Mini break in Porto Santo
A year afloat: to the Caribbean and back
Sam and Alex Fortescue
Sun 31 Oct 2010 18:28
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Well, apparently we've now 'done' Porto Santo, the
island we crossed the seas for five days to see. We took a two hour bus trip in
a curious open topped affair that drove us to the four key sights.
It's actually staggeringly beautiful here. The 7km
beach is renowned for its health-giving attributes, but there's very little
development away from the island's capital. The water is turquoise, but very
clear to great depths and there are very few rocks on the south
coast.
The interior is dimpled with extinct volcanos and
freckled with cactus producing aloe vera and fruit. Despite our visit to the not
very impressive Fonte de Areia - not a fountain or spring at all, just a tap in
a wall, there's something rather striking and wild about the place.
It being my birthday today, my thoughts naturally
turn to family, whom I'm sad not to be seeing, but delighted to have spoken to
on the phone. It makes me realise that barely a birthday has passed when we
haven't had a family shindig in Dorset. Probably that's the hardest thing about
our year out. There seems to be a generally held view among sailors that you can
take a year of cruising and reintegrate back into your previous life; more than
that, though, and you become a vagrant. As Alex keeps reminding me, we WILL
return to the UK after about a year (Panama is a banned word
onboard).
Also strange is the fact the rain isn't lashing and
the wind isn't howling - normal fare for October in England. In fact, at 25
degrees, the water here is warmer than the air and we had a magnificent bathe
earlier.
Off shortly to a resto for a 'blow out' supper.
We're being picked up in the marina (and hopefully driven back, but no
guarantees). It specialises in seafood, which will no doubt include some of the
wicked looking beasts below. I'm thrilled to have broken my cephalopod fast last
night with a trio of grilled octopus tentacles, and may partake of a squid or
two tonight...
Beach at Porto Santo
 A rare picture of the skipper (sporting Big
Hair)
 The sea is 25 degrees here - warmer than the
air
 "Scabbard fish" is the local
speciality
 Elsewhere on the fish counter
 The greeting that awaits sailors who arrive on the
wrong side of the island...
 View from the summit of the Pico do
Castelo
 Our steed for the trip
 The somewhat desolate marina
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