We had a fantastic sailing from Recife, Brazil all the way to Mindelo, Cape Verde Islands. Moderate seas with winds blowing to 20 knots max on average was with us all throughout our crossing from South Atlantic Ocean to the North Atlantic.
The required speed to Mindelo raised to a knot up after heading back to Ilha Fernando de Noronha for medical disembarkation. And for that, I thought we had to engage extra engine in order to attain the new required speed. But NO, we didn’t. The current was with us too! Balmoral was making a really pretty good speed allowing us to reach Mindelo on time without having to clutch-in one auxiliary. So we arrived in Mindelo after 5 sea days and docked at Berth No. 3.
Mindelo is a port city situated in a large harbour at the Porto Grande Bay, in the island of São Vicente. Considered the cultural capital of Cape Verde, an island country in the central Atlantic Ocean, the city is known for its colourful carnival celebrations.
From the ship at berth, I can see Laginha Beach with its opaque blue water and white sand shoreline as inviting as the sunny blue skies hovering Mindelo that day. If there’s one place on Earth where I could just be there doing nothing but just spend lazy hours in, that would be the beach!
Downtown center is just about 15 minutes walk and was to the right upon exit from the port gate. Where as to the beach, that would be just about 10 minutes walk and to the left. Either way you go, right or left, both directions offers a unique way to experience Mindelo.
I went to downtown area first. I wanted to see what Mindelo was like. So strolling downtown, I got to see a colorful Mindelo. Sharing here few photos during that afternoon walk. You may click on the photos below to view full size.
From downtown, I headed to the waiting Laginha beach! It’s a road-side white-sand man-made beach stretching on a spacious coastline just about 1 kilometer from downtown. The beach has loungers, toilets, beach umbrellas and most importantly, lifeguards. You can find restaurants in the beach too. The beach reminds me of that man-made dubbed Dolomite beach in Manila.
The last time I was on a beach was in Ilhabela, Brazil and that was 3 weeks ago. In Mindelo, I didn’t let the chance for another encounter with the beach to slip by. I’ve been here for quite several times, it’s just that I’ve never got the chance to go shore during those port visits.
Leaving Mindelo on same day, we headed to our next port – to Santa Cruz, Tenerife.
