G&B: 2022: Cape Verde

Geoff Brock & Bruce Gamble

Sal:

São Vicente:

Santo Antão:

São Nicolau:

Brava:

Fogo:

Maio:

Santiago:

Fogo: The Volcano
and a visit to São Filipe

Saturday 19th November 2022

After yesterday's short sail across from the island of Brava and the abortive attempt to dock securely at São Filipe's port, our excursion to the crater of the volcano on Fogo was today complicated by having to disembark by Zodiac first. The map shows the route we took yesterday evening and the planned route for today.

Geoff decided to stay on board. He didn't fancy the Zodiac trip in challenging sea conditions, or the long trip in a minibus. From the deck he watched as Bruce and the others departed, after telling him to take lots of photos. Well, Bruce certainly did that... and has posted far too many of them on this page!

I wondered how long this wreck would withstand the power of the sea before disappearing into it.

From the Zodiac I could see a small fleet of minibuses awaiting us.

We were off the Zodiacs and on the road in short order.

Our route from the port to the centre of the volcano. We stopped several times along the route to admire the scenery and learn more about this fascinating island.

Papayas everywhere!

Communal laundry facilities, used until 2016 when a shortage of water put a stop to it.

Our guide told us that the soap for laundering was made by crushing the fruit of the Barbados tree nearby. After some research, I think the tree he is referring to is Jatropha curcas.

At a couple of stops, children were selling things made out of the lava.

After ascending 1700m in a short space of time, we were at the rim of the caldeira, which we then descended into.

It was incredible to see that people had dug out their old lava covered homes and built new ones on top.
We had to admire their resilience!

Casa Marisa 2. A hotel and the venue for wine tasting (wine made in the caldeira) and lunch afterwards.

This is where we had lunch. There was plenty of it and it was very good.

I was quite surprised by how cool and fresh the air felt in the caldeira. I hadn't expected that, but obviously the altitude has a lot to with it.

You can stay in one of these rondavels and look at the stars by night... and presumably keep one eye open for an unexpected eruption!

After lunch, we took a short drive into the heart of the village of Chã das Caldeiras. It is a very strange place where many houses are partially buried, but people have rebuilt their homes in amongst the destruction.

Isabel, one of our lovely tour managers.

People were living next door!

After taking in the stark beauty of the caldeira, it was time to leave and go back down towards the port.

The main town on the island is Sao Filipe. Portuguese colonial in style, it is now occupied by other wealthy Europeans and Chinese... the latter have acquired fishing rights for the whole country!

There were only one or two market stalls still open, because it was getting quite late.

Looking down at the beach from the centre of the town.

Driving back to the port, our ship looked rather close to the shore.

The welcome sight of Zodiacs to take us back to the ship.

It had been a wonderful day ashore. Thankfully, the sea was a little calmer by the time we returned to the ship.

Geoff spotted us arriving!

In contrast to Bruce's busy day, Geoff enjoyed his quiet day on board, along with nine others. They all enjoyed lunch together and later he took a few photos of activities around the port.