After a pretty rough seven day sail down from Las Palmas in the Canaries- with winds consistently staying above 30 knots- it's been a joy to take a break and relax in the Cape Verdes. Located off the coast of Senegal in North West Africa see map.The Verdes were a Portuguese colony until 1975, now the majority of the population is Creole a mix of Black African and Portuguese descent.
We anchored in Mindelo Harbour on Sao Vincent Island nestled amongst over forty other yachts and fishing boats of varying shapes and sizes. Check in was a breeze with a small fee of 5 euros and no worries that we didn't have our paper work from the Canaries. We'd been warned of possible dinghy thefts but as long as it was locked up we never felt there would be a problem.
The town of Mindelo reminds us a lot of the Caribbean islands (or how they would have been without the onslaught of tourism) with lots of small shops and street vendors selling fresh fruit and vegetables with all of the colours of Africa. We found Mindelo Marina and Club Nautico great places to hang out in the evening for sunset drinks and lots of little old Portuguese cafes on the main street to people watch during the day.
We joined a group of cruisers for a day trip over to the neighbouring island of Santo Antao, just one hour by ferry, and hired a minibus with a local driver to take us for a tour. The scenery is breathtaking and we were blown away by the high volcanic mountains and lush greenery of the valleys and river gorges. We would definitely recommend the island as a great place for backpackers, hikers and cyclists and hope to return soon ourselves to explore more of these beautiful islands.
