🇬🇧 Cape Verde deserves a detour. I am rather well placed to say it because as far as I’m concerned, this detour has been going on for 6 years now! According to the initial plan, it was a stopover as we do when traveling by boat. Due to the duration of visas and the wind seasons, these stopovers generally last between a few weeks and 3 months. And then, I liked the country, I dragged my feet to take the road from the west again, and Covid arrived! Enough to give me time to appreciate this country even more. I discovered there to be a free country, and had the time to linger on a large part of the islands of the archipelago. One of the most beautiful anchorages in the archipelago is undoubtedly Tarrafal de San Antao.
🇬🇧 One of the most beautiful anchorages in the archipelago is undoubtedly Tarrafal de San Antao. I arrived there the first time at the post-COVID 'release' of our boats. Assoiated with freedom, a few of us were fleeing our quarantine anchorage just as soon as permission was given to return to the sea. Direction to San Antao for me, an island of which I had heard the greatest good for a year. The islands of Cape Verde are in the image of the archipelagoes of Maraconie relatively humid in the north and windward, and absolutely dry or even desert in the south under the wind. It is in the southwest in front of the village of Tarrafal that I drop anchor and discover a rather crazy landscape. A bay protected from the prevailing winds and my catamaran at the feet of 2000m of a volcano that will make my happiness each time I wake up for a few weeks. The decor is incredible. The village, on the other hand, is nestled at the edge of a dry valley and where farmers have implemented strategies for land reclamation and irrigation so that every drop of water can be tapped. An asset for local agriculture but a disaster for the initial river which sees its bed completely dried up.
🇬🇧At sea, fishing has remained traditional. There is an almost transparent but yet very real rhythm. The morning returns of night fishermen, the departure of early birds, the transfer of fish from men to women who will cut it for resale, maintenance of equipment and a well-deserved nap for everyone. I leave you here some landscapes and scenes of life from this village where I returned several times, always with the same admiration.
