SV Kiviuq

We were a little sad to leave Porto Santo. The marina, which is in a corner of a large harbour that was built by NATO some years ago, leaves a lot to be desired.The management was taken out of private hands and transferred to local government towards the end of 2015. And in Porto Santo, as with everywhere else that I have experienced, public ownership rarely leads to improvement. The staff now take a two-hour lunch break, and there is no-one taking charge before 0900hrs and after about 1730hrs, and pretty much most of the time in between. The result is that the crews of boats in the marina have effectively taken over assisting arriving boats with berthing and helping those leaving to get away in good order. The result of this though is the sense of camaraderie that prevails in the marina and friendships are made irrespective of nationality, background or means. It was leaving this that gave us a slight pang as we cleared the harbour entrance bound for Madeira on the 17th August.

The small volcanic island of Porto Santo at this time of year is largely devoid of vegetation, although there is some pine forestation towards the tops of the few peaks, as Marilou discovered on a couple of expeditions. The sun is fierce during the day, and much of the time we were there the UV index was off the top of the scale. The marina is dusty as a result of its surrounds and the sometimes strong gusts created in the prevailing north easterly airflow by the topography of the higher ground to the north. Indeed on more than one night the marina experienced gusts of 35-40 knots. Add to this the fact that the marina has very few finger pontoons suitable for boats over about 35 feet LOA and one might well ask why anyone would go there. Well, the people are really nice. The splendid five mile long sandy beach on the south side of the island, at the eastern end of which the harbour is situated, is quite an attraction and the only sandy beach in the inhabited Madeiras worth the name. The main town of Vila Baleira, less than a mile walk along the beach from the marina, is small but charming and very tidy. And it has history. Christopher Columbus married the daughter of the Governor of Porto Santo and lived in Vila Baleira for several years. The house where he lived is well-preserved, as is much of the old town.

So Porto Santo has its attractions, and after taking care of the short finger pontoon problem by deploying a kedge anchor off the windward quarter, we enjoyed it.