Day 5

Day 5 saw us getting ready by 6pm to take the taxi to  Funchal and catch the Porto Santo lime. Reliable Gilberto dropped us on time. The city of Funchal was lit up with Xmas and new year decorations and since the city rose up on a hill by the coast, we had a spectacular view from the board. But this was nothing compared to the brilliant illumination we were treated to , on our way back at 8.40 pm.

The first class ticket afforded us nice comfy seats and a buffet breakfast that was not a patch on the hotel breakfast of course, but was plenty sufficient nevertheless. The wifi on the ship did not work and it was quite windy and chilly on the deck, so we took hour long naps, explored the ship for the next hour ( all magazines and tele and cinema were in Portuguese with no subtitles), and then it was time to disembark. There was not much of a crowd so overall it was not a bad experience.

We had booked a snorkeling session with the mildly famous Maththias, as soon as we landed. He was on time for the pick up and he was wonderfully personable and chatty, especially with the young one. We went to a hilly terrain with a steep, golden sandy climb and drop to turquoise blue waters below. It was a natural lagoon which was calm compared to the slightly rough sea splashing on the rocks at its outer edge.

He got us all into two layers of snorkeling suits each as he was not sure how cold we might feel. The water was not very cold , so we wore our flippers, donned our snorkelling mask and went under. It was the young one’s first snorkeling experience and Maththias was the perfect coach. She loved holding his hand, following his instructions and exploring the magical underwater world.

We saw blue and black fish, a school of striped fishes, wonderful, swaying aquatic plants, shimmering star fishes and the high light - a delightfully playful octopus ( a rare sighting I believe ). In around 40 minutes, the young one felt cold and wanted to get out. She and I steed on to a sandy slice and changed out of our wet suits. K continued to explore and was rewarded with 2 huge red and black star fishes and an elegant dance and exit by the octopus. 

Though K and I had done snorkelling, deep sea walks and water scooters at Mauritius and hence the sea life we had seen was much more varied and colourful, the high light for us was this safe and gentle introduction to snorkelling for the young one with the right kind of instructor.

Maththias then chatted with us about how the octopuses, once they trust you are very mischievous, how a Murray eel will catch a finger and spin so fast that you would loose your finger and how he believes monk seals will return to poro santo once the octopus population, which is their prey is revived.

We climbed back up to the car, changed to dry clothes in hidden alcoves, took a picture with Maththias and drove back to a restaurant  in the area by the beach. On the way, Maththias also took us to a viewing point for a picture with a wonderful view of the whole island.

As he only accept d donations and had no fixed price as he introduced people to snorkelling as a passion, we paid him what we thought was a good price for a professional service as he was indeed extremely good.

He also spoke about his horse obelix which the young one was very keen to see. Unfortunately, while reversing in to the very narrow drive to drop the snorkelling gear off he scraped the car, which belonged to his friend. So, we thought best not to ask to see obelix as he was on the phone profusely apologising to his friend in Portuguese.

We had pizzas and the local breezed at a  simple restaurant and made our way to the beach. We walked along the beach from one end to another and while the young one and K wet their feet and three pebbles at the sea, I walked up and down with Sid sriram singing in my earphones, the wind tousling my hair and my feet sinking in the fine golden sand.

We walked back to the shuttle station and paid a Euro each for the 10 minute ride to the cruise ship. We relaxed, had a snack buffet and slept ..completely knackered from the day.

Gilberto was waiting to take us back to Calheta. We paused a minute to enjoy the magnificently lit up Funchal city view and then went to the hotel and slept.

I discovered the next morning that I had caught a cold.

In all, given that having chilly wind blowing in my ears is an absolute no-no for me, no matter how sunny the weather is..Porto santo in December is not a good idea.

K and the young one however had a great time and enjoyed the weather.