Pôrto Santo near Madeira (Part 1)

Pôrto Santo harbour 

With BV safely anchored in Pôrto Santo, a very well protected harbour built by NATO, we could happily explore ashore. We could have stayed in the small marina but it was just €6.60 a night to anchor and we stayed for 5 nights for significantly less than it would have cost to spend just one night in the marina 100 metres away.

Pôrto Santo island is about 14 km long, 5 km wide and has several quite dramatic peaks reaching up to 517 metres (1696 ft) above sea level. Although there are some records showing that the Madeiran Islands were already known about, they were officially discovered in 1418 when some Portuguese ships were blown into the lee of Pôrto Santo by a storm. Pôrto Santo, ‘Holy Harbour’, was named because of the sailor’s belief of divine deliverance from the storm.

The beach starts by the port   

Today the island largely relies upon tourism for its economy with the main attractions being the mild climate and a long sandy beach stretching the length of the island; the only natural sand beach in the Madeiran archipelago. There is also a large golf course designed by Spanish golfing champion Seve Ballesteros.

The beach   

We took our dinghy ashore with our bikes and set off west towards Pôrto Santo town. The fabulous beach starts at the port and a very impressive new road runs alongside it for the whole length for the island. It was a cycling route with which we would become very familiar over the next few days.

Vila Baleira, Pôrto Santo’s main town   

For our first explore we stopped in the middle of the south coast at Vila Baleira, the main town on Pôrto Santo. Our priority was to restock the fridge and so we checked out the excellent Pingo Doce supermarket before walking further afield and grabbing some maps from the tourist information office.

Vila Baleira      

The island population is only about 5500 but looking from Vila Baleira the whole of the flatter area around the town is covered in 2 story houses with orange tiled roofs. Lots of these are holiday homes owned by Madeirans; Madeira has much cloudier weather (due to a higher central mountain) and no sandy beaches to speak of so hordes of Madeirans de-camp to Pôrto Santo for the weekend and holidays. The town itself has the same holiday centre feel with the odd larger official building scattered amongst the cafes and restaurants. Our first impressions were that it was surprisingly busy and that the supermarket was excellent. Having purchased more than sufficient supplies to keep us going, we returned to BV for dinner to plan a more detailed exploration of the island.

Pico Ana Ferreira – basaltic lava flow columns   

Our plan to explore the island was in 2 parts. The main part of the plan was to take the tourist bus from Vila Baleira and use that to get to the main sights. Before that, however, we planned to do a mad cycle ride to the more remote areas not covered by the tourist bus.

And so it was that we found ourselves cycling up the side of Pico Ana Ferreira, a 283 metre high peak 3km south west of Vila Baleira. Fortunately, we didn’t have to go to the summit to see the attraction, but the metalled road ran out at the golf course and so we did have to navigate some dirt tracks. Half way up the hill is a natural amphitheatre made up of basaltic lava flow hexagonal columns, very similar to those we’d seen at ‘the Giant’s Causeway’ in Northern Ireland.

Pico Ana Ferreira – basaltic lava flow columns   

We marvelled at the geological formations and enjoyed the view northeast across the central part of the island. Just before we left, we were joined by another group of tourists; they were being driven in a Land Rover; cheats, should have come by folding bike!

Road down around the back of Pico de Ana Ferreira (L)      

Our off-road, dirt track, biking adventure continued around the back of Pico de Ana Ferreira down a steep drop to a T junction where, back on proper road, we turned right to head up the next big hill. This one a mere 183 metres high but steep enough to merit a little walking, pushing our bikes.

Porto da Morena (L) and Zimbralinho bay   

Half way up, a Y junction led us off-road again and steeply downhill towards sea level. We stopped at clifftop level and clambered around to look down on the rock bays on the southwestern tip of the island. Porto da Morena and Zimbralinho bays are both dramatic, with deep blue coloured sea, steep cliffs and waves crashing onto the rocks.

View northeast from Miradouro dos Flores peak   

Back at the Y junction, we chanted “the only way is up” [Ed: by Yazz and the Plastic Population – we’re 80’s kids!] as we wheeled our bikes up to the summit of Miradouro dos Flores. From the 183m high peak we had a spectacular vantage point. To the northeast we could see the whole length of the island and the long sandy beach on its southern shore.

Ilhéu de Baixo   

To the south we could see the wild and rugged Ilhéu de Baixo…..

Ilhéu de Baixo (L), Ilhéu de Ferro (top R)   

Freewheeling back to sea level    

…..and to the west we could see past Porto da Morena and Zimbralinho bays and on to Ilhéu de Ferro. The fabulous views definitely merited the climb and, of course, the trip back down to sea level, freewheeling all the way, was great fun too.

Pôrto Santo town provided an excellent lunch stop where we tried Bolo de Caco. Just what was needed after a strenuous morning’s cycling, hearty steak and salad sandwiches made with very soft crumpet-like bread. Just add a beer and a 15 minute relax and we were ready for our bus sightseeing tour of the island.

Pôrto Santo, Madeira archipelago