32:44.5N 16:42.7W Porto Santo to Madeira

Gaudeo
John and Prue Quayle / John Quayle
Sun 16 Sep 2007 06:02
14 -15th September: Motored 45M to Madeira anchoring first in a secluded bay (Baia de Abra) just inside the eastern end of the island for a swim, then onto an excellent, newish marina at Quinta do Lorde, 15M east of the capital, Funchal which has a rather crowded and less appealing harbour. 
 
The celebratory meal ashore soon got out of hand with endless debate and trial as to the relative merits of malmsey over sercial as an aperitif. Memorable (as far as can be remembered) though the evening was, it was a struggle for the crew to keep a 9.30am taxi appointment next morning for a tour around the 33M long island.
 
A stop at Cabo Girao, a 580m promontory- one of the world`s highest sea cliffs - gave terrific views of the coastal plain showing extensive terraced plantations and complex irrigation channels. It also overlooked Camara do Lobos, a popular haunt and inspiration of many paintings by Winston Churchill in the 1950s. 
 
The crew, afflicted with a little vertigo at this stage, curiously accepted the taxi driver`s advice to sample a local speciality of "puncho" - a sickly concoction of distilled sugar cane, lemons, oranges, and honey which is taken with peanuts, the shells of which are ostentatiously left on the floor.This ritual received a mixed reception from the crew. We then continued upwards to the stunningly beautiful Boca da Ecumeada, around 1600m, traversing several changes in climate and vegetation.
 
Immense energy has been expended creating terraces and plantations on the steep slopes of Madeira, and it is hard to believe that it is only 700 years since the uninhabited forested island was discovered. Many of the terraces have been abandoned with the change to tourism. Even more remarkable is the disproportion of an extensive modern infrastructure for a resident island population of only 450,000 - for example: a  long modern motorway around vertiginous sloops requiring several miles of tunnels, and a modern airport constructed on stilts over land reclaimed from the sea. We wondered how much of our taxes had been diverted to fund such extravagance. Whilst the hills are indeed pretty and walking holidays likely to be enjoyable, the absence of beaches made it difficult for us to understand why Madeira remains a popular resort.      

JPEG image

JPEG image

JPEG image

JPEG image

JPEG image

JPEG image

JPEG image

JPEG image