Baía de Tarrafal or Tarrafal Bay is a

bay A bay is a recessed, coastal body of water that directly connects to a larger main body of water, such as an ocean, a lake, or another bay. A large bay is usually called a Gulf (geography), gulf, sea, sound (geography), sound, or bight (geogra ...

of the

Atlantic Ocean The Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's five oceans, with an area of about . It covers approximately 20% of Earth's surface and about 29% of its water surface area. It is known to separate the " Old World" of Africa, Europe ...

on the northwest coast of the island of

Santiago Santiago (, ; ), also known as Santiago de Chile, is the capital and largest city of Chile as well as one of the largest cities in the Americas. It is the center of Chile's most densely populated region, the Santiago Metropolitan Region, whose ...

Cape Verde , national_anthem = () , official_languages = Portuguese , national_languages = Cape Verdean Creole , capital = Praia , coordinates = , largest_city = capital , demonym ...

. The town of Tarrafal lies at its southeastern shore, and 643 m high

Monte Graciosa Monte Graciosa (Portuguese meaning “gracious mountain”) is a mountain in the northern part of the island of Santiago in Cape Verde. It lies 2.5 km north of the town of Tarrafal, overlooking the Baía de Tarrafal. Its elevation is 643 m.

rises from its northern shore.Tarrafal guia turístico
Câmara municipal do Tarrafal Most of its coast is rocky, but there is a stretch of beach near the city. The headland Ponta Preta marks the northwestern limit of the bay; there is a lighthouse (

Farol da Ponta Preta Farol da Ponta Preta (the Ponta Preta Lighthouse) is a lighthouse in the northwesternmost part of the island of Santiago, Cape Verde, Santiago, Cape Verde. It stands on the headland Ponta Preta (Santiago), Ponta Preta, 3 km northwest of the c ...

) on it.

Fauna

Marine fauna found in the waters include the goose barnacle ''

Pollicipes caboverdensis ''Pollicipes caboverdensis'' is a species of goose barnacle in the family Pollicipedidae. It is found in rocky intertidal zones on the coasts of the islands Santiago Santiago (, ; ), also known as Santiago de Chile, is the capital and larg ...

'' and the coral ''

Balanopsammia wirtzi ''Balanopsammia'' is a monotypic genus of corals in the family of tree-leaved corals, Dendrophylliidae. It is represented by a single species, ''Balanopsammia wirtzi'', which occurs in Atlantic waters around the Cape Verde islands of Santiago ...

'', the only species of the genus.Ocaña, O. & Brito, A., 2013: ''Balanopsammia wirtzi'', a new genus and species of coral (Anthozoa: Scleractinia: Dendrophylliidae) from the Cape Verde Islands: A comparative study with the Mediterranean ''Cladopsammia rolandi''. Revista de la Academia Canaria de Ciencias, 25: 87–104. Fish found near the promontory include the Cape Verde basslet (''

Liopropoma emanueli ''Liopropoma emanueli'', the Cape Verde basslet, is a species of marine ray-finned fish, related to the groupers and classified within the subfamily Epinephelinae of the family Serranidae. It is endemic to the Atlantic waters around Cape Verde, ...

'') and the two-banded seabream (''

Diplodus prayensis ''Diplodus prayensis'', the two-banded seabream, is a species of marine ray-finned fish belonging to the family Sparidae, which includes the seabreams and porgies. This species is endemic to the Cape Verde Islands. Taxonomy ''Diplodus prayensis ...

'').

References

External links

* Bays of Cape Verde Tarrafal Municipality Geography of Santiago, Cape Verde {{CapeVerde-geo-stub