We are now on the island of Sal, which is Portuguese for "salt." It is one of three sandy-beached eastern islands of Cape Verde. This island was sparsely inhabited for the first three centuries but that changed at the end of the 18th century when they developed a salt industry. In the early years, 30,000 tons of salt a year were being exported, mostly to Brazil. Most of the island is fairly flat but it does have several old volcanic remnants. We also experienced some severe Sahara blowing sand today on Sal.

Our first visit was to Buracona. It's a natural wonder on the northwest coast of Sal Island. The key features are some dark volcanic stone, seawater that is bright blue in the sunlight, and a large opening in a cave, actually a lava tube eroded by the sea, that can be accessed from the sea.

I'll start with some photos of the blue water and volcanic rocks that we passed leading up to the blue eye.

At this point, we reached the end of the line, leading to the Blue Eye. We patiently waited our turn, anxious to see this natural wonder. You can see it below.

As we walked away, Vicky turned to me and said, "They can call it the blue eye if they want to, but I'm calling it the Black Eye."

There was evidently too much sand in the air which blocked the sun from shining this far into the cave.

But otherwise, this was a strikingly beautiful section of the Sal coast.

Plus, if you look at the next photo, the blue eye is in the upper right corner area, and it can be accessed through the lava tube from the entry below.