We love Madeira! We arrived late Saturday night (September 16) and decided to anchor instead of trying to moor in the Marina in the dark.  It was pitch black and we safely dropped and secured the anchor before going to bed for an uninterrupted sleep!  At sunrise we were greeted by spectacular views of the island. Amazing beauty. 

We really felt really welcomed by the island, and could not believe our luck that we arrived during the Nossa Senhora Da Piedade festival in the Quinta Da Lorde Marina. According to legend, several hopeless fishermen promised to build a chapel in the first piece of land they could find in honor to our lady of piety (Nossa Senhora Da Piedade) if they were saved from the sea’s rage.They were saved and for many years, on the third weekend of September, the inhabitants of Caniçal have a maritime procession to bring the statue of Our Lady of Piety from it’s chapel at the top of the hill to the church in Canical and back and pray to be blessed for another year. They are joined by lots of visitors, the faithful and the curious and snacks, food and drinks bring everyone together. We were able to witness the boat parade (Lots of fishing vessel with hundreds of people onboard and small smaller boats), the procession of the statue being carried back to the chapel and we walked to the village to check out the festival and eat delicious street food: Bolo do Caco, a traditional local flatbread often served warm with garlic butter, Roast Chicken and Espetada,  Portuguese Beef Skewers. At the festival, you buy a skewer - a long rough cut wood stick - with raw cubed meat that you take to the lit BBQ pits on the beach. The meat is dipped in a salt/bay leaf rub prior to cooking. 

Sharing some chiken

You buy the skewer ....

and cook it on the fires on the beach...

The fishing boat parade

On subsequent days we also discovered why Madeira is a hiker’s paradise and went on a couple hikes - one rugged with views of the ocean and one near the top of the island in lush vegetation.

The island of Madeira was discovered  by the Portuguese in 1419 and settled starting in 1420. It is at the top of a massive shield volcano that rises about 6 km (20,000 ft) from the floor of the Atlantic Ocean. The volcano formed atop an east–west rift in the oceanic crust along the African Plate. Extensive erosion produced  two large amphitheaters open to the south in the central part of the island.   

Sea cliffs, valleys and ravines make the interior generally inaccessible. Daily life is concentrated in the many villages at the mouths of the ravines. An amazing number of tunnels connect the different parts of the island. The island is wet in the northwest, but dry in the southeast and in the 16th century the Portuguese started building levadas (aqueducts) to carry water to the agricultural regions in the south. Many are cut into the sides of mountains, and it was also necessary to dig 40 km (25 mi) of tunnels, some of which are still accessible.

Today the levadas continue to supply water to the southern parts of the island, as well as hydro-electric power. There are over 2,170 km (1,350 mi) of levadas along which you can find a network of walking paths. 

We went on a beautiful 6 km hike along one of the levadas yesterday. It  was a great recovery hike after our more strenuous hike the day before on the eastern part of the island. The Ponta de São Lourenço trail takes you to the most eastern part of the island, a rugged, almost desert-like stretch commonly referred to as “The Dragon’s Tail” of the island. That hike was very crowded but totally worth the effort. In hindsight we should have done it at sunrise.

Highlights from the Levadas walk

Highlights from the Ponta de São Lourenço trail

The other highlights for us were a very friendly marina - Quinta Do Lorde - with extremely helpful staff, a good cafe and lots of other cruisers. We enjoyed meeting Nilla and Anders on Yaghan, a Hallberg-Rassy 62 built in 2002 and hope to see them again along the way!

After a few days of sightseeing we are getting ready to depart for the Canaries and diving back into boat work and preparations.