Hiking on Santo Antão

12 December 2014

On the island São Vicente we started a tour to the Monte Verde, the green mountain. We enjoyed the beautiful view and shot a lot of pictures. After that, we went to Baia de Gata, where most of us took a refreshing dive in the water and “played” with the shrimps en fishes. After a lunch on board, we went to explore the city and saw how Jessica (the cook) was negotiating the prices on the market and we admired the beautiful buildings from the Portuguese era.
We left early next day to take the ferry to the island Santo Antão, for a day filled with green. Some of the guests had put on their hiking shoes for the heavy descent from the top of the crater to the sea. For the guests that did not want to make the descent, we made up an alternate program. They went up to the top of the crater to take a look at the green valley below. After that, they went on a bus to drive back via the other side of the mountain, with stops for the amazing views and to take pictures. When they got down, the bus went up another road and in they took a walk in the valley, in the middle of the mango trees, sugar canes, corn, papaja’s, etc. to get a better impression of how green the island really is. From a car you get a good look, but walking in the oasis of green, you can smell and hear the nature, while the chickens and goats are wandering around.
After the walk, we met up with the guests that took the descent and we had lunch (grilled chicken) in Ribeira Grande. Through the new coastal road, we drove back towards Porto Novo, with a stop at Pedra de Nossa Senhora, which was not so spectacular, but the short walk to it was breathtaking.
In Porto Novo we took the ferry back to Mindelo and went back to the ship. We had a nice meal and talked about everything we saw that day.
This morning we left São Vicente and went on our way towards San Nicolao. Another great day on the water with a lot of sail, flying fish and the sun that came through every now and then. We sailed past the island Santa Luzia, Branco and Raso and dropped anchor in the bay of Tarrafal on the island San Nicolao. This is not the first time we went to a city named Tarrafal. The name Tarrafal is a very common name on these islands and comes from the Tarraffe (Tamarix Senegalensis), a tree with a lot of small leaves that is very common on the islands of Cape Verde.