(No.15) The blog to accompany the photos sent yesterday.
Catou
Paul and Sylvie Tucker
Wed 29 Sep 2010 14:16
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We have had a lovely three days in the
Madeira islands and it was a great shame that we couldn't stay
longer. Unfortunately Tucker's Tours don't allow for longer visits on this
leg of the voyage!
We arrived in Porto Santo last Sunday (26th) -
just in time for breakfast ashore. As we came in through
the marina entrance, I received a call on the VHF - it was from Robin and
Jenny Martin on board 'Maymio' (the only other Malo yacht in the ARC), and
they had been watching our arrival outside the harbour. We had
been introduced to them through sailmaker Chris Scaines in
Topsham some months ago, and we had only met once, but had kept in touch by
e-mail to discuss fitting out issues earlier in the season. They had received my
e-mail a few days ago advising that we were making for P/Santo over the
w/end. I had thought they were in Madeira, but they had kindly stayed
another day to await our arrival. We saw them anchored in the harbour, so
went close by for a chat. Robin immediately recognized Terry from early 1970's
when both of them used to play hockey for the Royal Navy!
We experiencing an unusually long marina
registration together with customs formalities (one wonders why a
customs officer need to know: (1) if radar on board(2) your
draught (3) your mast height + several other strange
requests !) After breakfast and
showers we went back on board and Robin and Jenny came over for a drink. (By the
way, it had been a very late morning breakfast!) In the
afternoon we took an open top bus trip around the island. It was great
fun. The island is barren and volcanic with lots of mini-volcanic
peaks scattered about. We stopped at several viewing points until the bus
dropped us back at the marina at about 4.30pm. Jenny & Robin
came across in the evening and we had a very enjoyable meal in the marina
restaurant with more bottles of wine than I wish to admit to.
We sailed on Monday morning to cross to Madeira (30
miles). It was a glorious day - but little wind, so after about an hour of
very gentle sailing under the cruising chute, we gave up and on went the donkey
again! 'Maymio' had sailed before us, so were safely alongside when we
arrived at the marina. After a double laundry session and drinks ashore in the
marina bar, Sylvie and Janet suddenly announced that they would produce dinner
on 'Catou' and within 1/2 hour had produced a wonderful pasta dinner for
6.
Tuesday was sightseeing day! We hired a car and
set off to visit Funchal, the island's lovely capital. We sped along
an amazing new highway through long tunnels and over high
bridges and deep green valleys along the south coast. I was last
in Madeira in 1977 and two days after arriving, an aircraft had crash
landed over the cliff top at the end of the runway in bad weather killing
all on board. Presumably, as a result of this and the fact that Madeira had one
of the world's top 10 'white knuckle' airports, the most extraordinary new
concrete platform has been built protruding out into the sea. It was huge.
Ah well, great to see where some more of our (we 'Europeans' I mean)
funding has gone to! Heavens only knows what the cost of this 'Via Rapide'
and the runway extension had cost. I shudder to think!
The Funchal market was a wonderful place. The fruit, veg
and flower stalls were full of colour, with locals and tourists
mingling. We tasted (and bought) some fruits that we'd never seen before - but
at 19.5 euros/Kilo, we only took one of each! (about the same price as fillet
steak!) We still had a tight schedule so drove to a small fishing village
west of Funchal called Lobos to eat in Churchill's restaurant. Winston
used to visit the village when on holiday. The main restaurant was closed,
but the logo on the sign outside was a silhouette of Winston sitting at his
easel ! Not sure he would have approved - or of the 'Pepsi Cola'
sign just above it. We lunched elsewhere and were getting a little complacent
when we realised that we had to get back on the road - with still lots to do and
see. We found the Botanical gardens and for 3 euros each we had a
couple of hours visiting these well-renowned and beautiful terraced
gardens. Every terrace looked out over all of Funchal and it's harbour a long
way below us. Sadly progress had affected the peace and tranquility of the
place, since the new 'Via Rapide' passes right underneath the gardens
and one of the viewing points built in 1882 overlooks the point where the
traffic comes hurtling out of a tunnel, over a huge bridge and back into another
tunnel. It is noisy - but very beautiful. Those early Botanists would turn
in their graves if they only knew what had happened to their
peaceful creation!
Sadly, after we left the gardens we were too
late to have tea at Reid's hotel since a major shopping expedition was needed
while the boys filled diesel cans and carried back to the boat (Marina had no
fuel!) - and later we had a very entertaining evening on board
'Maymio' where Robin BBQ'd some tuna that they had caught some days before.
Jenny had prepared a lovely meal. We turned in earlier than usual, since
we were up at 5.45 in the morning to sail
south...........
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