Cabo Verde Sal Santa Maria

Here is my travel diary from my dream trip to Cabo Verde!

Thursday
On the 6th of August 2015 we went with Arkefly to Cabo Verde. The plane-trip was horrible, there was a crying child which cried for 7 hours!!!! First we made a stop in Boa Vista, but we were not allowed to leave the plane and then we were finally in Santa Maria, my first time outside of Europe! We went with a transfer to our hotel Riu Garopa. The welcoming there was amazing and unforgettable. That evening we got a little glimpse of the Cabo Verde life. There was a market in the resort, where locals sold there handmade souvenirs and there was live music and people were dancing, it was great. That was our Thursday.

Friday
On Friday we went to the beach, because the pool was too crowded for our taste. The beach is very beautiful, there are palmtrees, very lovely. When you go on to the beach there are locals who try to sell you excursions, please do one or two excursions!! It is very nice to do, very interesting and the locals make money. If you need a reference who to pick, I can refer you to Discovery Tours from Janilson, we had Emerson and Danny as our guides and they are great!

We went to walk to the right on the beach from our resort. You end up on a piece of beach with only rocks, black sand and there are even a few homeless people living there, they made houses of cardboard and garbage, old wood etc. So right from the resort is not very interesting.

Saturday
On Saturday we went to Santa Maria to the pier. This you should really do and experience, this is great. You can walk from our resort it is 15 minutes by street or by taxi, that would cost you 3 Euros. On the pier there are the local fishermen catching fish and the wives are trying to sell the fish. The children are running around, happy with only the sand and the water. And there at that exact moment, I cried. It just hit me, these children have nothing and our children have never enough! We were in a perfect resort with so much food in abundance and outside the resort is poverty, it didn't feel good to be in the resort and to be there. But my husband told me we had to be there so they can live from the tourism. So everybody needs to go to Cabo Verde!!! We took pencils and ballpoints with us for the school, unfortunately there was a holiday so the schools were empty and we left our stuff for the local kids in the hotel.  By the beach near the pier is a very lovely bar/restaurant La Villa, you can sit here and have a drink, and the service is very good and they have free WIFI!

There is only one thing you have to watch out for and that are the Senegalese salespeople. They can be very persistent and the souvenirs they sell are not handmade and are certainly not from Cabo Verde.

Sunday
On Sunday evening we went on our turtle tour. It was a three hour tour from 20.00 until 23.00 usually. Now we arrived at the hotel at 01.30, because the turtles wouldn't show themselves and Emerson wouldn't give up looking for them. The tour is an adventure. You go in a jeep, we were with two other family's. And then you go to the beach. At the beach it is very dark, the only thing you hear is the amazing sound of the waves hitting the beach and above you a very starry night. It is a very impressive experience, everything is so quiet and there are so many stars, in our town we don't see much stars because of all the light there is. It is so beautiful, inspite of not seeing any turtle I wouldn't want to have missed this in the world!!!!

Monday
On Monday we went to walk to the left from our beach. This you should do!! You walk for miles and don't meet a soul, miles and miles of beach only for you and your loved one! After a walk of 45 minutes we saw the pier in Santa Maria. The beach here is so beautiful and so very quiet!

Tuesday

On Tuesday we did the Island Tour. You should really do this if you would like to see more of the island. We went with Discovery Tours and took the private tour. So you can go where ever you want to go, the trip took almost all day and our guide Danny showed us everything we wanted to see!! So remember Discovery Tours!!!

You start at Murdeira Bay.

Then you go to Monte Leao (Sleeping Lion mountain) . It is very beautiful up there and tourists make piles of rocks and come back years later to see if their pile still stands.

Then you go to Palmeria, the fishing town. Here are a lot of aggressive Senegalese salespeople, be aware!  The women are waiting for their husbands to return from the waters.

After this we went to Regona, where you can jump off the rocks into the water! This is a very beautiful spot, people like to picnic here but also leave there trash behind unfortunately!

Then it was time for Buracona, the Blue Eye. 

Then it was time for the Mirage, Terra Boa. It looks likes water, but there is only sand!

Here you find an original souvenirshop run by locals, who make the souvenirs while you watch.

You can also get a refreshing drink here.

In Espargos we had lunch and on the way you pass shanty towns, where the poor people live.

It was time for a little danger, Shark Bay. Here you can rent water shoes for two Euros per person, you will need those because the water is filled with sharp rocks. With renting those shoes you help the locals a little. For those two Euros you get a guide, who guides you through the water near the sharks. We have seen some shark tails, but it was very busy and crowded.

Last but certainly not least we went to Pedra Lume, the Salt Lake, which is really cool to swim in or I could better say float in. You should really go here, this is a very nice experience.

Wednesday

On Wednesday during the day we had a little rain. But in the evening we went to photograph the sunset. 

Thursday

On Thursday it was time to go home already, with tears in my heart I said goodbye to this beautiful country and the beautiful habitants!

So don't let anybody tell you Sal is boring and only sand. If you stay in your resort, then the only thing you will see is beach and the resort, but go outside and see the beauty of the whole island! Sal is beautiful, some parts look like a desert in Africa, other parts look like the beach of a Bounty island, the fishing city's look like fishing city's, but everything combined it is just beautiful. The people ar very nice and beautiful, the country is amazing.

I made this blog in English, usually I write in Dutch (you can probably tell by my poor English), but I want to reach a bigger audience. People should know about Cabo Verde. Sure you can go there if you only want a sun and beach holiday, it is perfect for it. It is perfect if you want to surf or dive, but if you want to see something rent a car and drive across the island or even better book an island tour. The beauty of the island will then be revealed!!

My pictures aren't that special, for beautiful pictures look at Edwins Facebook.

Let me know if you are planning to go to Sal, I hope to make everybody enthusiastic for this beautiful island!!

Sal, you stole my heart! I will be back someday to pick it up.........