Adventures of Beth and Dan: Mindelo, Cape Verde ; Cabo Verde Safari

On December 11th of December we docked at Mindelo , Cape Verde. It was a trip of 250 miles from our last port. Our island was Sao Vincent which means Saint Vincent. It was named by the Portuguese and has a population of about 80,000. Music, bars and clubs are a big thing here and they celebrate lots of festivals around their colonial structures. Our captain tells us we may have two other ships in ports. 70,000 cruise passengers come here each year. Things to see include the old Fort, beaches, markets and museum along with mountains where you can 4 x 4. The Fort here is in ruins but it is still an important historic place. We have a free shuttle that drops us in town which is about a mile from the port. The shuttle drops you by the Museum of Oceans which is a replica of the tower in Lisbon from 1852 Fortim Do Rei.

Praia de Laginha is a major beach with bars and restaurants. The Peoples Palace built in 1874 celebrated their independence in 1975 and is now an art gallery. If you are there on a Sunday they are open a limited time. The Municipal Mercado has a food area and a few souvenir areas. There is also San Oedro Beach for swimming. Monte Verde is the highest point on the island at 2450 ft with a magnificent viewpoint.

Calhau is a fishing village and rustic. The island is small. We are here from 8-4:30.

We do have our last tour here . Then we will have five sea days to Puerta Rico. Our tour is with Cabo Verde Safari. Our tour guide or organizer is a very interesting fellow. He has lived here for 20 years moving from Portugal to run textile factories that were selling to places like REI and LL Bean,etc. Things did well until the market crash in 2008. The factories closed. He was married and wanted to stay here so he started a tour company with lots of different venues. He did day tours, motorcycle tours, camping tours, hiking tours and anything you can think of to individualize it for his customers. After a few years a company came in and wanted to help him expand. They ended up starting their own company taking all his ideas and clients so he began again. I liked him and would recommend him. He is knowledgeable and very good to his passengers. We had four wheel drive vehicles and there were probably 12 vehicles with four per vehicle. Lots of room. Only problem was a driver didn’t speak English and the guide was in another van. But he always stopped and spoke to the group about different sights in the island. We did pretty much the entire island going to the eastern coast of Calhau to Praia Del Grande beach, to Baja das Gatas and then lunch in the fisherman’s village with a visit to Monte Verde. There was off road and on road travel. If interested you can go to you tube and watch their video: www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xy_PYot4Q-E

The port has a protected bay for smaller boats

These floating homes looked so interesting

Their art depicts their lives

The Jeep in front is what we road in. Streets seemed quiet.

Everywhere there were dogs. They belonged to no one and all seemed hungry and thirsty.

The land is very dry here and they have had drought for many years. There are large volcanic mountains but nothing grows on them

San Vincent where we are is 10 x 15 miles with 45 miles of roadway all made of pebble stone. Most of the life here still bears witness to the African influence . This island was the last to be colonized in 1835 by the English although the Portuguese had found it earlier. The bay is perfect and naturally safe with no waves. It has been a refueling station for ships going up and down. They used to bring coal here for the whaling ships. It now is one of the most important refueling station competing with Dakar and the Canary Islands.

Because there was little fresh water here many did not settle here. The British shipped in water until 1964 when finally a desalination plant was built. There are still lots of English and Jewish names here. Slavery never was on this island . The English invested in the island even though Portugal was an empire and they would have no slaves. But it is said they had paid slaves.

Our guide says there are large families here and men have more than one wife. There are actually more families from this island living abroad than living here mostly in Massachusetts. In Mindelo one only pays taxes on the land. There used to be more agriculture here but because of the long drought no one can grow much. The drought has existed since 2012. They do collect water anytime their is rain. They use a gravity fed irrigation system to conserve water. Irrigating this way can produce five times more produce.

The Bay of Mindelo is a caldero from the volcanic activity.

Here are a few photos of the area from the cruise director presentation.

You can see the colonial impact and colorful buildings.

A map of the area. Not much roadway and I think we traveled it all.

The museum area close to the shore.

You can see how dry everything is.

Often the clouds covered the peaks of the mountains. Most trees were scrubby and many Açacia

Looking down at the Bay Area. Several smaller islands are across the way but no one lives there

There are houses far from town with no power or water. Many are is disrepair and can’t be bought because the families are so large no one is able to contact them all to get their permission to sell.

Workers trying to eek out a small farm huddle under the tree for shade

This is a milkweed bush!!!! It’s the biggest I’ve ever seen. Our guide didn’t know what it was as far as the Monarch’s. He said there are no butterflies on the island and few animals although the have a lot of Osprey due to the fish.

There is a small farm here using the drip system

There are more goats on the island than anything . The shepherd had no shade as he watched after his goats. They use the milk for cheese which is popular here.

We came to this beach by 4 x 4. The water was cold and it was windy. It’s quite a ways from the village but a few come here to fish.

The rock is volcanic

Not an easy beach to navigate.

But there are caves here and the guide said folks come and spend the nights here sleeping in the caves on a pad or cloth.

Most things have to be imported here in fact 90% is imported so life is very expensive and there is an import tax on goods. Most people live on 126 euros a month. One liter of milk is 1.5 euros. A bottle of wine is 15 euros. There are 500,000 people living here. Someone ask what Soldad meant and he said missing something from inside… Luke missing your home when you move away. Land is cheap here but building a home is very expensive. Sone buy pre fab homes or build homes themselves but they are very simple. To purchase an existing home is very expensive.

There is a bird here called the Lark Raso which is endemic to the island and uninhabited islands which are a nature reserve. Diving and Snorkling can be good here if it is not too windy.
Fishing is very good here and has sustained the people during the drought and the pandemic. You can get excellent Tuna and Grouper.