Cabo Verde Nha Terra

France slalom and Freestyle world champ!

January 29, 2022

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July 23, 2022

Cabo Verde Nha Terra

"This trip would be the perfect combo mixing culture and my passion for the ocean"

When I think about Cabo verde I think about the happy music my dad often played in the car when I was a kid. I heard Cesaria Evoria’s albums many times over and Dança ma mi criolla by Tito Paris is my favourite song. Later on, I found out about many other artists from there. I love the rhytmn and sound of their music. And heir language is so similar to the creole we speak in Aruba, Bonaire and Curaçao that I always wondered how similar our cultures were.

And finally, when I think about Cabo Verde I think about waves and Ponta Preta. I have wanted to go to CV for a long time. This trip would be the perfect combo mixing culture and my passion for the ocean!

I’m grateful I could travel the past months, but lately booking tickets has been standard procedure and comfortable. So planning this trip to Cabo Verde filled me with so much excitement. I had to figure everything out from scratch. What island to travel to -There are 7-, where to stay, Do I need a car?, Does it have to be 4x4?, How windy is it? What gear do I take and most importantly, where can I get coffee every day ?

I managed to convince Oda to join me on this grand adventure (Didn’t take a long time) And before we knew it we were in Africa!
When we arrived in Sal, the Taxi driver underestimated our bags and had to find another friend with a pickup truck to drive our 6 bags to Santa Maria. Once arrived at our appartment, it was clear that dragging those board bags upstairs would be a struggle.
As we stood there scratching our heads I heard “Hey! Sarah-Quita!”. Can you believe that we met the major, Josh Angulo in the first 2 minutes we arrived? Life Saver! He took us straight to his windsurf school where we could store our bags. josh angulo helping us to take our bags to his school Josh Definitely has one of the nicest spots in Santa Maria. I felt quite at home with the white beach and turqouise waters. It looked exactly like the Fishermens huts! And the coolest outdoor gym was right next door. We spent quite some time there during our stay.

The more you travel the more you realize the world is a small place. My Friend Marc from Aruba was also there. So, in the first few days he took us around town and to the different spots.

We didn’t get a car until day three and until then it was quite easy to get every where by taxi. However this car rental was the red thread throughout our whole trip. We tried to rent at a cheaper price but that was a serious hassle. We even eventually had our car “stolen” by the actual owner because he was never paid by the intermediary ( whom we did pay) with all our gear in it. A few hours later we got it back though. We learned our lesson to just rent from proper companies and not privately! I can laugh about it now... But that was really crazy!
Our lovely panda took us everywhere. We checked out all the spots in the first days. Monte Leāo was really fun for surfing and the soft top longboard session was probably the most memorable one!

Little Ho’okipa and Alibaba were 10 minutes further down.
Checked out Shark Bay and Kite beach and we drove past Ponta Preta almost every day to see the surfers and kiters.

Unfortunately, the wind and waves we were hoping for never really came. And we ended up kiting a lot. Strapless kiting has become a new (serious) hobby and Kite beach is the strapless freestyle capital of the world. We met strapless heroes like Mitu Monteiru, Matchu Lopez, Airton cozzolino an DJO. So amazing to watch!
I have never seen such a busy kite place in my life. kitesurfing at kite beach

There were 2-3 really fun days windsurfing at Kite beach sharing waves with the kiters and that was a blast. Watching Ponta Preta break on a big day was breathtaking to watch. But it was too light wind to go out on my windsurf set.

Besides that the mainstreet of Santa Maria is very charming and it's hustling and bustling every night.

And the Fishermen's pier was very nice. In the weekend It's a nice place to hang out.In hindsight, maybe it would have been better to travel there on a forecast. But I’m happy I experienced a new place and met new people. I am actually looking forward to travelling back there and score proper conditions!

Sal! Obrigada e ate proximo.

Action photos: Emotions.cv