We are now on the southern part of the island of Sal in the town of Santa Maria. It was founded in 1830 for the production and shipping of salt and is the former capital of Sal Island. A small rail track was constructed to ship the salt from the mine to the pier. Again, 30,000 tons of salt were shipped from Santa Maria annually, mostly to Brazil. But that ended and since 1986, tourism has become a significant industry here.

For tourism, Santa Maria has beautiful beaches and ocean, fishing, boating, surfing, swimming, seado's, and many other endeavors along with bars, restaurants, and souvenirs for sale. We took it all in. The Sahara sand is still with us but not nearly as bad right here.

I believe that the pier below is the pier where the salt was shipped from. Today, it's mostly being used for fishing, boating, and for tourism.

The next photos will just give you a glimpse of the tourist area and development. It was a very nice place to visit, and I wished we had more time here.