Sal, Cap Verde
A morning lounging. Difficult to read the Magus on the iPad outside the cabin. Sat around beside the pool and on the back deck, then had a siesta before a restaurant lunch. Went ashore by zodiac for the Botanic Gardens, Project Biodiversity and Santa Maria tour. This was awful, the gardens being more a tatty zoo; Santa Maria, apart from its jetty, rivalled Benidorm, and the baby turtle project was more a tourist attraction.To be fair on the next visit on the 15th the same tour (which we did not take) was altered to avoid the turtle project, but it still went to the tatty zoo, with its very dubious animal welfare. . Tourism has replaced salt and fishing as the main earners on the island. And the tourism is mass tourism, largely run by TUI. There are literally thousands of hotel rooms in Santa Maria, with the RUI part of Tui alone having over 1000 - middle of the market and all inclusive.
Click on any thumbnail photo and get a larger photo
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Back on board we saw the cruise video, lovely shots but, to me, not a useful record of our 17 day trip from Lisbon to= manan- Praia, Santiago . After dinner in the restaurant we enjoyed Jonathan's Farewell Night in the Panorama Lounge
And on to Santiago if leaving Sal on the 13th
or down to bottom of this page if leaving Sal on the 15th
A leisurely morning, having a swim and a hair wash. Set off to see the Salt pans after lunch, the coach stopping for 30 minutes enroute at the town of Espargos for us to walk around . Once at the Salt works we walked out onto the salt at the pans, then I attempted to float in the one large pool. Meghan gallantly got me in, floated me and then got me out, with Seb's help!.
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Back on board in time for Trivia, then Precap and Briefing before the Captain's welcome. Dined in Hot Rocks and had a really early night. A very sleepy day for me!,
Onto San Vicente