Madeira

---

Set sail for Madeira. Had a steady downwind run under spinnaker to Quinta de Lorde marina, on the easternmost point of the island. The harbour is part of an ambitious development with a church and town square surrounded by smart houses and apartments. Or at least this is the impression you get from the literature. The reality is a smart marina, backed by an empty building site. It appears that the money has temporarily run out! That said, it is a stunningly imaginative piece of design which will be magnificent when it’s finished!

We arrived to see a number of familiar boats, and as we moored up the staff brought us a bottle of bubbly from a Madeiran couple we met in Porto Santo. What an outstanding welcome!

We spent the next week exploring the island by bus and hire car, and getting some jobs done on the boat. The local town of Canical had it’s own claim to fame. This was where the film Moby Dick was filmed, with Gregory Peck. In fact whaling didn’t stop here until 1981. The south side of the island is steep and densely populated, with swooping winding roads high above the sea. The airport is perched here on high pillars, and when you drive past you feel you are on the same approach path as the aircraft! Inland the mountains are magnificently steep sided, while the windward north coast is wet and only sparsely populated. A network of canals built partly by slave labour feed the water from the rainy northern slopes to fertile south. Certainly an ideal place to come for a walking holiday.

---

Comments

[André Loja]

Moby Dick
Beeing from Madeira I was very surprised that I didn't know that such a memorable movie was shot in our island and in fact it didn't take much to dismistify that: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moby_Dick_%281956_film%29