I’ve just returned back from an amazing holiday in Cape Verde last week. After a much needed break and coming home to hot summer temperatures, I’m feeling extremely refreshed!
When booking this holiday we were attracted to the ‘no stress’ motto, and the fact that the Cape Verde islands are said to be the next best thing to the Caribbean. On arrival to Sal, the island we stayed on, we were not disappointed one bit.
The beaches were breathtaking, and although we thought it was going to be a ‘relaxing only’ holiday, there was actually quite a lot to see and do.
We took a jeep safari tour around the whole island. Since it only takes an hour to drive from top to bottom of the island, we saw and experienced pretty much everything; including fishermen descaling and preparing freshly caught fish… even a huge marlin (below) which took seven men to haul out of a little wooden boat.
We visited the main town of Santa Maria, swam with lemon sharks, saw a mirage in the desert, stopped off at the ‘blue eye’ – a deep lagoon full of eye-popping turquoise water that when the sun shines directly onto it, glows bright blue. We also swam in a salt lake that was so dense we floated on the top of the water! It was a very strange but amazing feeling.
Looking down into the blue eye…
During the jeep safari we stopped at some of the old shanty villages to give fruit to the children. It was an eye-opening experience seeing their little faces light up at the sight of an apple. Their living conditions consisted of old wooden panels nailed together, and the children would try to sell shells to make money for their families. It made us realise just how lucky we are.
The best part for me was riding a horse along the beach. It has always been my dream to gallop along the shore, so I’m really happy I was able to do this, it was incredible. I’ll never forget it!
On the topic of [ FUN ], another day out was spent in sand buggies – racing through the desert, stopping off at some gorgeous pristine beaches, ploughing through more sand and dirt through embedded tracks (some of which made the buggies turn sideways onto two wheels!!), and then stopping off to snorkel in the sea and wash off the sand. The best shower we ever had was on this day; our eyes were left with two rings from our sunglasses!
Overall the weather was nice and hot so we came back with a great tan. We met some lovely people to stay in touch with, and would definitely recommend Cape Verde to anyone.
“No Stress!”
