Porto Grande Bay
| Porto Grande Bay | |
|---|---|
Porto Grande
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| Location | Northwest of São Vicente, Cape Verde |
| Coordinates | 16°53′N 25°01′W / 16.89°N 25.01°W |
| Max. length | 6 km (3.7 mi) |
| Max. width | 5 km (3.1 mi) |
| Average depth | 15 m (49 ft) |
Porto Grande Bay, also as Mindelo Bay (Portuguese: Baía do Porto Grande) is a bay on the north coast of the island of São Vicente, Cape Verde. The main city of São Vicente, Mindelo, is situated at the bay. The Porto Grande Bay is a deep natural harbour, formed by an underwater volcanic crater of about 4 kilometer diameter, the area is approximately 20 km² and the depth ranges from 15 to 30 m. Along with Praia Harbor in area, it is the largest port and harbour in Cape Verde but second in activity for Porto Grande. It stretches between the headlands Ponta João Ribeiro in the northeast and Morro Branco in the west. To the northwest it opens towards the Canal de São Vicente, the channel between the islands São Vicente and Santo Antão. The small rocky island Ilhéu dos Pássaros lies north of the bay. The port's location being inside the Atlantic Ocean sits at or within the major sea-lanes linking Europe to South America, the other linking North America to southern Africa or Australia, much of its ships bypasses the archipelago today.
The port is owned and operated by ENAPOR and is co-owned by the Canarian company Armas.
It offers ferry services to the nearby island of Santo Antão with Porto Novo and serves twice a day and has a boat carrying 450 passengers and also carries auto traffic, its ferry route crosses the channel and is accessed in 50 minutes each way. It also has ferry routes to Fogo and Brava twice a week and Santiago and São Nicolau once a week. All ferry services to Sal are done via São Nicolau, to Maio via Santiago and to Boa Vista via Sal and São Nicolau.
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