Sat 7th October 2000  - at sea

I am now writing from a position approximately 50 miles ENE of Porto Santo (33deg31minN 15deg26minW) hoping to reach Porto Santo this evening after dark. It is the smaller populated island in the Madeira group (there are 3 other unpopulated islands the Islas Desertas) and is quite different in character from Madeira Grande. Porto Santo has the best beach in Madeira and so is a favorite holiday spot for Madeirans but apart from its “Columbus connection” it seems to be little known outside Portugal. Rejoined by Rauni back from Finland on Sunday night, and saying our farewells to Merel on Monday morning (she took the train to Lagos to rejoin “Wingbeat” the boat she will do the ARC on), We three (myself, Rauni and Robbie and of course “Ramprasad”) left Vila Real de San Antonio on Tuesday morning with full water and diesel tanks but with something slightly mischievous around the propellor which we picked up at the top of the Guadiana - This piece of rubbish/debris (I suspect) caused us slight loss of speed and increased paddlewheel effect motoring in the river and made our initial destination to be back inside the Faro channel where I could be confident of a successful diving inspection.  --  However given a contrary breeze on Tueday afternoon we made the decision to break away from the European continent and sail on to the first of the Atlantic islands approximately 480 miles away - which on this boat can easily be expected to be a 5 day trip. On Wednesday we came out of the protection of Cape St Vincent and had an uncomfortable Nwley swell for a bit but by Thursday we were making very good progress in the NW 4-5 wind of around 140 miles per day but now this rate of progress has slowed and we are averaging 4.5 - 5 knots running goose winged with genoa poled out, looking forward to our landfall. As with my last transatlantic trip internet access for sending these missives has been patchy. On my last visit to these islands, the harbour office in Porto Santo were helpful but did not provide internet access but there was a cybercafe of sorts in Funchal (which was closed because it was Saturday afternoon!) J and so as previously I do not know when I shall be able to send this. For those with short wave radios I have been checking in with the UK Maritime Mobile Net at 1800 GMT on 14303 kHz (until the end of October I believe) and rather less often with the Euro Cruisers Net at 1700 GMT on 8104 kHz.

The remains of the rubble bag that had been around the prop

   Rauni after a swim

12th Oct 2000 Funchal, Madeira.

We had an interesting trip here from PortoSanto where we had anchored outside the harbour to avoid having to pay the anchoring fee which had been imposed upon me ( - in the nicest possible way) when I was there 2 years ago. The wind had blown hard down from the hills ( - as before) and it seemed to blow harder inside the harbour than outside. We managed to take illicit showers on Sunday evening - no key available from the harbour authorities on a Sunday ! - and did a bit of shopping on Monday. We couldn’t visit the Columbus museum - you see it was Monday and of course museums are closed in Portugal on Mondays - from my previous recollection the really remarkable thing was that since there were no portraits done of Columbus during his lifetime, but several of him from about 100 years after his death, copies of which hang in that museum, remarkable that the artists responsible could not agree in any way about what he looked like ! These days it’s so easy to record someone’s looks with a camera !

At anchor outside the harbour in Porto Santo

  Writing post-cards in the town square

Tuesday and it felt like it was time to move on. Despite starting at a leisurely hour we made good progress and completed the 1st 25 miles to the Eastern end of Madeira (Sao Lourenco) by 2pm. The NE ley breeze continued and seemed to increase in the lee of the island until we got past the airport (- with runway extended over the sea on stilts !) and then dropped to nothing under the high headland just East of Funchal (complete with Jesus statue with arms outstretched). 

