Connecticut state flag and the United Church of Christ flag. She’s a well-decorated ship, indeed! What’s even better, at least for those of us aboard, is that we now have enough crew that we’ll be able to divide into three watches instead of the two that we had been maintaining, so we’ll have a bit of free time to read, write, teach, and learn with our students who are aboard, instead of just working and then falling into our bunks.

Tomorrow, we’re scheduled to sail to Fogo, one of the other large islands in the archipelago. I don’t know what the internet access will be like, but I’ll try to keep you all posted when I can.
 

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