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At 08:00 we were anchored off the port of São Tomé which is the capital of the island with the same name. The Portuguese discovered the island in the 15th century and the remains of their long ownership are to be found in colonial buildings along and behind a broad curving bay and promenade. Unfortunately, […]

At 08:30 we were at 3N 3E heading southeasterly across the Gulf of Guinea. The eastern end of the Gulf was known as the Slave Coast. To our east is Nigeria and what is left of Benin, a civilisation from 900 – 1897AD that stretched along the coastline of the Gulf and was known as

We had an early start today because of a morning tour. Just before breakfast we were on approach to the port of Lomé in Togo, just east of the Greenwich Meridian and still a little short of the Equator. We docked in the modern container terminal and because of its deep water is capable of

By breakfast we were docked in Takoradi. It was very humid and hot, in fact, the lenses of the camera misted over because we are closer to the Equator today. This is the biggest port so far with container ships and bulk carriers being handled and smaller bulk carriers feeding the giant ships with minerals

Opening the curtains before breakfast revealed another clear sky and our ship on the flat, calm sea heading east, with sun on the bow for the first time, to Takoradi, in Ghana. We had 266 miles to go to the next port and have covered 3392 miles from Lisbon. Our arrival tomorrow will be at

At 08:30 we were still in the Doldrums with a flat calm sea, though on the horizon were big cumulo-nimbus clouds in the Equatorial region that we are approaching which means someone is going to receive rain today. This tropical region is where essentially the trade winds peter out because of the motion of air

Shock at 09:00! We have slept in but it is no problem as we have nowhere to go. We were making good speed roughly southwards on a virtually calm sea. We had 935 miles to go to Abidjan. Abidjan in the Ivory Coast is the country’s capital and commercial hub. It is situated at the

Banjul, The Gambia We moved to our dock at 06:30 having been moored in the estuary of the Gambia River since the early hours. It was still dark but local ferries and fishermen were at work and bulk carriers were waiting for the tide. We visited the Makasutu Palm Forest where we explored the palm

At 08:30 with sunshine and a moderate chop in 35m.p.h. winds we had 248 miles to go to the West African coast at Banjul in The Gambia. We are heading due east for the landfall early tomorrow morning. The Gambia is the smallest country on the continent and surrounded by Senegal has only 50 miles

We arrived at Praia on Santiago Island, Cape Verde, at 07:20 and with the help of a tug we squeezed into our berth on Dock 1. We have a good view of the bay and blue buildings which may be clues of a colonial past. The town is Cape Verde’s capital and largest city with