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Published: October 26th 2023
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Cabo Verde is an archipelago of 10 main islands, the Easternly point of Africa. Most of them, by the name of the country, are very green. Well, Sal Island is not one of those green islands. The island is the most Northeastern of the country, the closest from Africa being only 640kms from Senegal!
One more country to discover for me, one I wanted to visit for a while! You have follow my path to reach Sal Island all the way from Congo. I could have also fly in via Dakar or Casablanca, but this is actually slightly more challenging! The fun part, the airline flying the most plane into Sal Island is TUI...this gives you a clear idea of the public you'll find around it, not really my personal dream!
The island is well-known as a solid desert/rock island as well as a very windy one. I wanted to add this place on my getting longer list of places I've dived in the world!
Most if not all tourists are concentrated in the South of the Island in the little town of Santa Maria. This is also where you'll find the most beautiful
beaches. Those beaches are pretty often compared to the quality of beaches you'll find in the Carribean...simply point, they are way nicer than any beach you'll find on my home island of Bali!
Roads between Espargos, Santa Maria and Palmeira (the port) are nice, but beside this, it's just a huge mess of dirt tracks. Point to note, would have been safer to rent a quad than the little 50cc for those dirt tracks!
I've got a very nice beach facing little suite for my 4 nights stay. On the program, 2 days of diving with Santa Maria Dive Center, renting a little scooter for a day of exploring the island and playing the nearly new 9 holes Viveiro golf course.
Life is super relax on Sal Island and people are really nice. Not much stress here if not the one evening match when the Boks got rid of France for the quarter final of the Rugby Wold Cup. Yes, you can smile on this comment...I'm behind my Boks!
The four dives over two day with Santa Maria Dive Center were relaxing and entertaining. No worldclass diving here, but rather easy diving
right in front of the beach and the big hotels. Enjoy the pics...for info, nobody is diving on Sunday around here, so I had to find something else to do.
Renting a 55cc automatic scooter was only 35 euros for the day. This was the opportunity to discover a little further. I bumped by luck on the local golfers playing the 18 holes, no grass course of Espargos. Super friendly people who show me their little course. This is something to be able to maintain such a place, true passion for sure!
I also stopped to visit the Salina...worth the trip...and their own "blue hole" on the volcanic North-West, slightly less impressive! Everything else is basically dirt tracks...and dry dry land! Enjoy the pictures, but no need to rent any car/quad/scooter for more than a day.
My last day, as I was flying at midnight, there was no diving on the program. I went to play the 2 years old Viveiro gold golf. It's a 9 holes course and it's a whopping 70 euros for 9 holes!! They managed quite a challenge of growing so much grass on such a dry
island. They have actually reduced to grass to the greens and very limited fairways! The tees are some kind of grass, but it's so tough that you cannot even plant a tee in them! Yes, it's a carpet! The design its elft is pretty cool. I first stopped with my scooter to check the place on Sunday....there was not a single golfer around. I came back to play on Tuesday afternoon, and once again I had the place to myself. So put it simply, I have no idea how long these people will be able to hold the place open!
By and large, very nice place to spend few days to relax. People are super nice and food was on the delicious side too. Obviously, if you come here, enjoy the local seafood, the only locally produced food!
I'm back in Bali. After Sal, I made my way first to Luxembourg to visit family and friends for a run of 100 hours. Sorry, no blog about it. I also shop with over 15kgs of goodies back with me on our island. Turkish Airlines back home...decent ride to Istanbul, than the more than welcome complimentary
upgrade to a nice business class seat for the 12 hours flight from Istanbul to Denpasar!
Next entry, coming end of November, for the last solid trip of 2023! Stay safe and enjoy your travels in this currently slightly messed up world!
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