Day 106 Mindelo, Sao Vicente, Cape Verde

Weather
Upper 70's Mostly Sunny and windy

Map

What we did
Today we woke as our ship arrived in São Vicente, one of the northern islands of Cape Verde. With no natural freshwater sources, the island’s terrain is striking, marked by rugged mountains and dramatic coastlines that feel far more picturesque than Praia. While Praia serves as the nation’s political capital, we learned that Mindelo is considered the cultural heart of the country, famously associated with the legendary singer Cesária Évora, often called the barefoot diva.

In the morning, we joined the included “Panoramic São Vicente” tour. A small bus carrying about twenty people wound its way up a cobblestone road to the summit of Monte Verde, which rises to 2,441 feet. The road itself took six years to build by hand, and the effort shows in the sweeping views from the top, where we could see across the island and out to neighboring islands. While there, we sampled some of the country’s traditional grogue (a sugar cane liquor) and pontche.

The journey was an adventure in itself. The roads were narrow and uneven, often just a single lane with minimal protection along steep edges. In flatter areas, we saw damage left behind by a hurricane that struck in August 2025. The guide explained that the islands have limited infrastructure for handling such events, as hurricanes are extremely rare here and rainfall is usually minimal throughout the year.

Our next stop was Baía das Gatas, also known as Catfish Bay, where we took a short walk along the beach and snapped photos of the calm, clear water. From there, we continued on to Dunas de São Pedro, where we saw dunes formed by sand blown all the way from the Sahara Desert. The texture was noticeably finer than the local sand, giving the landscape an almost otherworldly feel.

Afterward, we made our way back toward the port. Along the drive, our guide shared more about the island’s history, including its ties to the transatlantic slave trade, as well as insights into the local education system.

After lunch on the ship, we ventured out into town. It was very sunny and quite breezy, and the weather made for a really enjoyable afternoon. Being Sunday, there was not a great deal open, and many of the shops were closed, so the pace felt slow and relaxed. Even so, we enjoyed wandering through the streets, watching locals spend time with their families and walking their dogs. We stopped into a grocery store to pick up some pontche, a local drink made from grogue mixed with a molasses tasting sugar cane syrup, and also browsed a small market selling locally made crafts.