Preguiça

27 March 2023

News

From Tarrafal, São Nicolau, we usually leave very early in the morning to be sure to have passed the southern tip of the island when the guests wake up. Then, after breakfast, the sails can be put on immediately and we are on our way. The disadvantage of this is that the crew gets a little less rest.

Because the weather is very nice and calm, we have decided to leave in the evening, round the southern tip and drop anchor at Preguiça. Then we don’t have to get up so early and it is a new place to explore.

Anchoring in this bay is quite ‘tricky’, because the bottom is very steep. According to the map there is a small, relatively flat area where you can drop anchor. And to do that, for the first time, in the dark, was a bit exciting beforehand. It is a gamble that we take, because if there are other boats, it will be very difficult to find another anchorage. But there were no other boats, there was almost no wind and the water was nice and flat. So we worried for nothing 😉

In the dark we had no idea what it would look like, but when we woke up in the morning, we were surprised by a beautiful view of a sleepy village against the hills. The plan immediately became clear, we have to take the time to land here and explore everything!

There is a small cove with a pier and guests could easily get on shore. Beautiful clear water where a turtle was soon spotted, a pebble beach, overhanging rocks and very relaxed people who looked a bit surprised by our ‘invasion’, but nobody seemed to worry about anything.

The name Preguiça (laziness) was given to the town by a Portuguese lord. He gave the order to dig a well, the local population did this so extremely slowly that he named this village after it.

Apart from a few houses and one small hotel, there are still the remains of an old fortress. Or well, fortress.. A wall with 4 guns aimed at the bay, one of which is exactly on the only good anchorage. In the village it looked very well cared for, except for a few abandoned and dilapidated houses. A great place to spend a few hours and enjoy snorkelling from the beach. But we were lucky to visit this time because you don’t want to be here with wind and waves!

When everyone was back on board, we continued our journey towards Boa Vista and we have now arrived at the east side of Sal. Just like last trip, there is a swell from the northwest, which makes it perfect to anchor at Pedra de Lume. Here in the flat, incredibly clear water, the first turtles and sand sharks have already been spotted. Now most of the trainees went to ‘bathe’ in the salt pans and after lunch we will use the little breath of wind that is there to sail to Santa Maria, where we will have the last evening BBQ of this last Cape Verde.