Tarrafal Hotel

... and fabulous breaking waves would make this a windsurfers/boarders paradise. Having watched the Carnival Tan Tan band we saw the Mindelo Carnival Kings & Queens in their colourful costumes and the local fishermen with their boats before winding our way back to the ship. From a distant the roads look like any normal tarmac surface but in fact the roads are all ...

Landed we have on this desert island of Sal. At the arrival those persons having a valid visa can go through a passport control and out. But those that do not have a visa-stamp in their passports have to go to a small, hot room at the left corner of the arrival hall. One meets there two CV-officers. If you have paid for your visa via a travel agency your name should be on the excel list they have in the ...

... looking them in the eye before shooting them. El Loco's technique involved a more hit and miss approach, ie I expect he shot the spear gun 20 times for each fish he caught. With that in mind it was amusing to see that they both caught the same amount of fish - 10 each. Antonio was so pleased with the days catch that he gave up 10 of the fish for us to barbeque. He was also kind enough to make a special ...

... man took pity on us and gave us 5 new hooks. I then found a heavy shell to use as a weight and we started getting lots of bites¡K he saw we were still not catching anything thing so gave us a souvenir from Cape Verde, which was a serious looking weight and hook set up. And within minutes I caught our first fish, see photo¡K. YEAH! It is sitting ready to be cooked for our dinner as I type¡K.must leave you on that note to go and cook. XXX

... catch of fish. Once the fish is brought off the boats, (this can take up to an hour, after a few games of cards), the fish is divided up so their familys and restaurants have enougth and the rest is sold to tourist, depending on how big their catch is depends on the price you pay. For example 1kg of tuna or blue marlin is 3 euros for a tourist. We have learnt it is more cost effective to buy a whole tuna fish for 10 euros. After this the locals have small ...

... well. I was lucky and did not have anyone in front of me to recline the seat. Otherwise it gets really cramped. I have no idea how some of our fellow passengers could have sat through that flight given the size limitations. As far as how full it was from Cape Town to Atlanta I counted about 5-10 empty seats out of about 100 in the back third of the plane. Some people just ...

We were given two options - stay on the plane or go to the terminal - during refueling. I chose the terminal because that meant getting up and walking. Of course, I didn't think that there would be nothing other than a large room there. So it was standing around for 1-1/2 hours while they refueled the plane.

Well it's -38 deg C when I boarded the first plane. the 727's heater froze over night, they pass around blankets and off we go. eventually by Minniapolis the plane defrosts. New York was around freezing and I had a couple hours to wait so it was walk around JFK. The South African Air 747 took off in the evening. A fuel stop in Cape Verde allowed us a streach and a visit with the three legged dog. Landed in Jo'bergurg and took the bus into ...