St Vincent, Cape Verde Islands

This was our 3rd to last port and we are now starting to panic as soon we will have to start to think for ourselves which is a very scary thought indeed. This was another maiden port for the ship and they had only allocated half a day for this island, they put it in a nice way by saying they thought that should be sufficient for this stop. What they really meant was it might be such a dump you propably wouldn't want to stay for more than that. Thankfully tho they did conceed a bit and came into port one & a half hours earlier so we had a bit more time. I think it was just for the fact that we had spent the last 8 days at sea and people were going cabin crazy.

So in we sailed at 7.30am (6.30 local time) to a most interesting harbour. It has been formed from a volcanic crater and the sea has broken through one side, making it the deepest water for a habour within the group of islands. Cape Verde islands takes its name from Cape Verde in Senegal West Africa, 570 kms east of the islands. It comprises of 9 main islands of which we visited the one called Sao Vicente or St Vincent. The harbour city where most of the 40,000 residents live is called Mindelo and described in our port guide as "a lively place with picturesque and colourful Portuguese colonial buildings".

When we were first dropped off by one of the shuttle buses from the ship I thought, what a dump, where else can we go. Bearing in mind it was early morning, no one was around so it was a little unfair assessment on my behalf. We hooked up with a couple of American sisters, who turned out to have lead very interesting lives and happen to also speak Spanish fluently. Ok, so they spoke Portuguese here but its not far different, so they negotiated a 2 hr taxi ride for 40 euros for a drive around the island.

I will just fill you in with a bit of history so you get the idea of these islands. St Vincent was discovered by the Portuguese on St Vincent day 22nd Jan 1462, it was uninhabited at the time. They founded Ribeira Grande, the oldest European city in the tropics, the same year on Sao Tiago another island of which we didn't visit. There was not and still is not much economy on the island but back then, due to its position being between west Africa and the New Word, it was based on the slave trade. This accounts for the mix of the current population being 1% European (mainly Portuguese ) 25% African and nearly three quarters Creoles - a mix springing from the union of European - maybe passing sailors, with the black slaves. Interestingly three-quarters of todays population is under 30 and up until 15 years ago were mostly illiterate, 90% over 25yrs have had no formal education. Leading on from that, almost half the number of births are illegitimate. On the other side of the coin there is a mere 2% over 75yrs, they don't live to long over here.

Back to history, it was raided by pirates in 1541 then later that century twice by the British, the first one lead by the famous privateer Sir Francis Drake. It fell into decline after the slave trade was abolished in 1876 and drought and famine hit the islands. It did pick up a bit after a coaling station was established by the British in Mindelo, the town we landed in but again drought and famine hit in 1947-48 when more than 20,000 died.

Only 10% of the land is fit for agriculture and 7% more for grazing cattle and goats. Its mostly rocks, everywhere we looked was just rocks. Hopefully this gives a bit of a background and picture of the island.

So off we go in this very beaten up looking taxi car up the narrow and all cobbled mountain road to a 2000 ft high ridge that ran parallel with the coast giving the most amazing views back down to the town and where the ship was docked. As I mentioned, all we could see was rocks but as one of the sisters pointed out, they built a damn fine rock wall all along the road. As we got higher the road looked like it had been cut straight out of the mountain cliffs. We asked how old was the road and the driver said it had been built by the slaves so it was all hand done, incredible.

There didn't seem to be any greenery at all except maybe a few hardy plants clinging on in the wind. The sea mist was descending down the mountain and drifting passed us giving even more the sense of desolation and eerieness but at the same time it had a kind of stark, ruggered beauty all of its own. The guide describes it as "high up in the highlands of hell, in the midst of a petrified thunderstorm ". Its not quite that bad, not sure who writes these notes.  We then crossed over the island and passed by what looked like an oasis and obviously the 10% of land fit for agriculture.  There were rows of corn, potatoes, papayas and other crops (with the language difficuilties a lot was lost in translation ) and lots of palm trees all amongst this desolate rock wasteland all around. It seems there must have been a well in this building and black pipes were coming out of it and snaking around the green plots as the irrigation.  There were also other rough buildings of which held cattle as i could just see their heads but what gave it away was the smell, a real country smell if you know what I mean.
Over the other side of the island was a brand new tarsealed road so the ride was much smoother. Still desolate on one side but piles of golden sand on the beach side. Apparently this sand is blown over all the way from the Sahara desert and when the winds blow from the east the sand cloud can partially obsure the sun, a bit like our Australian sand storms.

A bit further on was the beach of Baia das Gatas, think that means beach of cats because i guess, there are lots of cats? We did see one moggy who was very friendly and came out to say hello. All over this island, well on the beaches and in the sea are these delightfully coloured fishing boats all painted up in bright colours,  much like the buildings, very Portuguesy.

Back into town we wandered around the narrow streets, through the craft markets and fish markets (where lots of kittens and cats were hanging out) and colourful shops. By now it was really vibrant and what i would call an electric atmosphere. There were women on street corners with baskets of fruit & veges on their heads calling out to sell, music drifting out of the cafe's and bars and at one stage a woman walked straight passed me after coming out of a shop with a pet monkey on a lead walking behind her. A little unexpected,  especially since there are no animals apart from the domestic ones on the island. There were indeed picturesque & colourful Portuguese colonial buildings around, right beside the broken down and derelict ones, in some places it looked like a bomb had hit it. The town was so full of contrast and contradiction, besides the difference character of buildings there were brightly-colored women next to drab beggers, modern cafes & craft shops next to time worn mechanic parts or food store shops, down to  a sunken boat in the middle of a very busy, industrious harbour.  I have to admit tho, everywhere was very clean and tidy, there was no rubbish in the streets which looked like they had been swept clean.

We paid a euro each and went up in their version of the Torre de Belem, built in the 20th century but modeled on the 16th century original in Lisbon.  Inside was a very good museum on the history of whaling and it gave very fine views of the harbour and town out of it's extremely pretty picture windows.

We would have liked a few more hours in this interesting town but not wanting to risk being left behind here we reluctantly headed back for the ship to enjoy a bbq deck party for the sailaway. Here again was a very tricky manouvre to get out of port, with not a tug boat in sight we backed up just enough to get the bow clear of the wharf but before hitting a ship moored behind, did a 90 deg pivot on the spot and steamed out to the sound of the Caribbean band playing Kingston town.