On the catamaran
Maybe I was naïve, but I expected to see some turtles on the Sea Turtle Catamaran trip my friend and I had booked to take us on a 4 hour journey off the coast of Sal. It turned out that the name of the catamaran was the ‘Sea Turtle’. In hindsight, I appreciate it would probably be difficult to pin-point exactly where the turtles would be swimming and even more tricky to get them to swim to the surface and wave for me to take photos!
A small rubber dinghy took us to the catamaran, passing a really peaceful and beautiful sight of children from Palmeira swimming and playing by the shore while a young boy skilfully and gracefully practiced Capoeira movements as though he had been doing them all his life. It was the perfect photo moment, but my inflated life-jacket prevented me from turning to get a
better angle.
A small rubber dinghy took us to the catamaran, passing a really peaceful and beautiful sight of children from Palmeira swimming and playing by the shore while a young boy skilfully and gracefully practiced Capoeira movements as though he had been doing them all his life. It was the perfect photo moment, but my inflated life-jacket prevented me from turning to get a
better angle.
Lion Mountain... Does it look like a lion?
The trip began relatively smoothly, with the sail being released and the catamaran gently drifting across the water. It passed very close to the Lion Mountain, which looks nothing like a lion, anchoring near Murdeira. Those who could swim, plunged in to thrash about or snorkel, and I shivered uncontrollably on the netting of the catamaran; I hadn’t known it would be so cold out on the water.
When it came time to head back, the sailing wasn’t so smooth. The catamaran all of a sudden turned from friendly little Sea Turtle being lightly jolted by playful ripples in the ocean, to a mad vessel from hell, leaping into the air as waves crashed against it and sprayed up through the netting. I’m the kind of person who gets queasy on the tea cup and saucer ride and I have once cried out to the ride operator on a carousel to “Let me off, it’s going too fast!” So when the waves threw the catamaran up and down and from side to side, I scrambled off the netted area and clung onto the seating until my knuckles went white.
A deceptively serene image before the Sea Turtle turned wild!
While I searched for some kind of seat belt and made a mental note of the positioning of each life ring tied around the catamaran (just in case I had to leap for one if the unthinkable thought at the back of everyone's mind happened and a big wave capsized us), the other merry tourists who had been steadily drinking alcohol throughout the trip were out on the netting jumping up and down, in a manner akin to the popular YouTube video where foxes jump on a trampoline! In all honesty, it wasn’t too bad. The ferry crossing from Dover to Calais on a windy day is probably worse, but I was still on edge.
Catamaran crew dancing.
On the return journey, the crew showed us how to have a party on a catamaran with some dancing on the less than stable deck. Funana music blasted out as the crew got in line and began a dance routine, which although might sound cheesy, was actually quite fun and didn’t look rehearsed. How they managed to keep their balance is beyond me. They grabbed willing partners and literally danced all the way back to the port of Palmeira. The entertainment was a welcome distraction from my thoughts of impending doom as we crashed through the turbulent waves!
The setting sun made the water sparkle in the port of Palmeira.
When researching the holiday, I was keen to find out what kind of plants and animals I would encounter on Sal. Unfortunately there aren’t many interesting animals to see, due to the barren environment. Most of the creatures live in the sea and since I can’t swim, I wasn’t going to be seeing any of those. However I did see a single lizard for about two seconds before it ran into a hole (which I was ecstatic about because I love geckos) and a small mouse by the beach before it was violently swatted with a broom! There are apparently scorpions, but I didn’t see any. I encountered cockroaches, centipedes, moths and also ants, which might not seem very interesting to many, but I find small creatures intriguing to watch.
Below are some pictures of the creatures I snapped around the hotel grounds.
Below are some pictures of the creatures I snapped around the hotel grounds.
Moth in the bathroom.
Cockroaches emerged in the evening.
We opened the apartment door to find this running around outside.
Little birds scavenging scraps by the pool.
All of these encounters were fleeting and unfortunately the lengthiest encounter with a non-human living creature on Sal was with a spider. I am arachnophobic and so when I noticed a spider in my room one night before bedtime, I couldn’t relax. I considered calling for back-up and asking someone at reception to come and dispatch of the creepy-crawly, but turned down that option. The previous day, while chatting with one of the staff, an ant had crawled across a piece of paper in the reception area and the member of staff had referred to it as a ‘friend’. The ‘live and let live’ kind of attitude was not going to help me and so I decided to suffocate it (and myself inadvertently) with anti-perspirant spray, forgetting that I did actually pack insect repellent.
