For those not already in the know, Boa Vista is one of the islands that form the Cape Verde group situated in the Atlantic Ocean off the west coast of Africa. You can be forgiven for thinking from the name the Cape Verde islands are green, lush, verdant… but you’d be wrong… well in part anyway. Boa Vista occupies the same latitude as the Sahara desert… if it wasn’t for a patch of ocean between the two, they’d be joined at the hip and believe me once you step outside the airport it wouldn’t be difficult to believe you were in the desert. Truth be told though, Boa Vista gets a whole 26.5cm of rain a year so it doesn’t qualify as a desert location.
So why would anyone want to visit an arid island in the Atlantic when there are so many beautiful places to see in this world? For me the answer is simple… I’ve always wanted to visit the Cape Verde islands… and that dates to a time prior to finding out humpbacked whales go there to mate and loggerhead turtles go there to spawn. Sadly neither of these events were on the cards during my visit… the whales tend to arrive end of February/beginning of March, so there was a possibility of spotting an early arrival… the turtles visit later in the year to lay their eggs.
Boa Vista is blessed with two of the world’s best beaches and believe me you have to see them to believe them. The best beach is at Curralinho far to the south over sand-swept roads. It is known as Santa Monica because of a similarity to the Californian beach. It is reached over 20 miles of sand swept track passing dead goats and turtles to reach a magnificent empty 22 mile white sand beach of Australian grandeur. Santa Monica is where the turtles gather to lay.
The second best beach is situated South of Sal Rei, the island’s chief town and main port. In fact it’s two beaches that run into each other rather than a single entity, but Estoril Beach and Chaves Beach form another vast stretch of white sand… my holiday accommodation was right on the beach-front of Chaves.
View From My Balcony
Stepping to the beach from my accommodation was a very short walk… walking to either end of the beach was a rather different matter though… and ideally for me, a somewhat lonely experience.
Estoril Beach
As you can see I wasn’t completely alone on Estoril Beach… but I may as well have been. Doing an about turn took me to Charves Beach… and oh look, there are even fewer people here!
Charves Beach
For me just spending time on such wonderful beaches was worth the six hour flight from the UK… I just love walking on the sand with the sound of the waves for company. 
Chaves Beach
I’ll be sharing a little more of Boa Vista with you in the next few days… hope you’ll enjoy revisiting with me.
