After Sao Vicente and Santo Antao our Cape Verde travels took us to the island of Sal. Sal is know for its wide white sand beaches and the steady trade winds makes it a great place for surfing (board, wind and kite) all year long. I wanted to learn how to surf and this seemed like a good opportunity.
Sal has been developed for tourism. It has an international airport with direct flights from many UK and European cities and large all-inclusive resorts to host vacationers. We took a short flight from Sao Vicente to Sal as there are no real ferry options.
Santa Maria
The emerald blue waters of Santa Maria
Most of the resorts on Sal are located in and around Santa Maria. Originally a fishing village, it is now fast developing into a tourist resort community – very different from any of the other places we visited in Cape Verde. The expansive beaches are beautiful but the prevailing winds can make the waters very rough. There were red flag warnings every day we were there. However for the same reasons, the waves are great for surfing.
All-inclusive resort complexes with tropical manicured grounds, large pools and unlimited running water provides vacationers with a place to relax and unwind. The problem is that Sal is a desert with no source of fresh water – so all this is supported by energy intensive desalination. Fresh water is expensive and outside the tourist hubs used quite sparingly.
(L) Main Street (R) Sunday Mass at the local chapel
I took a class to learn to board surf. In the course of 3 days, I only managed to catch three waves all the way to the beach. I have a healthy respect for how difficult this is. After stepping on some sea urchins, I learned quickly to hang on to my board. I had a skilled instructor and overall it was a great introduction to the sport.
3 days, 300 attempts, and only 3 successful surfs to the beach!
Salinas
In the crater of a old dormant volcano, sea water dries up leaving salt deposits. This is the lowest point in the Cape Verde islands and the setting is surrealistic with the white salt beds and the blue water in stark contrast to the dry, rocky hills beyond. We spent a couple hours here checking out the salt fields and swimming in the highly saline ponds where you float effortlessly. Someone said that an hour in the Salinas can make you ten years younger. True or not, it was a refreshing dip.
Water is scarce in Sal, and we paid a Euro each for a 30 second rinse. It also made us feel guilty about the long showers we had been taking at the resort.
Silvu shows us Shark Bay
A bumpy off-road track takes you from the main highway towards the coast. Sal is essentially a desert island and the landscape is mostly flat with rocks littered all over – a virtual moon scape. The dirt road isn’t well marked and we avoid rocks as we drive our low clearance rental car. As we crest over a hill, a young boy on a bicycle pedals away furiously beckoning us to follow. There is not much else we can do, since he is on the road ahead of us, but we sense a hustle in progress. The road meanders along the coastline. In the distance we can see the breakwater and the wreck of a cargo ship. We follow him for a mile or so until we reach the waters edge where there are a couple other tourist buses and a cluster of shacks selling the usual trinkets.
Our self appointed guide greets us with a smile. We know it is going to be hard to shake him off. It’s common to see young boys hustling tourists – some thing we really wish to avoid. But this boy is different – there is no hustle. It’s as if, its his bay and he would love to show it to us. So as we walk towards the water, he walks along side and very soon he is ahead leading the way. We learn his name is Silvu. He shows us where to step as we wade into the rocky shore for about 10 yards. The water is only a foot deep here. And as we try to get a firm foothold we see a grey baby shark near our feet. Very soon they are all around us. These are baby lemon sharks. In the distance we can see the dorsal fins of the larger sharks but they do not approach us.
Unfortunately, we did not take our phones to take pictures as we were afraid of getting them wet. It was exhilarating to stand in a shark nursery, an experience that I will remember for many reasons. Silvu is good company and we pay him 500 Escudos (about 5 USD), which he is thrilled to accept. We say goodbye and head back on the same road. Alongside the road where we first saw Silvu, we notice a cluster of very decrepit shacks. All of a sudden it seems like our hesitation to embrace his services were severely misplaced. We did not grow up in such shabby conditions or have to hustle at his age to feed ourselves. We have a hard time coming to terms with the inequities that we see in our travels.
A lazy afternoon in Palmeira
Very different from the tourist side of Sal is the small working fishing village of Palmeira. It is also the only port on the island of Sal.
Baía de Palmeira
(L) A fisherman mending his nets
(R) A bored little girl deep in her thoughts;
I am impressed by the striking murals I find in these small villages and towns. Like spotting valuable art in a dusty garage sale, sometimes I come across these murals in dilapidated streets. Any of these creations on canvas in a NY gallery would fetch a sizeable sum.
Emerald pools
Our last stop on the island was the rocky face of the western coastline. The coast is jagged with many inlets where one can feel the force of the waves as they crash on the rocks. There are many tidal pools and the water is iridescent in the sunlight. We visit one such tidal pool called The Blue Eye (Buracona) where at a certain time during the day, the sun hits it such that it looks like a blue eye.
The tourist resorts are walled campuses and much removed from the Sal where the local people live. Tourism is a big source of revenue and it is driving the development of the island. Cape Verde, being poor in natural resources, prone to drought and with little arable land is trying to develop tourism as best as they can. If they succeed then these islands will do for their economy, what the Mexican Rivera has done for Mexico. Sal is a great place for surfing and some R&R. The sleepy side of Sal with its charming fishing villages may not exist for very long.
Sailing Jajabor 