Porto Santo
andromeda of plymouth
Susan and Andrew Wilson
Fri 18 Jun 2010 14:48
routinely scanning the various weather forecast sites, downloading grib
files and generally trying to be thorough, the wind was on the nose all
across the 30 nautical miles from Quinta do Lorde to Porto Santo, even
though all the forecasts said it would be from the North West! It was
certainly quite bumpy turning the headland to set a course for Porto Santo
and it mean that we had to motor across instead of sail – ho hum. The good
news is that Susan tried some of her mal de mar pills and they seemed to
work very well so she coped ok with the bumpy waves.
We enjoyed our stay in Madeira and plan to return on our way down to the
Canaries in September and are looking forward to seeing the festival Katia
was so enthusiastic about. The mooring lines and fenders did take a bit of
a battering as there was a great deal of water movement in the marina
itself putting quite a strain on the lines. Porto Santo has much less
water movement, but the winds, mainly katabatic (off the mountains), seems
to be specifically targeted at our pontoon – nothing like the amount of
wind ashore – strange that but Susan is pleased that the washing gets dry
really quickly.
Porto Santo is very different to Madeira even though it’s only 30 miles
away – very dry, volcanic and only measures some 11km x 6Km, so very much
smaller. Mostly dedicated to holiday makers and Madeiran’s with holiday
homes it does boast a golf course and a large airport runway, but equally
doesn’t seem to have been unnecessarily spoiled. There has been a lot of
recent investment in terms of town halls, squares, and other very new
buildings. Getting around involves the usual buses, four wheel bikes,
scooters, horse drawn carriage (only on the flat bits we suspect) and hire
cars. We chose to take the tour by bus which takes you most of the way
around the islands roads in about 2 hours. The bus driver had no apparent
Grand Prix aspirations!! We had 4 stops on our tour and saw the various
faces of the island including a terrific view from the hill overlooking
the marina, if you look carefully you can see Andromeda tied up on the
pontoon.
Evidence of the early settlers is all around in the way the few villages
are laid out and it’s still possible to see the outline of the terraces on
the hills used for cultivation in the earlier times, but little native
forest remains and you are very much aware of how dry it is and how little
rain falls – the drainage channels have lots of vegetation in them, unlike
Madeira where they have no vegetation in them at all, just rocks, boulders
and plenty of them both. A few smallholdings still exist, bounded by
stone walls to protect the crops from the wind and salt in the wind, but
the majority of goods now arrive by the daily ferry from Funchal. Most
folks come for the beach, which is reputed to be some 6.5Km long, with
lots of golden sand and shallow water – both of which Madeira doesn’t
have, save for the artificial beach in Monchico. Columbus, he of the New
World, retired here and his house is a museum near the centre of Porto
Santo town itself, which is about a 30-40 minute walk from the marina.
The marina walls, and the odd boulder or two, are painted with the names
of yachts that have passed through and we plan to add our own before we
leave. It seems a popular choice for ARC boats on their way south, though
it’s easy to see the marina almost overwhelmed when more than a few arrive
at the same time – the marina office was closed the weekend we arrived,
although the GNR (border police) office was not, but Nelson kindly came
out to provide keys to the showers, very welcome. A very quiet and relaxed
place to stay, with only three other yachts visiting whilst we’ve been
here, but no doubt getting busier later in the season. Hopefully the
photos will provide a flavour of the island. Susan enjoyed the sand and
the sea was just the right side of cold to favour a lengthy paddle or two,
though it was mostly cloudy whilst we have been here.
We met the irrepressible Sue Thatcher from Tamar Swallow as she prepared
her yacht for the trip to the Azores and then back to the UK – she will be
sailing with Ju and Liz from Little Else, who we met, along with Sue, in
Lagos. Sue has entered the Azores and Back Race (AZAB) and we wish her
every success. Sue is also a fount of knowledge having sailed these
waters for many years and has sailed with Anne Hammick, who wrote the RCC
Pilotage Foundation Guides to the Atlantic Islands. Thanks to her
experience, tips and previous visits, not to mention yet to be published
updates to these parts, we have a few interesting trips ahead!
We plan to head towards the Azores, first Santa Maria and then onto Horta
on Faial, next and will be at sea for about a week, depending on the wind,
which, according to the weather forecasts, should be from the North East!
Hhhmmm!
Last night (Thursday) we had a reunion with Ju and Liz at a little bar in
the town and a fun evening was had by all with Susan succumbing to an ice
cream from the little place recommended by Catia and she said it was as
delicious as Catia had promised and certainly set her up for the walk back
to the marina.
Today has been a busy day with a visit from Ju and Liz as we are acting as
a left luggage depot until Tamar Swallow is back in the water later on
this afternoon, then further cups of tea and coffee when Sue met them on
the way to the boat yard and came round to give us some up to date info.
We have now provisioned up, paid our dues and are about to leave our mark
on marina wall, making sure we are ready for the off in the morning.
There are a few yachts who we know from our winter in Lagos, in the Azores
at the moment,so perhaps we will meet a few of the folk as our wakes
cross.
More in due course........................
Susan and Andrew
S/V Andromeda