I’ve tried this chemical bombardment trick before and it has worked on all kinds of English bugs, but this Cape Verdean spider was some kind of super-spider. I spent about 20 minutes chasing the thing around the room. I used up so much of the spray, I almost knocked myself out and had to retreat to the balcony for oxygen. However, I persisted and the spider was eventually defeated. Cruel, I know, but I would not have slept if it had lived.
I’ve tried this chemical bombardment trick before and it has worked on all kinds of English bugs, but this Cape Verdean spider was some kind of super-spider. I spent about 20 minutes chasing the thing around the room. I used up so much of the spray, I almost knocked myself out and had to retreat to the balcony for oxygen. However, I persisted and the spider was eventually defeated. Cruel, I know, but I would not have slept if it had lived.
This bad boy made a home outside our hotel apartment.
Kittens living on the hotel grounds.
My friend was not so thrilled by the wildlife on the island, and so each time I excitedly pointed out a creature or took a photo of a local dog, her looks of disapproval signified that I was alone in my appreciation of the animals! She did however share my love of the kittens living on the hotel grounds; they were absolutely adorable, as you can see from the photo.
Tortuga!
Even though I didn’t get to see any turtles on the catamaran trip, there was an opportunity to see a turtle hatchery near our hotel. In the late afternoon, we reached a cordoned off area of the beach where charity workers were digging up a nesting site looking for any baby turtles that had hatched but not yet made it to the surface. As they were found, they were paraded around for tourists to take photos, but we were urged to turn off the flash on our cameras because the turtles are sensitive to bright light (which is partially why they usually make their way to the water at night). As the turtle was paraded around the pen, its natural instinct to make it out to the water meant that it was frantically wading through the air.
The charity workers were trying to get tourists to purchase turtle-related merchandise or adopt one of the artificial nesting sites in the cordoned off pen to financially support their efforts in protecting the turtles on Sal's beaches. Many turtles had previously been found dead on the beaches and local people still hunt them for meat. I assume they've been doing this for years, but the charity workers go out every evening and patrol the beaches to dissuade the hunters.
The conservation efforts of the charity workers are noble and very thoughtful, but personally, I would speculate that the central problem is probably the fast-paced growth of tourism without due consideration for the wildlife. I'm guessing it is the resulting increase in building projects on the coastline and not locals hunting turtles for meat that has had the bigger impact on the turtle population. Beaches that were once used as nesting sites for turtles are now being used by hotels to accommodate their beach-side apartments, beach-front bars and lounging space for guests. The hotel my friend and I were staying at led out onto Tortuga Beach (meaning 'turtle' beach) and so i assume this was a beach where turtles nested. However this was not highlighted as the main problem at the turtle hatchery.
The charity workers were trying to get tourists to purchase turtle-related merchandise or adopt one of the artificial nesting sites in the cordoned off pen to financially support their efforts in protecting the turtles on Sal's beaches. Many turtles had previously been found dead on the beaches and local people still hunt them for meat. I assume they've been doing this for years, but the charity workers go out every evening and patrol the beaches to dissuade the hunters.
The conservation efforts of the charity workers are noble and very thoughtful, but personally, I would speculate that the central problem is probably the fast-paced growth of tourism without due consideration for the wildlife. I'm guessing it is the resulting increase in building projects on the coastline and not locals hunting turtles for meat that has had the bigger impact on the turtle population. Beaches that were once used as nesting sites for turtles are now being used by hotels to accommodate their beach-side apartments, beach-front bars and lounging space for guests. The hotel my friend and I were staying at led out onto Tortuga Beach (meaning 'turtle' beach) and so i assume this was a beach where turtles nested. However this was not highlighted as the main problem at the turtle hatchery.
My friend and I decided to leave the hatchery and see what was happening on the beach. Locals were playing football in the evening sunshine, guests from the Riu hotel were still out walking or playing games on the beach and plenty of dogs were roaming for scraps of food or anything the tourists would offer up. I turned the flash of my camera back on and snapped a few of the dogs because the 10 photos of roaming dogs I had already taken just weren't enough!
Dog scavenging on the beach.
By the time we returned to the turtle hatchery, several baby turtles had been retrieved and were flapping about in a bucket. I decided to take one last photo of them and having forgotten to turn off the flash on my camera, I snapped and the poor little turtles began scuttling around in the bucket startled by the bright light. The charity worker immediately moved away and shouted “No flash!” My friend continued, throughout the rest of our holiday, to chastise me for trying to murder the baby turtles!
Baby Loggerhead turtles freshly dug up from the hatchery.
Kite surfers at Kite Beach.
