Clair,
I think I can help. I spent about five days in the port of Mindelo, where your ship will be docking, along with a group organised by Emilio Garcia in August 2006. On a tip from a local diver, Cecil Bankston and I both snorkelled several times just to the right of the popular beach, the Praia de Lajinha, which is in the shallow bay to the west and north of the main ferry and cruise ship terminal (you can look it up on Google Earth). Just past where the sand ends, opposite the cement beach wall, swim out starting about 50 metres from the shore.
In the shallows (1-2 metres) you will find lots of small stone on sand covered in weed. Under the stones, Cypraea spurca are plentiful - and in fact that was the only place we found them on the trip to Cabo Verde. Further out, about 100-200 metres from shore, where the bottom is deeper 3-5 metres, there a tray sand patches and some cover - stones, algae clumps and other stuff. Both Cecil and I each found a live Harpa doris here. Mine was in the late afternoon in low light, partially buried in the sand but with the dorsum
sufficiently exposed that i could spot the ribbing and the colour. Also, there is a small colony of live Conus genuanus here - the only place they are known in Cape Verde (they may have been carried in ship ballast from Senegal). Anyhow, I found two small but pretty specimens under stones in the same habitat, snorkel diving down about 4 - 5 metres. Both the harp and the Conus genuanus were hard work - I snorkelled in this spot five times over three days before I found them. But it was worth it. The C. spurca I found easily on my first snorkel dive.
It really helps to have weight belt if you want to snorkel dive below about two metres. I brought my own on this trip. It could be difficult to find a "dive store" in Mindelo to rent one, but perhaps your cruise boat might have some? or they would allow you to bring weights on board (I have actually gone through air terminals in the USA and West Africa wearing lead weights on a weight belt when travelling to places where I knew I would not likely find them locally).
Good luck and post a note if you get to this spot and have any success.
Michael Small
Canberra
On 10/06/2012, at 8:28 AM, clair beckmann wrote:
> Greetings,
> We will have one long day in porto grande (cape verde) while cruising Rome-Rio and wondering if there is any beach collecting or if anyone has had luck buying some of the harpa or cones from the area from fisherman or at a local market??? Checked the archives, but didn't find much.
> THNX
> Clair Beckmann
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