Day 5 Madeira

The Madeiran archipelago lies in the Atlantic Ocean, west of Morocco and north of the Canary Islands, some 600 miles south west of Lisbon.  The largest of this Portuguese archipelago, is the Ilha de Madeira (Island of Timber), famous for flowers and wine.  It is approx twice the size of the Isle of Wight and has a population of about 280,000.  The only other inhabited island is the tiny Porto Santo. (Info courtesy of P&O Guide to Madeira)

We woke up around 7.00am to see land for the first time since Friday evening, but it was a further one and a half hours before we were safely tied up alongside in Funchal as there was only one pilot on duty and we had to wait whilst he parked another ship.  The weather was grey, miserable and the forecast was for showers, which turned out to be very accurate!

After an early breakfast we decided to walk into town and visit the indoor market, which sells all sorts of things, but predominantly flowers, fruit, veg and fish.  An interesting place; full of vibrant colours and different smells.   From the market we strolled back to the waterfront and took a ride on the cable car, taking us up the side of the mountain overlooking Funchal.  Unfortunately, by the time we reached to top, we were in the clouds and when we got out it was pouring with rain, with visibility to the port area next to non-existent.  In anticipation of some bad weather we had taken our macs, so on they went and we walked round to where the nutcases whizz down the hill in wicker baskets.  Unfortunately it was raining quite hard by this time and the drivers were all sheltering from the it, so we never got to see them in action.  Bunch of sissy fair weather drivers!  From there we went into one of the many churches, mainly to seek shelter rather than forgiveness.

The rain was pretty steady, so we decided to invest another 5 Euros and take the gondola back down to the town.  By the time we reached the bottom, the rain had stopped, so we walked through the centre of town before heading back to the ship, dodging the intermittent showers.

After a late lunch on board, the sun came out, so up to the sundeck for a quick hour of reading al fresco.  Then the showers returned, so we retired to the cabin for a late afternoon nap, before watching the quayside disappear at 6.30 pm.

The clocks go back an hour tonight and every night until we reach Tortola.  That means an extra hour in bed every day!

At 6.35pm we have deg 20C, although during the day it has been 23!  We have covered some 1343nm since leaving Southampton and have 2716 nm to go before arriving in Road Town, Tortola. The wind is a steady 16 knots as we pull away from Madeira, let’s hope it doesn’t get any stronger, otherwise it may be an interesting 5 days at sea!!

Dinner was fabulous again tonight, all 5 courses, including bread & butter pudding to die for.  The couple from Eastbourne have not appeared for dinner for the past three nights, so we’re not sure if we’ve offended them or they’ve fallen overboard.  Either way, we’re unlikely to see them again, so it’s just the four of us.  Just as on our previous cruise, the Welsh couple are good fun, which makes dinner time that much more enjoyable. 

After dinner we all went to the Tamarind Room to enjoy a new singer on board belt his way through an eclectic mix of songs.  But now it’s time for an extra hours sleep.