Sao Vicente has a lot of sea turtles that you can encounter deliberately or by accident as we recently did on a long beach walk from Praia Grande in Calhau to Baia das Gatas.
We met this elegant and tenacious swimmer on land. Our little female friend came ashore on the sandy beach to build a nest and lay her eggs. She clearly did not expect us.
This kind of loggerhead sea turtle comes ashore usually 3 to 5 times, at intervals of 10 to 15 days, to build a nest and lay about 100 eggs each time.
The occurence was really cool. Our boys were truly impressed with the size and beauty of this friendly animal.
Did you know?
Five species of sea turtles roam the waters around the Islands of Cabo Verde: Green turtles (Chelonia mydas), Leatherback turtles (Dermochelys coriacea), Olive Ridley turtles (Lepidochelys olivacea), Hawksbill turtles (Eretmochelys imbricata), and Loggerhead turtles (Caretta caretta). Only the loggerhead turtle nests regularly on the islands. The local nesting population of loggerhead sea turtles is the third largest population in the world after the nesting populations of Oman and Southeast Florida, and is the largest nesting population in the Eastern Atlantic.