Sal is a barren island with a lot of building work being carried out in santa maria.

Sal is very up and coming and we would imagine in about 5 years or so then it will have the waterpark, McDonald's etc. In our opinion Sal will lose some of it charm when these things are built.

We didn't leave the complex as there is nothing around the hotel except sand!

We didnt venture out the front of the hotel simply because we just wanted a pool & beech holiday. We were told the nearest town Santa Maria is approx 30mins walk out the front of the hotel or 1 1/2 hours walk on the beech, or 10mins & 3 euros in a cab. The beech is very open, but when the wind gets up you can really tell with the small grains of sand hitting the back of your legs - killer!!Sea is quite choppy but nice once you get in. The reps on the welcome meeting do the usual sell sell sell for the trips - we didnt bother with these either again just a nice relaxing holiday. The check-in staff at manchester didnt know about the visa situation, neither did the guy at the information desk - worrying I know but a few jars of larger soon made me forget before boarding.Its was extremely windy when we stayed here and that took away how hot is was, subsequently we both got really realy sunburnt - even after bathing in aftersun & using factor 30, so, take plenty of both.

Cape Verd'e is a great destination if all you want is a beach hol because the beach is fabuluos pure white sand for miles and when you walk this beach you can turn around after 10 mins and not see a single sole in either direction (how cool is that) But there is a downside , the wind is very strong at all times and depending on direction can be very wareing the sea can be extremely rough and dangerous especially for youngsters but we were able to go into the sea on most days and it is better than the carribean, My advice is to see it now in its natual state before all the hotels get built (5yrs) at most because you will not be able to excperience the solitude on the beach for tourists and sun beds. The resort overall lacks any features there is no Fauna or flora and the landscape is very flat arid and dirty due to the lack of rain. We didnt explore the island because there isnt much to explore there is very little ifrastructure of any sort but this is a developing island which is very apparent when you look back from the beach and they do need our money from tourism so do spend a few euro in the town and make someone happy.