I went for kitesurfing to Boa Vista earlier this winter, but as always, you cannot kitesurf every day. So what else can you do at Boa Vista?
Doing water sports at Boa Vista
Boa Vista and Sal, the two Cape Verdian islands filled with only desert and mountains are great for water sports.
- Kitesurfing is nice when there are good winds.
- Windsurfing is also great, and Boa Vista is great for learning
- Wave-surfing is possible almost every day with a longboard, and quite often with a shortboard too, especially if you can drive around and test different spots.
- SUP – Stand Up Paddleboard. I would say Boa Vista is one of the ultimate places for this. Small, perfect waves that are easy to catch, and offshore wind for easy paddling out. You can also do trips to the small island outside the harbour with the SUP. You can rent SUP from the different surf-centers.
- Diving and snorkling is also possible, even if the waves makes the water a bit unclear.
stand up paddleboard in the waves at boa vista
SUP trip to small island
Kitesurfing at Boa Vista (Pont Antonio)
Driving around on Boa Vista
There is not much to see on Boa Vista. But if you are able to, do these things:
- Rent a quad and drive around on the sand dunes. It is really fun, and you can go wherever you want, there is not much roads, just hit the desert! Check the shipwreck and try to not hit any goats (they are everywhere).
- Rent a 4×4 pickup truck (and a driver) and go for kite- or windsurfing trips to other beaches around the island. Or have a driver to show you around the island.
drive around boa vista
Boat trips on Boa Vista
You can also hire a sailing boat or catamaran and go for daytrips on the sea or even owernight-trips to other Cape Verde Islands. You can go for whale-watching or dolphine watching. For seeing turtles you do only need to swim around a little, they are everywhere.
The city Sal Rei on Boa Vista
You are probably living in the City Sal Rei, the most of the Boa Vista Hotels are here. The city Sal Rei is small, you can easlily check it through in a day or two. But I would not spend daytime there, wait till the afternoon, and sit at some bar for the sunset, for then continuing to a restaurant for a great dinner a couple of hours later. They eat dinner after 6:30 in the evening, and you will get dinner also as late as 10 in the evening. The city is also one of the few places where you can find working internet on Boa Vista.
SAL REI centre and the Boa Vista hotel
Restaurants in Boa Vista
All restaurants are in Sal Rei. There are about 30 of them all in all, and they are mostly seafood-, local food- or italian food-restaurants. It is a little hard to find good meat on the island, but that is possible too. Good Fish is not hard to find. I ate Tuna, Serra, Gerupa and Vika fish at our visit, and all were great. The chance is good that the fish were still swimming the same morning, so it is fresh.
Restaurant Tortuga and Social club view
Some good restaurants
- Il Mirador. A good Portuguese restaurant. The best meat of the island, and also outstanding fish-dishes. Not the cheapest.
- Social Club. They have a great menu and a great view for the sunset. Good fish-dishes and drinks, also a bar and some dancing later in the evenings on weekends. Medium price level.
- The restaurant in the Hotel Boa Vista. Good variety of dishes, and great fish. Not crowded, fast service and quite cheap.
- Pizza at Delta cafe. With the amazing Pizza named Bruno, that we ate several evenings. They also have other food, and is quite cheap.
- Pizza at the main square. Close to everything, cheap good pizza and cheap drinks. A place where the most people are hanging out in the evenings.
- Tortuga beach. Cheap fish, okay standard, great beach view.
small broken church somewhere at boa vista
I hope you will enjoy your Boa Vista trip and find things to do! We did.