Salt flats, white sand and steady trade winds
Sal is a flat, dry island that most visitors to Cabo Verde reach first, thanks to its international airport. Santa Maria, at the southern tip, has a long white beach and a wooden pier where fishermen land tuna each day. Constant trade winds make it one of the world's best places for kitesurfing and windsurfing, especially at Kite Beach. At Pedra de Lume, you can float in brine inside the crater of an old volcano where salt was once mined, and lemon sharks gather in the shallows at Shark Bay.