Boa Vista Experience

admin · Site Admin Joined: 19 Oct 2007 Posts: 484

The Ilheu de Sal Rei is to be found some 1,000m off the coast of the town of Sal Rei, right in front of the port. The islet is a protected area + thus uninhabited. On the southern tip of the islet is the Duque de Braganca Fort, built to withstand pirate attacks in the 1800's. You can get to the islet by convincing a fisherman to take you across, using a windsurfer, or swimming across, the water depth apparently never exceeds 1.5m. The islet has a very calming effect on the waves in the Bay of Sal Rei, making the Estoril Beach area ideal for windsurfing and kitesurfing. We paid a local fisherman CVE 1,500 to take us across in his little boat with a 15hp Suzuki motor. The trip could not have been more than 10minutes. It is easy to beach on one of the small sandy beaches to the south of the islet. It is recommended that strong footwear is worn, unfortunately some picnickers have left broken glass.

Little remains of the fort today, however you can still see the iron structures of the old cannons, and the stonework of the fort. You have a spectacular view of the town of Sal Rei, as well as Chaves Beach in the background, with the new Riu Hotel in an advanced stage of development, and supposedly opening November 2008.
The islet is much larger than you anticipate when you look at it from the pier in Sal Rei. At its longest length it is 1,945m. At its widest width it is 700m.The highest point is 20m above sea-level.The islet is of volcanic origin.The islet contains dry grasslands and features bushes and grasslands. Most of the island is filled with beach sand or rocky soil.
We found no large creatures on the island, there were however many crabs, lizards and some birds of prey. It was not possible to get up close to these birds. The west coast, walking north is very beautiful, with numerous sandy coves, interspersed with rocky outcrops, with the waves crashing against them. Quite spectacular shells are to be seen. The lack of human activity has resulted in the presence of many shells.
To the north of the islet is a lighthouse, similar to that at Ponta da Sol, to the north of the main island. There are some deserted buildings with their rooves missing around the lighthouse, and various areas where dry-stone walling has been erected. The waves are also larger.
Along the east coast are numerous recreational vessels anchored out at sea. On the day of our visit the trimaran from the Morabeza Hotel on Sal Island was there. The east coast is more rocky, there are however a number of deep gorges that would be ideal for harbouring small vessels. Inland are various pan-like depressions of sand, and some succulent like ground cover. Unfortunately there has been some littering on the east coast where visitors have not cleaned up after themselves.
All in all a pleasant visit to make while in Sal Rei.

jak · Senior Member Joined: 19 Oct 2007 Posts: 809

Digging through some of my old videos, I came across this one taken from the Ilheu de Sal Rei:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BHwKhQ42LnU

The video is taken from the fort on the Ilheu du Sal Rei and initially shows the landscape of the island including the cannons still at the fort. The sweep at the end shows almost the entire western coast of Boa Vista from Sal Rei harbour down to the end of Chaves Beach. It shows All of Sal Rei town past Estoril Beach down to the cranes building the Riu Karamboa past the brick factory on to the venta club and then finishing with the giant sand dunes of Chaves Beach.

Regards,

John Dowling