Not quite a chronicle: Paris-Dakar

LAT 14°42.845 N

LON 17°25.496 W

We are in Dakar!

This morning we approached to the Senegalese coast and started to look for surf spots. Finally we found a well known one, the Mosque point break (I’m not sure about the name). The scenery was just amazing. A lonely mosque in the middle of two cliffs, very astonishing all together. When I first saw it, it looked like a dream! Good swell, but low tide, so there were a few rocks that were looking out of the water. Some took it with precaution (me and David), some not, so after seeing the only other surfer, a local guy, Carmen followed him to the sweet spot. This unfortunately resulted in the “german woman on the rocks”… I already have a cocktail with that name. It ended with just a few scratches, some sea urchin thorns and a scratched (epoxy) board. All good, or at least not as bad as it could be. So, we proceeded to the marina where we found a nice bar, with nice people (mostly white…) and wi-fi!

The adventure ended more or less like this. I’ve realised we’ve much different opinions, that we don’t want to listen, but all in all, we all take it with irony. And I mean this for ALL of the crew.

I’ve decided I’ll give up my malaria prevention cure and use the pills only if I get the disease. The side effects are just too hard, and from what I read, there is no actual assurance you don’t get sick (80% of people who take it, still get sick?!). So I think I’ll try to avoid the “more than 1 out of 10 chance” of getting strong diarrhea, vomiting, depression, nightmares or sleeplessness and hallucinations… Dehydration is as much, if not more, lethal as malaria and with those pills combined with a sub-tropical environment you have much chance to get it.

Tomorrow I’ll try to see some places with Sven, find some nice DEET repellents and take care of the “real world” stuff… Maybe I’ve found my ride through the Atlantic and it seems the company will be much more than nice. E-mail power to the 3^rd exponent!