Anyone bound for the island of Santo Antão must take the boat. This most westerly of the islands in the Cape Verde archipelago once had a small aerodrome, but it was closed in the 1990s on safety grounds. Unpredictable Atlantic winds simply made the airport too dangerous to use. So these days the boats to Santo Antão do a steady trade, shuttling passengers and freight over from neighbouring São Vicente. The boats all land at Porto Novo on Santo Antão, where new arrivals are often surprised to discover that the smart ferry terminal was paid for in part by a grant from the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg.
Tidal islands
There are islands which never lose their island status. And then there are islands which come and go with every tide. Such fragments of land, which are only proper islands at low tide, are called drying islands or tidal islands. We look at some ...
