Insurance

Insure the building against fire, flood and seismic risk — Fogo is an active volcano, and Santo Antão has steep ground. Local insurers and a few Portuguese brokers write policies for foreign owners. The premium is small next to the cost of rebuilding a roof after a season of wind.

The building

A buildings policy should name fire, storm, flood, seismic movement and, if you are on the water, wave damage with honest exclusions. Cape Verde sits south of the main Atlantic hurricane belt. Swell and wind still take roofs, especially cheaply built terraces on Sal.

Read the occupancy clause. A house empty for six months is not the same as a house with a manager and a maid twice a week. Holiday lets need the insurer to know they are holiday lets. Some platforms will ask for public-liability cover; get it before the first guest, not after the first claim.

Contents and cars

Contents cover is cheap relative to replacing imported furniture. Photograph serial numbers. A theft claim without evidence is a conversation you will lose.

Car insurance is compulsory. Third party is the legal minimum; fully comprehensive makes sense if the car is new and the roads are Santo Antão. Accidents are argued in Portuguese. Keep the policy in the glovebox.

Health and the ferry

Health insurance is covered in the healthcare guide: evacuation is the line that matters. Ferry tickets to Brava and Santo Antão are not travel insurance. If you need to get off Fogo in a hurry, that is a policy, a plane, and a doctor, not the skipper.

Travel insurance for visitors should name Cape Verde, water sports if you mean them, and a 24-hour medical line. Print the number. The beach will not have your email.

How to buy it

• Buildings: local insurer or a Portuguese broker who already writes Cape Verde.
• Health: international policy with evacuation, plus INPS if you contribute.
• Car: on the island, before you drive away from the desk.
• Liability: if anyone pays you to stay in the house.

Insurance is dull until the night it is not. The families who stay here treat it like the water tank — unglamorous, full, and checked.

Island notes for cover

Fogo: seismic wording is not a joke. Santo Antão: steep ground and storm water. Sal: wind, empty-house clauses, and holiday-let liability. Santiago: flood in low pockets, fire in tight streets.

A Portuguese broker who already writes Cape Verde will not invent exclusions on the phone. A cheap policy that thinks the house is in Faro will.

Lecture checklist

• Buildings policy that knows the house is here.
• Occupancy and letting told to the insurer.
• Health with evacuation, always.
• Car insurance before the first roundabout.
• Policy PDFs in the same folder as the deed.

Pay the premium. Then forget it until you need it, which is the point of the lecture.