Baía de Salamansa

Baía de Salamansa
Baía de Salamansa near the village of Salamansa. Santo Antão Island in background.
Baía de Salamansa
Location	North of Salamansa,, São Vicente, Cape Verde
Coordinates	16°54′50″N 24°56′56″W / 16.914°N 24.949°W / 16.914; -24.949
Max. length	3.68 km (2.29 mi)
Max. width	2.6 km (1.6 mi)
Average depth	5 m (16 ft)

Baía de Salamansa (Portuguese for "Salamansa Bay") is a bay on the north coast of the island of Santiago in Cape Verde north of the village of Salamansa and inside the Atlantic Ocean. Nearby bays are Porto Grande Bay being more than 3.5 km west and Baía das Gatas and Praia Grande being more than 2.6 km almost east. Monte João d'Évora and others likes to the west and smaller mountains to the south. East is predominant hilly and has elevations up to 60 m. Ponta da Salamansa is located northwest which separates the bay and Canal de São Vicente but northeast being simply the Atlantic. Another point is located to the northeast which forms a small headland to the east. A 1 km long beach is to the south which its width extends from 50 meters, 200 meters at Salamansa as far as about 500 meters and is known as Praia da Salamansa. Another beach and sandy area is Areia Negra to the southwest extending about 1 km inland. Areia Negra surrounds a part of Ribeira João d'Évora and are surrounded by hills.

Most of the bay is shallow with its depth about 10 meters below. Its length is 3.68 km from east to west and its width is 1.85 km. 1 km north has the depth of 35 m, 2 km north is about 75 m deep. Further areas are not shallow as the area northwest at midway with Santo Antão has the depth down to about 400 m and at 1000 m deep more than 8 km north.

The bay give its name to a nearby village in the south.

The point and its bay were mentioned in Imray's 1888 map as "Salamasa Bay" and "Ponta de Salamasa" as he visited Cape Verde and other countries. Until the early 20th century, the spelling was "Bahía de Salamansa".

In 2015, touristic developments began southeast of the bay, housing and also hotels, resorts, villas and probably a golf course are planned, the planning is uncertain, it covers most of the northeasternmost part and a small eastern part belongs to Baía das Gatas. Also in the same year, a species of gobies was discovered and were distinct from other gobies in the area and were described as the Salamansa goby (Gobius salamansa).