Sunday 6th May
Belonging to Portugal, Funchal, capital of Madeira, has an abundance of natural delights with a picturesque backdrop of imposing mountains and deep valleys. The island is famed for its scenic splendours, stunning cliff top waterfalls, verdant pine forests, and of course the famed Madeira wine.
Just arriving in Funchal this morning as the alarm woke us.
Today’s trip for me is a ride on a RIB to view the whales and dolphins. Last chance to make up for the lack of wildlife on the rest of the trip! Short ride in a mini-bus to get to the marina to board our RIB. Soon away to meet our first pod of dolphins only just outside the harbour. A large pod of Bottle-nosed Dolphins, they were quite happy to ignore us and just swim around.
The agreed rules don’t allow boats to stay too long with one group so we were soon off to our next sighting. This was a scattered group of Common Dolphins, a much smaller species, only about 1.2 metre instead of the 3 metre bottle-nosed. These are a much more playful and inquisitive species, choosing to swim to pass close to and under our boat.
All too soon time to move on, a short stop to view a small loggerhead turtle
and then on to another pod of Bottle-nosed Dolphins on the way back to the harbour. No whales today, not really the right time of year.
Time for a coffee before catching the shuttle bus into town. A local flower market and festival on today, Mothers Day here, lots of stalls and displays. Time for a Gelato and to walk around the parks and gardens to enjoy the spring flowers, particularly the Jacaranda Trees, a great favourite of ours.
Back to the ship, and time to make a start on the packing, first case packed, our most hated task but small doses of pain makes it easier.
Sailaway in the late afternoon, spotted a few dolphins as we left, none very close to the ship.
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