Last time we left you in Gibraltar and after waiting quite a few days in La Linea where we got some boat jobs done, finally we had a weather window for the 570 mile journey to the Madeira Archipelago. we have been excited about this one, having seen a number of sailing vlogs on YouTube about these islands. Now was our chance to take a look for ourselves. What we have seen so far has not disappointed!
So we left Gibraltar after a quick stop to fill up Azimuth with Duty Free Fuel. £1.15 a litre! Sailing out in to the Gibraltar Straits again we had strong winds behind us and made quick progress out of the tidal area. The speed didn’t drop either although the sea state was challenging with large waves behind us, Azimuth surfed her way along with the crew hanging on by their fingernails. After 3 days at sea, Land ahoy! Porto Santo appeared on the horizon and the wind died, so we had to motor the last 6 hours in the harbour.
Who says sailboats are slow? New record for us on Azimuth 15.1 knots!
The first thing we had to do was negotiate the crazy anchorage that is Porto Santo Harbour. Some how we managed to squeeze Azimuth in with all the other boats in the tiny area that is reserved for anchoring.
After a day of rest, we went out to explore this beautiful island. It is a very dry and arid place. Apparently they get less than 400mm of rain a year. However, it has a very relaxed atmosphere, all the people are very friendly. The one town on the Island is nice featuring a great supermarket full of fresh produce. Quite astonishing as everything has to be imported on the ferry.
We decided to take stroll along the coast down from the harbour away from the town. It turned out to be a stunning walk along the edge of huge cliffs and with breath-taking views. If there any geologists out there, then you should enjoy these pictures too. No denying the volcanic heritage of this island.
As we got to the end of the cliffs, we came across a bizarre tunnel that had been bored through the headland. We later heard that in the 1990’s there had been a large oil spill on the east coast of the Island and this tunnel and a road had been built back to the harbour for transporting the waste oil that was collected from the wreck. The road has all but disappeared due to cliff erosion, but the tunnel still remains.
Walk through the tunnel and up a sand track and we were treated to the fabulous views of the east of Porto Santo
Ok so I got a bit carried away after that and the geologist within me tried to escape and made me take lots of pictures of all the crazy rock formations. It was a fun walk!
A couple of days later, we decided to take a 4×4 Tour of the Island. Our guide was a local chap called Claudio who was extremely knowledgeable and passionate about the island. Never mind the fact that he was only in his 20’s and could speak Portuguese, English, French, Spanish, Oh and was in the process of learning German!
We shared the tour with a another couple from Poland who were staying in one of the swanky hotels on the Island. First stop was the Peak at the end of the beach with more spectacular views
Then we were whisked up another peak and then drove right up to foot of this spectacular columnar basalt formation reminiscent of those we had seen at the Giants causeway in Northern Ireland and of course Staffa in the Hebrides.
The reason it looks like a quarry, is that at one time it actually was. The locals used to break off the columns, slice them up and use them as bricks!
The next stop was a golf course that straddles the middle of the island. Apparently the course was designed by Seve Ballesteros and features one hole that you have to take a shot across the sea off the edge of a 300m cliff! Given the lack of water on this island its remarkable that a golf course exists at all.
Most of Porto Santo is covered in a yellow sand. Our next was the source of this sand. One more for the geologists then. Apparently 100,000 years ago Porto Santo was a green and luscious island covered in trees and 100’s of species of land snails. To the north of the island was a huge reef as big as the island itself. Around this time, an ice age struck, sea levels fell dramatically and strong winds ripped the reef apart, blowing sand over the whole island, killing and fossilizing all life. The locals call this the sand spout, and its an area on the North of the Island where this sand is 90m thick and teeming with fossil roots and snail shells. The wind has sculpted the sand in to beautiful patterns and shapes with fossils littered all over the ground.
Next we visited a traditional Porto Santo house. The owner produces his own wine and passion fruit liqueur which we got to sample.
Finally we circled back to the hill above the port and looked down on where Azimuth was anchored.
All in all we were really taken with this place! It will probably find a place on the top 10 list until something better comes along!
Join us next time in Madeira to continue the adventure
