© Gaia Tourism 2018
© GAIA - CABO VERDE TOURISM
Blaise Menuet - Managing Director
Contacts:
Telephone office: (+238) 993 99 20
Telephone operations: (+238) 999 44 55
E-mail: office@gaiatourism.cv
Discover Maio the easternmost of the Sotavento island of Cape Verde. Maio is located south of the island of Boa Vista and east of Santiago. The island is known for its sandy beaches and large forest, which is unusual for Cape Verde.
The island covers an area of 269 km². The tallest mountain on the island (436 m) is on the east coast, in a mountain range named Monte Penoso. Terras Salgadas is a plain filled with salt, in the far north. The northernmost point on the island is Ponta Cais. Bays includes Galeão and Santana to the north and in the southeast is a lagoon named Cimidor. The island’s main town is Cidade do Maio (formerly Vila do Maio), also known as Porto Inglês, near which its airport, Maio Airport lies. Maio are one of six islands that have a surrounding islet or two, it is called Ilhéu Laje Branca. One of the notable beaches include the one west of the island capital, Morro and Praia Gonçalo.
The area to the north is predominantly shallow and the depths are down to around 100 meters below sea level in many areas, the highest is the João Valente Reef with a depth of only 16 meters The main Maio Seamount are nearly completely connected to other seamounts due to the shallow north, it connects the João Valente and Boa Vista seamounts to the north. Except for the shallow northern portion, southwest of the island has a depth of 1,000 km around halfway between the island and Santiago, the remainder especially the east over 10-20 km east are waters 3,000 km deep. These are part of the Cape Verde Rise. Surrounding seamounts in the east are Maio (or Lesser Maio, located about 90 km) and Noli seamounts (about 110 km).
Endangered flora founded on the island include Asparagus squarrosus (Cape Verdean asparagus) and Verbascum capitis-viridis and endangered fauna include Tarentola maioensis.