Cabo Verde São Nicolau

Mental large tuna, cherry tomatoes, swimming in the infinity pool and maracuja shots.

Time to go

After 6 cool days hanging out in Sal Rei, we say hasta la Boa Vista and move on to the island of São Nicolau. That's about 70nm, so we sail overnight. Thanks to our upwind course, we are travelling comfortably despite the light wind and catch a nice bonito in the early hours of the morning. As we approach the coast of São Nicolau, we are hit by heavy catabatic gusts and sail the last few miles with mainsail only. When we arrive in the bay off Tarrafal, there is no wind for the first time since we arrived in Cape Verde. I've almost forgotten what that feels like.

Thierry and I suddenly feel the urge to get moving and climb the highest mountain on the island, Monte Grodo. The vegetation is super green and we walk through a forest for the first time in a while. As we struggle up the very steep path, we have to admit to ourselves that we've been fitter in the past. Good thing we'll soon be at sea for 3 weeks - we'll probably be moving even less 🙈 On the way back, we see the fishermen's catch of the day: human-sized tuna. Hoy moly. Hopefully none of these will ever bite out lure.

The next day, the four of us go on a tour of the island with Edson. We first stop at Monte Grodo National Park and walk a little while. It's incredible what grows here! Bananas, papayas, figs, courgettes, mangoes, passion fruit, coffee, tobacco and cherry tomatoes! Yes, cherry tomatoes! They taste so fresh and fruity that we collect a few of them. We haven't seen so much greenery and agriculture for a while. A nice change from the otherwise rather barren, volcanic landscape.

The next stop is Ribeira Brava, the capital of the island. The highlight here is the local market, where you can buy fresh fruit and vegetables from the region. And so we do. As our stomachs are starting to growl, we eat the dish of the day in the market hall: fish or chicken, potatoes, rice and feijoada. Costs €4 per plate. Madness. The fish & chicken is a bit overcooked but what the heck, it still tastes good.

Now we drive to the north-west coast of the island, past the monument to the Portuguese occupation of the island. They actually wanted to go to Brazil and came across São Nicolau. Of course, they claimed the entire island state for themselves and occupied it with slaves from Africa.

Time to cool down!

The north-west of the island offers the familiar sight of the lunar landscape. Once we reach the coast, however, we find something unique: a natural pool that fills up when the waves break on the rocks. Super cool, and of course we go for a swim. This was the last stop on the island tour and we arrive back on the boat tired but happy. Once again we experienced a huge variety of diversity and impressions. To celebrate the day, we drink maracuja pontch out of maracujas. Just because we can! Pontch is a drink made from rhum, sugar cane and, in this case, maracuja. It is also called grogue and is common on all islands in Cape Verde.

Well then, raise your maracujas!

Time flies and so we move on to the next island. Santa Luzia, we are looking forward to seeing you!

Haul the anchor - let's go!