SAILING AROUND THE WORLD WITH SPIRIT OF ARGO

Arquipelago da Madeira: Santo Porto – exploring the island on moped

Boring day for me.  The humans left me behind to explore the island.

They hired a moped, with a full tank of gas, for 30 euros for the day (24 hours).  And off they went, abandoning me, to go exploring.

They tell me a motor bike is the best way to see the island because:

*it is a small island with windy roads

*the roads are very steep (so forget cycling)

*there are lots of places to turn off the roads to catch the view

*there is very little other traffic on the roads

*when there is any traffic it is usually other moped riders

 

View of beach from the cliffs on the East side of the island

 

View over main town from East end of island

 

Their ‘trusty steed’

 

Mountain top wind mills

They could look down on the islands harbour and it’s tiny Marina.

Harbour with ferry to Madeira and a tiny Marina in the corner
There is me on the boat, left behind on anchor in the harbour

 

The North side of the island was much more ‘dramatic’ with steep cliffs that were a mixture of volcanic rock and sand stone, dropping ‘breath takenly’ into the sea.

 

Steep decent

 

Dramatic cliffs

 

Rocky islands off the North coast

 

Wind worn patterns in the sand stone cliffs of the North side of the island

 

They then drove over to the West end of the island where the cliffs decended down back into the South beach.

Conflicting winds and currents collided making a froth of waves between the mainland island on off lying rocks.

Cliffs decenting onto the beach on the West side of the island
Off lying rocks on the West end of the island

(I will add a video for you here later…when Speiburg is done)

 

They finished their little tour with a trip to the botanical gardens, in the centre of the island, and the mandatory drink at a beach side cafe.  All in all they said it was a picture postcard day.

 

 

They still have the bike until tomorrow afternoon, so they are going to get some groceries and run them back to the boat before returning it.

They are also going to visit Christopher Columbus’s house with the kids.

Watching movies on Spirit of Argo with Emily and James

 

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