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Friday, 31 July 2015

Portimao to Madeira

Portimao


It was really nice to be back in Portimao again for our third visit!

We arrived at the anchorage inside the breakwater late at night, and somewhat surprised to find it crowded as it was towards the end of the season. No matter, there was still plenty of room.

The passage from the river was a real mixed bag with some sailing, but latterly, motoring headlong into a really choppy swell at 2500 rpm to make any sort of reasonable headway. For the first time in a while we could hear the turbo on our engine spool up. A few miles out of Portimao we encountered many fishing boats darting about in lots of different directions, but our main concern was trying to spot a lobster pot in the dark. We popped on the autopilot and both stood up at the sprayhood peering into the inky blackness before us. This proved to be a good move as about half an hour later Steve spotted one on the starboard side, just a few feet in front of the bow. He lept down to the helm switched off the pilot and swung the wheel hard to port. We missed it by inches and had a really lucky escape. Thankfully this was the only incident.

During our time in Portimao we nipped ashore a few times, and had a wonderful Indian curry with Ian and Steph. It was whilst waiting for the water taxi to arrive after the meal, that Lynne spotted what appeared to be a strange phenomenon in the night sky. It was like a band of stars moving across a section of sky, and very surreal. It was only when the taxi pilot arrived that the explanation was forthcoming. It was hundreds of silvery helium balloons that had been let off at a nearby wedding!

We also took the rib for a trip along the coast one morning after breakfast, to explore our very own beach as it was only accessible by boat.



































On to Madeira


With a final provisioning trip under our belts we set sail, or should I say we turned the engine on, and headed for the five lane shipping lane we needed to cross on our passage to Madeira.
It was unusually quiet and proved to be a straightforward sector, with only one merchant ship that looked like it might get a little close.
Just as we were about halfway into the last lane the wind picked up enough to sail, so thankfully the engine went off. It was just then when Lynne was trimming the genoa sheet that she gave a start as beside her looking up was a Minke whale, just a foot or two away from the hull.

With our interpretation of our weather routing we gradually lost Nautilus from first VHF radio contact, and then AIS, which is about 10 to 14 miles. We had a cracking day's sail under the big asymmetric chute, using it as a reaching sail 60 degrees off the wind. We needed to keep to a tight angle to stay more or less on course, and the chute would start to collapse even just a few degrees less than 60. The autopilot was not able to hold our course with this big sail so we took it in turns to hand steer. It was the first time we had used the 'Big Boy' sail, and very exhilarating it was too.


















The rest of the passage was fairly uneventful. We did have lots of dolphins come and play though.

















A special mention should go to the night watches. Normally one finds oneself almost falling asleep at the end of the three hour shift, and then unable to sleep when off watch! However, the night sky was mesmerising. The moon did not rise until just before the sun so it was dark, and yet the sky was alight with trillions of stars, and the Milky Way stretched from the horizon to behind the mast. It was a sight that ancient mariners must have seen, and convinced themselves that the Earth was flat. It really did look as though you would drop off at any moment. Very hard to put into words, I guess you had to be there.

On the last full day of our passage the wind died to nothing. So much so we just put away the sails and drifted on the ocean current, at about 1 knot in the general direction of Madeira. We even sat on the transom and put our toes in the water, but elected not to go for a swim just in case something bigger than us was lurking in the depths! It was about then that we noticed Nautilus had come back into AIS range, so we started the engine and radioed up on the VHF. We then made a reciprocal course and motored about a mile and a half from each other during the night.

It was an hour or so before sunrise, and just on the point of changing shifts, that we got a call from Nautilus to say they had hit something in the water and their engine had stopped. A few moments later they confirmed it was a giant discarded fishing net. We altered course and held station about half a mile away whilst we waited for daylight to emerge. Ian donned his dive tank, and thankfully managed to remove the net and took it on board. We were staggered at the sheer size of it when we saw it in Madeira!

Once underway again we made our way to Marina Quinto Do Lorde, which lies on the South Eastern part of the island.

The marina is part of a resort, and very nice it is too. It is a little bit away from anywhere so we sorted out a hire car and after a couple of days to recover, we set about exploring the island.

If you had to use a word to describe Madeira it would be 'diverse'. The island is very different from one side to the other. The east side is very barren, whilst the west has a very tropical 'rain forest' feel to it, and the scenery is quite spectacular. There are lots of very steep, narrow, winding roads and hundreds of tunnels through the hills. Going on the bus is a bit of a white knuckle ride as the bus gets quite close to the edge of sheer drops!


Quinta do Lorde Marina
















Views on the walk to Punta Sao Laurenco



































































































































We also visited the capital, Funchal. Here we had a muse around the streets and treated ourselves to lunch. Being in an adventurous mood, we both decided to try the local speciality, the scary looking black scabbard fish (Espada). This monster lives at up to 1000 metres below the surface of the sea and heaven alone knows how they are caught. According to urban myth, you can cook a scabbard fish in a different way for every day of the year. We opted for a simple grilled one with a cream sauce, and a banana! Very tasty it was too.


Black Scabbard Fish Uncooked
Black scabbard fish

Black Scabbard Fish Cooked



















After lunch we took the cable car up to the Oriental Gardens. Despite the fact it was overcast that day it was still warm and humid, in keeping with the garden in fact.

Cable Car Funchal

Monte Palace Tropical Gardens Funchal
Views around the Monte Palace Tropical Gardens


Monte Palace Tropical Gardens Funchal

Monte Palace Tropical Gardens Funchal



















After our visit we decided to return to the city, but chose to go downhill in a wicker basket! These toboggans first originated in the early 19th century as Funchal's first means of "downhill" transportation. Made primarily out of wicker and two wooden runners, these toboggans are driven by two men (Carreiros) dressed in white, with straw hats and black rubber boots that are used as brakes. All this is possible by using ropes and greased up rags to grease the wooden runners. Great fun! Here is a short video of our ride. The toboggan you can see in front contains our friends Ian & Steph.




We were keen to see as much of the island as possible so we took a trip to the highest point (by car anyway), Pico de Areeiro, which was 1818 metres high.


Viewpoint Vico de Areeiro

Viewpoint Vico de Areeiro

Viewpoint Vico de Areeiro

Viewpoint Vico de Areeiro

















There are lots of Levadas (aquaducts) around the island and Lynne was keen to do a walk along one, so we headed west to Rabacal. Here we did two walks - Risco and 25 Fontes (springs). You really did feel like you were in a tropical rain forest, and in a scene from Gorillas in the Mist. 


Hiking in Madeira

Hiking in Madeira


Hiking in Madeira

Hiking in Madeira

Hiking in Madeira
A local visitor who joined us for lunch


































The last stop for us was the Whale Museum at Canical. The museum looks back at the whaling activities that formed a central part of many fishermen's lives for many decades. Whaling has been prohibited in Madeiran waters since 1982. Instead, those sailors who once harpooned whales for a living are now working hard to help preserve these gentle giants of the ocean. In an effort to promote this ecological issue many fishermen surrendered their hunting instruments to the museum. 

Many of the exhibits and videos on display show how barbaric the activity of whaling is, but it is great to see that the island is now looking after the transient whale population.

After a thoroughly enjoyable week in Madeira, it was time to move on. Our next destination is Lanzarote...

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