'The Lone Island' Cape Verde

'The Lone Island' Cape Verde      

One thing you will quickly get to know about me is that I love to travel because nothing beats experiencing new cultures, exploring different traditions and meeting new people. My goal is to at least travel to one country from each continent and once I have achieved that, I would love to visit as many countries and islands as I possibly can. As previously mentioned in my first post ‘Abandoning fear’, I’m all about speaking things into existence as I feel that they will eventually manifests itself into reality.

Playsuit: Boohoo
Sunglasses: Quay Australia
Slides: Adidas

For my 21^st birthday in January, I went to Cape Verde and to be honest with you I’d never heard of the country until my sister had brought it to my attention. I’m sure I am not the only one who had no clue Cape Verde existed because when I told people where I was going, they would give me this really odd look of uncertainty and I could tell they felt embarrassed not knowing where the country was or that it even existed. The moral of the story is that not a lot of people know of Cape Verde which is one the pros I will go into detail when explaining the pros and cons of visiting the country.

My experience

 There are a total of 10 islands and we went to the island of Sal. We stayed for 7 nights at the Melia Dunas Beach & spa resort and flew via Thomson airways. I personally think that 7 nights is perfect because there is only so much to do particularly because we didn’t leave the resort.  You’re probably wondering why we only stayed on the resort and the reason is because the country or at least the island (Sal) was pretty barren. There was absolutely nothing outside the resort. It felt like I landed on mars which I wasn’t too surprised about because I did do a little research on the island but it didn’t sink in until we got on the coach and were driven to the resort. There was nothing to see, not a tree, a house, or even cars other than the different airline coaches. However, once we arrived at the resort it was beautiful. My sister and I were consistently on tripadvisor before we flew out and there were mixed reviews (but mostly good) reviews on the resort. I personally liked it, it was clean and simple and the staff were extremely lovely. I did read on tripadvisor that the bathing was yellow and in some of the pictures it almost looked brown and unfortunately that was indeed the case. The bath water looked like urine but I honestly didn’t mind as long as my skin didn’t react to the water. We were advised not to drink the tap water and although they said it is safe to brush your teeth with the water, I preferred to use bottled water.

Playsuit: Miss Guided
Sunglasses: Quay Australia
Slides: Adidas

As mentioned before, we didn’t leave the resort because we felt there wasn’t much to do. We spoke to a few other travellers who had left the resort and went to the town in Santa Maria and the Santa Maria beach and many regretted going. Many complained that they were bombarded by locals who were trying to sell them things from clothes to jewellery and even drugs. Therefore, as two females alone we thought it was safe to stay on the resort. We opted not to do the Salt Lake tour because from speaking to others that had gone, they had mentioned that once you’ve floated for 5 minutes its pretty boring and again there was absolutely nothing to see on the island. However, this doesn’t mean we didn’t have a good time because I loved it. The fact that there is not much to do outside the resort, meant that there was lots to do on the resort.

Activities:

•  The beach!  There is a beach on the resort and it was an approx. 10-minute walk from our room. There were rooms & villas even closer to the beach so I guess it depends on where you stay. The beach was huge and absolutely beautiful. There were numerous water activities and beach activities such as horse riding and quad biking. Also, if you pay for activities such as the Salt Lake tour at the resort from the airline representatives, it’ll be pretty expensive so I’d suggest paying for activities at the beach where you will probably be bombarded with people selling tickets for different activities such as the Salt Lake tour for a discounted price. 

There was also a spa which was amazing. We actually went there twice because we loved it so much but mainly because we got half price on all treatments and 24hr access to the spa for a day so we could go in and out as pleased. The half price offer wasn’t available to everyone for some strange reason because we spoke to a guy whilst on the private balcony who told us he paid full price. Nevertheless, the spa had all the regular spa facilities and a private balcony which was perfect because it was enclosed and very relaxing. The price of the spa was pretty good especially since we paid half price and utilised the facilities all day.

Private Balcony at Yhi Spa (Resort Spa)

 The show! A show at 8pm everyday was shown at the outside theatre. The best show by far was the lion king which was most peoples favourite as it was a packed show. I also enjoyed the traditional shows but I will say that for some shows, we left within the first 5 minutes. They weren’t necessarily bad but we just weren’t interested.

  Pool activities! The pool side was very lively with pool side workers doing a bunch of pool activities such as pool surfing, pool aerobics, water slides and of course music. There were multiple different pools for different age groups so everyone could enjoy the fun.

The resort overall was very family orientated. There was a kids club for all ages as well as a tennis court, table tennis and game room so you can see that everything you would ever need is on the resort. 

       Close to the beach, there were shops. Anything that was imported was tripled in price so if you forgot to buy a bikini, floats, sun screen, shower gel you name it, be prepared to pay an extortionate amount of money. There were also a few restaurants which you had to pay for, an ice shop, souvenir shops/ general store and hair salon so your pretty much covered on the resort which again was one of reasons why we didn’t feel the need to leave the resort. It was an all inclusive package and we had the option of choosing between 3 different restaurants; an international buffet, Italian restaurant which you had to book for dinner and also a grill restaurant which you also had to book because they would get filled pretty quickly. The food was ok but I am a picky eater and don’t eat anything so its hard to please me but I will say that I did not like the buffet. I don’t like buffet’s in general because the food is never really that nice but the other two were good. Live music was always played at lunch and dinner which added a nice touch. Alcoholic and non alcoholic beverages were served all day whilst the restaurants were opened at specific times of the day.  

Bikini top: Asos

Short: Forever 21

Sunglasses: Quay Australia

Pros

·      The resort is huge meaning you don’t have to leave.

·      Plenty of activities especially water activities

·      Lovely atmosphere (We met some of the loveliest people)

·      Beautiful weather (We went during the coldest month and it was still hot)

·      For an all inclusive holiday it was a very good price (booked via first choice)

·   Perfect for all ages.

Cons

·      If you are an explorer bare in mind that there is not much to do outside of the resort and if you do go out, you will be bombarded by the locals.

·      There may possibly be a power cut. This did occur whilst we were there but it didn’t bother us much as everyone just stayed outside listening to the live music.

·      Stray cats. I HATED the cats as they were too comfortable, probably because people kept feeding them so there would be at least 2 or 3 by our table.

I would give this holiday a solid 7. I truly enjoyed myself as it was more of a relaxing holiday and I would definitely recommend going. If you are an explorer I would give Cape verde a pass but nothing beats beautiful weather (for me at least).  Any Islands or countries that you have visited that are unknown by a lot of people? Comment Below!

Playsuit: Zaful

Sunglasses: Quay Australia

I didn't vlog because I wanted to enjoy the moment however, I did stop by duty free to get some goodies. Check out the video below to see some of the fragrances and makeup I purchased!

Stay Blessed, Be Blessed
Lizzie x