The holiday was punctuated by some spontaneous activities. The kite surfers we had met on a night out had told us where they were going to be surfing and so the following day when we had a few hours to kill we decided to see what this kite surfing was all about. It was all happening on Kite Beach, where we watched kite surfers and wind surfers congregate to make the most of the wind and menacing waves, which make conditions perfect for these kinds of pastimes. While I am not a fan of watching water sports on television, it was entertaining to sit on a beautiful beach, listening to the waves breaking and watching the experts doing tricks and flips in the air as they were lifted by their harnesses out of the rough waves.
As we began to feel the chill of the wind in the late afternoon, it was decided that it was time to head back to the hotel. To get back to the taxi, we had to slide down the sand dunes and so after killing a spider and accidentally terrifying freshly excavated baby turtles with the flash of my camera, I added destabilisation of sand dunes to the catastrophic list of anti-ecotourism activities during my holiday. I hang my head in shame.
As we began to feel the chill of the wind in the late afternoon, it was decided that it was time to head back to the hotel. To get back to the taxi, we had to slide down the sand dunes and so after killing a spider and accidentally terrifying freshly excavated baby turtles with the flash of my camera, I added destabilisation of sand dunes to the catastrophic list of anti-ecotourism activities during my holiday. I hang my head in shame.
Amazing sand dune ripples.
If there is anything to regret about my holiday, it is that I didn’t get to see any of the other islands of Cape Verde. I was told each island has its own distinct character and other islands boast contrasting landscapes ranging from deserts, lush greenery, mountain ranges and even an active volcano on the island of Fogo. I am sure I would receive the same friendly welcome or ‘morabeza’ as it is known in Cape Verde on any of the islands; the good-natured spirit of the people in Sal made me instantly feel at home. This combined with the fact that I was mistaken for a Cape Verdean by almost every local we met (before I opened my mouth to speak, of course) makes me feel certain that I will go back to visit Cape Verde at some point in time.
As I have been writing what has become an epic four-part holiday blog, I have had a chance to mull over all the things I miss about Sal. I miss the all-encompassing chirp of crickets in the night-time, the wonderous sight of a pitch black sky uninterrupted by tall buildings and being able to see a multitude of stars because their shine doesn’t have to compete with the glare of city lights. I miss going outside without a coat and not being afraid that I’ll be cold. I miss washing my hands at the sink and rubbing them furiously thinking the soap was not washing off when in fact the water was so soft it was silky. I miss the comforting and liberating absence of CCTV cameras everywhere. I miss rolling in the sand and watching kite surfers doing jumps in the massive waves. I miss collecting sea shells on the beach and the dry Saharan winds that provoked the dramatic ocean waves. I miss watching the local dogs wandering the streets freely simply because they can. I miss watching the sun setting into the ocean and casting an orange beam across the water and up onto the beach. And I miss the club we went to where super-sized cockroaches came out after midnight and there was only one toilet for males and females with no running water, but that didn't interfere with the positive vibes. And even though it irked me when things weren’t there or done when they were supposed to, I’m beginning to miss the “no stress” tag line that rolled from the lips of the locals. But most of all, I miss the way the sunshine made my skin look and feel as though it was never made to be ravaged by an English winter. And for that reason, I intend on planning another holiday to some place sunny soon.
As I have been writing what has become an epic four-part holiday blog, I have had a chance to mull over all the things I miss about Sal. I miss the all-encompassing chirp of crickets in the night-time, the wonderous sight of a pitch black sky uninterrupted by tall buildings and being able to see a multitude of stars because their shine doesn’t have to compete with the glare of city lights. I miss going outside without a coat and not being afraid that I’ll be cold. I miss washing my hands at the sink and rubbing them furiously thinking the soap was not washing off when in fact the water was so soft it was silky. I miss the comforting and liberating absence of CCTV cameras everywhere. I miss rolling in the sand and watching kite surfers doing jumps in the massive waves. I miss collecting sea shells on the beach and the dry Saharan winds that provoked the dramatic ocean waves. I miss watching the local dogs wandering the streets freely simply because they can. I miss watching the sun setting into the ocean and casting an orange beam across the water and up onto the beach. And I miss the club we went to where super-sized cockroaches came out after midnight and there was only one toilet for males and females with no running water, but that didn't interfere with the positive vibes. And even though it irked me when things weren’t there or done when they were supposed to, I’m beginning to miss the “no stress” tag line that rolled from the lips of the locals. But most of all, I miss the way the sunshine made my skin look and feel as though it was never made to be ravaged by an English winter. And for that reason, I intend on planning another holiday to some place sunny soon.
I didn’t get to bring back any of the pano de terra woven cloth that I had wanted, but I did get to bring back plenty of photographic gems like these.
RSS Feed
