My best diving memories are from ScubaCaribe Riu Touareg, Boavista!

February 2016. I’m on my way to book my seventh vacation trip to Cape Verde. There will definitely be more trips to come to this wonderful country and its amazing people! Over the years I have travelled a lot around the world, but I have never visited any of the other places more than once. What makes Cape Verde so special?
I made my first introduction dive in the pool at Touareg 2013. On that day I decided to start my open water certificate when I got back to Sweden. I travelled back to Boa Vista and with eager anticipation I was ready to do my first dive. I had just finished my certificate in Sweden, in 2°C water, in a wetsuit and surrounded by floating ice blocks.
I remember that I told the staff at Scubacaribe that ”you can´t trust me under the water”. They smiled and said to me, gently ”we will look after you”. And so they did. The staff was outstanding and I felt calm and safe in the water. A new world opened up in front of me. I was surrounded by the most amazing underwater landscape. Big shoals of colorful fish, beautiful cliffs, morays and stingrays. The feeling cannot be described with words. The sound from the wheezing regulator made me feel peaceful and calm.
One of the best moments was when I got close to a nurse shark for the first time in my life. I will never forget that moment! It was an unbelievably happy feeling. Or when I was close to a really big stingray that was hiding in the sand beside a cliff. The divemaster caught that moment on film. I was so lucky!
Of course I laid my eyes on the dive boss’s underwater camera too. After an introduction to making films, editing underwater pictures from the film, I got a film as a memory from my diving in Cape Verde. I knew then that the combination of diving and photography is something very special. I got a list of what camera equipment I needed to get started with my new hobby. I booked a new trip back to Boa Vista to attend the underwater digital photography course. I was the only student with the teacher and I learnt a lot during that time.
The diving groups are small and the divemaster takes time to help everyone individually. You don’t need to dive with fifty other people in the water, like in Thailand and you don’t need to wait around. For me the diving has to mean freedom, not a crowded place under the water.
The boat trip from the diving place back to the diving center takes you through views of outstanding beauty. To see the long sandy beach, the waves, the cliff ”Bodega the Tchoco” with the big birds flying over the rocks, the hotel that looks like a sand castle and at the same time listening to the waves hitting the boat while the sun is shining – it’s simply breathtaking! When the boat reaches the beach the captain uses the big waves to surf the boat up onto the beach – spectacular! We got to know the Scubacaribe staff and were invited to barbecue parties, and they also showed us around the island. They invited us to their homes. The staff showed us a great great hospitality and were very attentive to our needs. And they have a great sense of humor.
To see and experience Cape Verde without big tourist buses, with the people who live in Cape Verde is a memory for life. I love to walk along the long sandy beach or just sit on the sand listening to the waves and watch the beautiful sundown. Cape Verde is for me something very special, that’s where my interest in diving began.
I especially want to thank all the staff at Scubacaribe at RIU Touareg who worked there during the years 2014-2015. They shared their knowledge of diving, their sense of humor, their hospitality and daily life with us.

Maria Boström
Master Scuba Diver