Madeira
Blue Sky's Voyage
George & Michael
Mon 13 Nov 2006 13:24
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Hello Friends
We had an enjoyable crossing from mainland
Portugal to Madeira - a little over 500 miles (nautical) and a little under 4
days. The wind did more or less what Movingweather.com said it would and we just
motored for a short while to clear the shipping lanes and then sailed the rest
with a NW breeze veering to the NE.
There were great dolphins off Cabo Sao
Vicente - they must have been used to the tourist RIBs and performed
spectacularly - jumping right out of the water and slapping the surface with
their tails. They stayed with us for miles, but sadly we had no sardines with
which to reward them.
The passage was the longest to date but not
tiring at all with 4 watches. We made landfall in Madeira as hoped around the
middle of the day. We didn't manage any really good photos as it was rather hazy
but we passed Porto Santo on starboard side and saw the Ilhas Desertas over to
the south as Madeira appeared with it's cloudy covering.
We arrived at Quinta do Lorde marina in the
eastern end of Madeira. This is the first phase of a marina / hotel / resort but
only the marina bit is built yet and that, just the marina not the shower blocks
etc. As every charter holiday maker knows, half built means that they are still
building the other bit, so as you can already guess, the trouble is the noise of
construction work and in particular the concrete breakers starting at 0800 and
continuing until 2100 at night. Anyway.... We rented a car and took a drive on Friday,
here's a pic of us on the N side of the island ...
 to be fair, the roads are rather demanding
so the driver/blog author didn't get to see much other than the road. The north
side is unbelievable - precipitous terracing / bright flowers everywhere /
surprisingly short locals - about 4 foot 6 on average / surprisingly populated
in view of the terrain !
We took an outing through the grottoes at
Sao Vicente - a guided tour through lava tubes with lava like runny cake mixture
dripping from the roof - but long since set and cold.
The main roads here, especially in the
south, have been subject to a continuing serious upgrade (EU €billions..?)
and now have long tunnels under the island - some of which are 2-way where
overtaking is allowed - seriously. But we thought that was dangerous until we
returned on the 4 lane motorway past Funchal in the evening rush hour.......
Grand Theft Auto (Death Race 2000 for the over 30's) is really boring by
comparison.
We took a look at Funchal on Saturday
and went up in the cable car. We explored further west, and found a
completed new marina at Calheta so moved there on Sunday to escape the
construction noise at Quinta do Lorde. The marina is not quite so well protected
so there is a bit of surge but there is also a full set of restaurants, bars and
shops so it feels slightly less cut off from the world.
 At the moment the weather forecast looks
good for a run down to La Palma on Thursday, arriving Saturday, so fingers
crossed for another good passage.
Best Wishes
George and Michael
PS. We had the best Navtex message
yet,
 ...as someone once said, I don't think we're
in Kansas anymore.
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