April 30, 2017, Sunday, Mindelo, St. Vincent, Cape Verde Islands

After seven straight days at sea, seeing nothing but a fifty mile circle of empty seas, we finally woke up to the sight of land in the near distance. We passed a number of small islands on our way to the harbor at Mindelo. Cape Verde Islands is one of the small groups of islands that the Portuguese sailors found on their voyages down the west coast of Africa. They were trying to find a marine route to India and the Spice Islands of Indonesia. Their journey took them around the Cape of Good Hope. The same area that we passed by a week and a half ago.

The islands and Mindelo were one of the places that sailing ships stopped for fresh food and water. Later on with the introduction of steam ships, the port also became a coaling depot. With the shift from coal to oil, none of the ships stopped and the islands took a severe economic decline. 

Our day was taken up by a ship's tour on one of the local buses, guided by one of the local young men who spoke very good English. The entire tour was around to town of Mindelo from the waterfront to the center of town and back to the ship.

The other pier at the harbor



The harbor at Mindelo

The band stand in the center of the plaza at Mindelo

The main administrative building in town

The main street in town, not too busy, but it was a Sunday

One of the quieter corners of the plaza

Looking across the harbor at the eastern part of the island

The Torre de Belem, a replica of the original in Lisbon on the banks of the Tagus

Another street scene on a quiet day

A dance troop in the center courtyard of a school. As in many cultures, individuals can not train to fight. However, many of the dances are in reality stylized fighting, just no contact between individuals.

Accompanied by the music from one stringed instruments
 

The dancers worn different colored sashes just like a Judo black belt 

Everyone had a good time

A different style of dancing

We could have stayed long than we did



Our ship, the Queen Elizabeth, and one third of the Cape Verde Navy

One of our high lights of the tour was a stop at the home of one of the islands most famous singers. Cesaria Evora was a grammy winning singer. She passed away in 2011.