Very green, wet and pretty, Bubaque – Gateway to Paradise . .

I have one word for this place.  Amazing!  An untouched remote group of islands (81) off the coast of Guinea-Bissau.  I managed to land on three of them.  Bubaque which is where the regional capital is located.  Upon observation, I could estimate there are several thousand people.  I had a few hours over a couple of days to visit a few areas.  Many areas have wells and since it is in the wet season there is plenty of water.  Had to take a peak.

It rained most days, as we are in rainy season.  We are dead center in the ITCZ.  I have never seen so much wicked weather.  The winds are going one direction, and the tide is coming in at six knots.  Look up and see two huge storms in opposite directions.  You would think you have run from them and around another island the winds are up to 20 knots and your in six foot seas.  Ike!   unpredictable, but an easy time for a roughneck.

Spent a week in Bubaque and must say the people are very friendly and open.  Since I speak a bit of Spanish and French so, I can get along with a conversation or two.  Portuguese (including a Portuguese Creole) and French are the main languages.  Sometimes I am hearing at least four languages in a sentence.  Love it! 

So many stars it is hard to identify the constellations . .

It has been a royal pleasure spending a week around Caravela Island.  A large island with few villages. During the night it is total darkness,  no lights other than an explosion of stars.  Even without the moon, the shore, trees, water other boats are totally visible.  My last night I was awaken by the sounds of waves and run to the top deck to observe a night so clear, I was in amazement.  I do not remember the last time I saw so many stars.

Would you believe I participated in an authentic landing party.  For most of you who know me, already know how I love to have a landing party once a year in the Miami Metro Area.  Fun where folks can dress in Star Trek Original Series costume.  This also includes props, and any other cos-player can join in the fun.  Our landing party was on Caravela where we met a local chief and have a short discussion with him.  From the photos below you can see they are living somewhere prior to the development of the wheel.  They were super friendly and make regular trips to Dakar. The chief’s french was perfect.  Later the week we purchased a few hundred liters of water for our fleet.

To close, I am off to the regional capital of these islands.  Lets see how they look, so far the place is a paradise.

Authentic Africa . .

"Authentic Africa . ." phrased from the Hermes Captain, Authentic Africa he described to me last week.  A place so natural, exciting and normal.  “You will surely like it”, Barnard (who is from France), said to me.  As I prep to depart Bissau, I share a few photos with you.  Ravaged from a set of intense conflicts, emerges a nation with an interesting history.  During my visit I found out President Ulysses S. Grant played a pivotal role in the 1870’s.  About a 100 years later Cuba helped the country obtain its independence.  The folks here remember their history and have statues, roads and landmarks that reflect the historic events. 

The architecture is beautiful, Portuguese style in old and new. 

A view of the hotel

One of the many roads in the center of town

Beauty Competition Ladies stayed at the hotel too.  We passed a pub where they were celebrating their winnings and were happy to pose for a shot.

Food was excellent.

One of the bonuses of being a Geologist is not only being the most attractive of the scientists  J  blink blink, but sometimes you are in the right place at the right time.  Sort of like time travel.  You encounter once in a life events.  While I was in the hotel lobby walks in the Prime Minister and his team, he knew who we were!!.  Later in the following morning, I got the opportunity to photograph the Official Futbol team who was at the same hotel prior to their match against Botswana.  I will surely listen in to the match via radio on Saturday.

Also visited the meteorological offices and had the chance to observe some of their equipment.  I'd like someone to comment on the name of the device with the two glass bulbs.

Overall, the country has considerable potential, friendly open people, and in the long run if they think and invest for the long run will compete with the world. 

An adventure being planned from Dakar…

The past few days have been quite exciting. It has been so busy I had no minutes for blogging.  Only a few hours left in each day for dinner, a few meetings, and sleep.   

Everything is finally in place.  A few visits to various parts of the city for food, and basic materials for a long term remote location. 

Upon my visit to the Dakar Yacht club I was greeted by Simba who was on patrol watch for uninvited guests.  Simba greeted me with smiles. 

Is that bird looking down at me?

Enjoyed a fabulous dinner on our sail boat as the sunset to the west.  Departed just in time before a late evening shower hit the coast.  

As we waited for our driver to pick us up, Simba came by for another cheerful visit but surely was tired of the long hot day too.

Testing Day - 1

Today was a positive day.  One of the vessels needed to go out and have its hull cleaned for the trip.  We took this opportunity to run live tests with the instrumentation.  I did not realize Dakar is the largest port in west Africa, busy, place!  Freighters and tankers are everywhere, dockside is active where you will observe dozens of folks loading containers, bags of rice, cars, and port control directing boat traffic via radio and GPS.   Fascinating.   I will try to get a few more photos next time, but here are a few pics from today's ops.

Today the weather was rather good.  It was hot, but could be another 15F more.  A very high altitude thin overcast made today's difference.  The captain told us the weather is not normal in the countries interior, a bit dry for this time of the year.  Modifications are still being made to the other vessels and I hope to test the second instrument boat tomorrow.

Calibration of the instruments can take a couple of hours.  During that time we multitask-ed.  We grabbed a few sandwiches for lunch and left for testing.

We anchored off of Goree Island which I will try to visit before I leave this week.  One of our divers lives on Goree Island. We were so close to shore he could yell to them.  As the divers proceeded with cleaning the hull we deployed the instrument and overall the test was a success.  This vessel is ready, we are happy.

At the end of the work day we had to pick up a few visa photos for the end of the week departure.  During rush hour in Dakar, I took a few photos of Dakar's citizens.

Peek - a - boo

till tomorrow . . 

HQ, Location Dakar

Its common for field assignments to have more than one headquarters.  We like to also refer to them as a field office.  Our first field office is not much in the field, but in a large city.

  Dakar, Senegal is a top city on the African continent. Geographically, the most western African location makes it closest to the Americas. Logistically and historically, a great deal of human history has occurred around here.  The city has the air of a place gone an eon and hints of the 21st century too.  The roads between the highway and hotel are excellent.  The interior of the hotel is quite stylish and modern.

 Today (Sunday) was mostly an off day, we met and planned all our tasks for trials and testing.  International business typically means your client who is paying for the job is also abroad.  He came in met with us over coffee where project details and final logistics were outlined.  Best and worse case scenarios were provided removing any bias.  The outcome presented is the safest, fastest solution while taking in consideration that weather can slow everyone down.

The seafood is abundant and fabulous.  Being a down day dinner was early and long.  I had the largest shrimp I have ever scene.  Very good stuff.  Here the restaurant owner claims he can personally fetch a 4 foot grouper, right off his dock.

Tomorrow we are off to visit our survey ships.  Lots of work to do.

Landed, grab your official visa and head to HQ

That was a smooth flight.  Managed to catch Grand Budapest Hotel, 5star, I recommend that to Eric, you're going to love it.  The plane was packed.  I had about 4hrs sleep, will need a bit more later.  Lights and announcements were 20mins before arrival.  We had to stack our bedding in the top rack.  The flight crew left with us too.  Only 30+ folks disembarked, 200 or so plus new crew continued to Joberg. There was a heavy cargo Lufty adjacent to us, lots of priority Euro cargo in and out of Senagal.

Visa processing was different, I forgot my print out so had to pull up a digital copy on my notebook.  Then they showed me a photo of this,

and requested I state its location in the US.  Unfortunately, I have never been to Monument valley a sacred location within the Navajo nation and lies in Arizona.  They used a biometrics device which took index finger and thumb prints.   All which occurred in about 10mins. 

We pre-arranged a transport vehicle to carry us to our hotel.  A very nice one too...