Wednesday 14th October (Lini’s Journal)

Brindabella's Web Diary
Simon Williams
Fri 23 Oct 2009 21:19

 

   ‘Any takers for a sunrise walk on the beach?’ Si called jumping into board shorts. Christmas in Aus sprung instantly to mind. The dinghy weaved through sleeping boats. Just the other side of the harbour wall sits a 7km sandy beach ending in a beautiful rocky headland. The water felt warm for the first time and I hoped for our first ocean swim this trip. What a wonderful way to start the day, walking barefoot in the sand with a rising sun.

   The problem with marina wifi is the boats sit so low in the water it is rare they can pick it up. Si, AKA Inspector Gadget has quite a collections of doodahs (a technical term) for amplifying the signal so we do better than most but here there was no joy. We sealed the laptops in waterproof bags, went ashore and joined others tapping away outside the marina office. What an amusing sight; two long thin tables with benches along the wall, lined with multinational sailors behind laptops looking like a classroom. The French ladies next to me chain smoked and played cards the whole of the time we were there, but Si and I managed heaps of correspondence and I even bought new specialised travel insurance online: The wonders of modern technology eh?

   Round two commenced of the ‘eat lots of vegetables quick’ campaign for lunch. We had a very healthy heap of carrot, coconut and raisin salad. Next was our first trial of taking the bikes ashore in the dinghy, thus completing our car replacement system. The bikes although compact on terra firma, suddening tripled in size when we put them in the dinghy. We then added two people, a large bike bag and a rucksack and looking like one of those overloaded Chinese mopeds we motored ashore for a spot of sightseeing.

   Porto Santo is not a big island so it didn’t take much exploring. We did find Christopher Columbus’ house though which is now a museum and learned much about Portugal and its islands. Columbus had married the daughter of the Governor of the island here. A horse and cart stood nearby waiting for customers, the horse kindly given wooden mats to protect its hooves from the hot paving. A daily ferry runs between Madeira and Porto Santo bringing a couple of coach loads of tourists so easily to spot with sensible shoes, cameras round necks and daypacks. A quick look at the pretty little church opposite, an ice cream on the wall looking out to sea, then it was back to the marina to tie up the bikes before a very welcome dip in the sea: The day was hot. How lovely it must have been for the huge crowd of children from the marina to be able to play on the beach, not to mention the parents being able to cool off too. We returned to Brindabella in swimwear where Si immediately donned flippers and snorkel for a spot of hull cleaning.

   For our last night in Porto Santo we thought we’d try the marina restaurant, so after a wash and brush up and pre-dinner G&Ts, ashore we went again and sat, the only customers in the very warm restaurant behind the bar. I ate grilled sardines, the first this trip and Simon a steak all washed down with icy beer. Preparations for departure were then needed for our departure in the morning.