Every hear about São Tomé & Principe? Neither had I. It is the second smallest and second least populated country of Africa (after Seychelles). They are two separate islands located 93 miles apart. The islands are located about 150 miles from the coast of Africa. São Tomé actually sits on the equator. The country was originally occupied by the Portuguese, and that is still its official language. It was settled by the Portuguese in the 15 century and throughout the 16 century it was an important part of the Atlantic slave trade. It also was a big producer of sugarcane during that period. São Tomé and Principe received its independence in 1975 and remains one of Africa’s most stable and democratic countries. Not surprisingly most people are Catholic(81%). The total population is about 221,000 with 72,000 living on the island of São Tomé.

Again there were not many tours offered and I selected one called “Highlights of São Tomé” figuring it would give us the best overview of a country we knew nothing about. There was no dock capable of handling our size ship so we had to tender in, the first (and luckily the only time) we will have to do so. It was another warm day and the tender has limited ventilation so it is not the most pleasant mode of transportation. On top of that there was a bit of a swell on the ocean so the tender would raise up and down with respect to the loading platform so the crew had to time when people could board, further slowing down the process and since the tender holds about 125 people it was a slow process of getting from the ship to the shore. Furthermore the landing area on the pier was limited in size and we had the same problem of a bobbing ship with respect to the pier so unloading was also a slow process.

However, it was accomplished and we began our local tour in fairly old, small buses that held about 20 people. It did have large windows that would open so the ride was not unpleasant. We drove along the coastline for a bit stopping at a beach where fishermen were mending their nets. Everywhere we went people were very friendly, waving and saying hello. As you will see from the pictures the homes are pretty primitive, however, everyone was dressed in clean clothes.

The next stop was at the local church where we were entertained by a group of dancers of varying ages. We also attracted a large crowd of local people who seemed interested in their visitors. After about 10 minutes of vigorous dancing the dancers all lined up and wanted to shake our hand, which we graciously accommodated.

Stop three was a quick walk through the downtown area where another set of dancers performed for us followed by a walk through their bustling market and eventually ending up at their national museum, located in a 16th century fortress on the shores of the port. A lighthouse was added to the fortress in 1866. The museum contains religious and colonial era artifacts. Unfortunately the signage is in Portuguese and a local guide was not available to explain much of what was on display, so our visit was a bit of a disappointment to me.

Returning to the ship was a bit of a hassle as it was very hot, many of the tours ended at the same time so there was a large crowd gathered at the pier and only one tender can land/board at a time. Luckily the crew was handing out cold juice and water as we waited and we managed to get one of the earlier transports back to the coolness of our ship.

We arrived back at the ship to find it decorated for Christmas-trees and garland everywhere!  We also learned that there was now an art focused scavenger hunt being held. The ship’s photographer went around and took pictures of various artwork around the ship and created a 4 page montage of pictures, including some sneaky cropping of a picture, making it more difficult to determine what it was. We had two days to locate the art and write down where it was located. Those who successfully identified the works would get additional Regent Reward points. Game on!

Tonight was another new on board entertainer-Greek classical guitarist, Dimitris Dekavalla, who has performed in many famous venues like Carnegie Hall, the Royal Albert Hall and the Vatican. His show tonight focused on the Spanish guitar; he was good.

Tomorrow begins another couple of days at sea as we work our way to Namibia, our next stop.