Baía das Gatas is the name of a natural bay

Bay

A bay is an area of water mostly surrounded by land. Bays generally have calmer waters than the surrounding sea, due to the surrounding land blocking some waves and often reducing winds. Bays also exist as an inlet in a lake or pond. A large bay may be called a gulf, a sea, a sound, or a bight...

 in the northeast of São Vicente

São Vicente, Cape Verde

São Vicente , also Son Visent or Son Sent in Cape Verdean Creole, is one of the Barlavento islands of Cape Verde. It is located between the islands of Santo Antão and Santa Luzia, with the Canal de São Vicente separating it from Santo Antão.- Geography :The island is roughly rectangular in shape...

 Island in Cape Verde

Cape Verde

The Republic of Cape Verde is an island country, spanning an archipelago of 10 islands located in the central Atlantic Ocean, 570 kilometres off the coast of Western Africa...

. It is located 10 km east of the city of Mindelo

Mindelo

For the parish in Portugal, see Mindelo, PortugalMindelo , is a port city in the northern part of the island of São Vicente in Cape Verde. Mindelo is also the seat of the parish of Nossa Senhora da Luz, and this island's municipality...

, the island's capital. Baía das Gatas is linked with a road that passes through the mountains with Mindelo to the west. There is yet no road to Calhau. Much of the area are grasslands, rocky terrain or deforested; a few plantations of acacia

Acacia

Acacia is a genus of shrubs and trees belonging to the subfamily Mimosoideae of the family Fabaceae, first described in Africa by the Swedish botanist Carl Linnaeus in 1773. Many non-Australian species tend to be thorny, whereas the majority of Australian acacias are not...

s are around the area. East of Baía das Gatas features the beach of Praia Grande.

Name

Baía das Gatas is Portuguese

Portuguese language

Portuguese is a Romance language that arose in the medieval Kingdom of Galicia, nowadays Galicia and Northern Portugal. The southern part of the Kingdom of Galicia became independent as the County of Portugal in 1095...

 for the Bay of the Gatas. Gatas is the name São Vicente residents give to a species of shark

Shark

Sharks are a type of fish with a full cartilaginous skeleton and a highly streamlined body. The earliest known sharks date from more than 420 million years ago....

 that lives in the relatively shallow waters of São Vicente. These harmless sharks grow to be no longer than 5 feet and are sandy colored.

Music Festival

Since 1983, the 'Festival de Música da Baía das Gatas happens every year in the first weekend of the month of August. The crowds gather in the beach of Baía das Gatas and features local and international music

Music

Music is an art form whose medium is sound and silence. Its common elements are pitch , rhythm , dynamics, and the sonic qualities of timbre and texture...

. The festival also contains various cultural programs.
A big article (in french) about the festival, since 1983 to 2007: here

Nearest communities and geographical features

• Salamansa, northwest
• Monte Verde
  Monte Verde, Cape Verde
  Monte Verde is the tallest mountain in the island of São Vicente, Cape Verde. The mountain is located east of the city of Mindelo, the island's main city...
  
  , southwest
• Madeiral, south
• Praia do Norte, west

Photos

Baia das Gatas on www.mindelo.info