Baía de São Jorge
| Baía de São Jorge | |
|---|---|
| Location | Southeast of Preguiça, São Nicolau, Cape Verde |
| Coordinates | 16°33′29″N 24°13′37″W / 16.558°N 24.227°W |
| Max. length | 20 km (12 mi) |
| Max. width | 10 km (6.2 mi) |
| Average depth | 950 m (3,120 ft) |
Baía de São Jorge is a crescent shaped bay on the middle of the south coast of the island of São Nicolau in Cape Verde nearly southeast of the port village of Preguiça. Its length is over 20 km and its width at the furthermost is 10 km and stretches from the island's southernmost point up to 2 km west of Carriçal, the size may be 130-150 km2 making it the largest bay in the nation. The bay is named for Saint George.
Its geography is of barren landscape, parts of the bay are forested with small trees and shrubs, much of the bay especially the south and east consists of rocky cliffs and ledges, one of the streams especially within Preguiça empties into the bay. Preguiça is the only settlement located by the bay. One of the beaches near the bay is Praia do Forçado located 3 km south of Preguiça. The bay is being the deepest in Cape Verde, 2 km offshore has a depth of 100 meters, the deepest portion is above 1,000 meters deep and is located nearly south of Preguiça. South of that area underwater forms a part of the Cape Verde Rise.
During the Ice Age, the bay was less than 20 km long and about 8 km wide and its size was about 100 km2.
At the bay in Preguiça is one of the island's three ports, the least used ferry route linking with other islands, ferry routes such as the Tarrafal de São Nicolau-Preguiça crosses the west part and the Preguiça-Sal Island (Palmeira up to the middle, it also has another smaller ferry route linking with Carriçal in the east of the island. Near the bay is Farol da Preguiça (Preguiça Lighthouse), also known as Farol do Porto Velho, meaning the old port. Near the bay is a fort known as Forte do Príncipe Real, commonly as Preguiça, also as Forte de São Jorge after the bay, built in 1818 after the Napoleonic Wars on top of the hill protecting the port and the bay.
Fishing is common in the bay and once second, it could be the third leading economy of the island and may be the commonplace of fishing within the island.
Coordinates: 16°33′29″N 24°13′37″W / 16.558°N 24.227°W
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Wikipedia