The red cliffs of Madeira  -  just East of Funchal

View of Funchal from the anchorage  -  Note the rain-bearing cloud in the hills

We have now been anchored here in Funchal for 2 nights just outside the marina in relative calm (- compared with Porto Santo) with no problems despite a reputation for poor holding. Just now we dinghied into the marina - Robbie has gone for an afternoon´s sports fishing as an observer (cheaper that way) (PS Nobody caught anything but Robbie enjoyed himself and learned a lot) and Rauni and I have met the crew of a Finnish boat during which time I checked in with the Guarda Fiscal ( - nice chap). It´s certainly much cheaper to be anchored outside the marina ! apparently ~5000 Escudos per night ..... Good market here good fruit but sometimes expensive, but free sampling available of fruit like custard apple, cheese-plant fruit, 3 sorts of passion fruit (- banana, grapefruit & orange), 2 sorts of mangos, prickly pear, pomegranates etc. (PS Sweetcorn bought from the market proved to be very startchy & unsweet - 2 varieties which perhaps were more suitable as cattle/pig food !)

A description of the Cyber café here should be added to “Email around the North Atlantic” - see "Email" page. It is situated in the ground floor of the Escola Professional Christovao Colon (- something like a Technical College I guess and not far from Funchal marina) and there are some 6 computers with metal chairs raised on a low platform at one side of the corridor like bar-room, the other side being occupied by the bar itself, a few tables & chairs and the television. I have now been in there a few times and mostly when the bar is quite busy but I have always been able to sit down straight away at a computer and get access to the Internet. Before my first attempt I tried in vain to attract the attention of the bar-staff to gain permission to start on the computer, I timed myself as usual, but on observing other computer users, came to the conclusion that no payment was necessary, the facility presumably being provided by the school for the benefit of its students and anyone else that walked in. (This is not unknown elsewhere in Portugal - we had free internet access at the town hall in Aveiro and at a bar in Cascais marina). On the second occasion Rauni and Robbie were also having a bit of an email session and after having had my fill of the computer (despite the very loud support of the other customers to the football game on the TV behind me ! ) I got a couple of beers from the bar and considered that at least the bar was benefiting from my patronage. On the third occasion however Rauni had just sat down and then was informed that the cost was 600 Escudos per hour (about £2). Rauni quickly stopped her session, - as it happened she did not have 600 Escudos, but since I had not been so informed I carried on for a few more minutes but was never asked to pay ! I come to the conclusion that perhaps some people pay but that probably most people do not, but that in any case the Cybercafe management do not make any great effort to collect payment. There are for example no signs posted indicating that any payment may be required.

The Columbus connection seems to be a little overused here. These islands were discovered (perhaps rediscovered) by Zarco, a Portuguese, in about 1419, around 20 years before Columbus was born. However Zarco did find one young man at Machico on Madeira who had been the page-boy to the English sea-captain Machin and his mistress, all three of whom had been abandoned there by his treacherous crew some years before. The crew and ship presumably came to grief (or perhaps nobody would believe the survivors) and so the islands became thoroughly Portuguese. Some say that the Phoenicians (pre-Roman navigators) knew of these islands but I believe that no record has ever been found of them here. Columbus did however marry the daughter of the Governor of Porto Santo and spent his honeymoon there and so almost certainly came to Madeira Grande and must have been highly impressed with the achievements of the Portuguese navigators of that day. This I think was while he was trying to get the king of Portugal (perhaps Henry the Navigator) to fund an expedition to find the New World, but he subsequently gave up with Henry and thereafter focused his fundraising efforts towards the king of Spain, which eventually proved successful, for as every pupil of my generation knows …

In 1492, Columbus sailed the Ocean Blue, ….

And discovered, well not exactly America, but the Bahamas, Cuba, Hispaniola and a few other islands, but he did contribute largely to the starting off a great age of discovery in the New World ( Oh Yes, and quite a bit of slaughter, pillaging, raping and most importantly gold-grabbing) which had enormous effects on the development of Europe at that time and the next few hundred years ….

Anyway we shall probably leave here tomorrow Sat 14th Oct for the Canaries, probably aiming for Graciosa off the Northern end of Lanzarote, so who knows when I shall get a chance to send this, since efforts on my last visit to Arrecife in Lanzarote to find some Internet service place proved entirely unsuccessful.

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