Sailing to the Ilhas Desertas

Madeira is in fact an island in an archipelago (oh how I've longed to use that word!) - the whole group consists of Madeira (the largest), Porto Santo, The Ilhas Desertas (3 islands Ilhéu Chão, Deserta Grande and Bugio) and the Selvagen Islands (and indeed in some articles I've read, the Canary Islands are also included).

Porto Santo has a large airport and a daily ferry to and from Madeira whilst the Selvagens are deserted and two days sailing south.

The Desertas Islands are in prominent visibility from the South of Madeira and are just 2 or 3 hours away (depending upon the speed of your boat!).

We took a day excursion on the Ventura do Mar a converted fishing boat. We left Funchal at 9 am and headed South East towards the Ilhas Desertas (as you see I can speak Portuguese!).

Around noon we arrived and tied up in a small bay on Deserta Grande - the largest of the three islands. The area is designated as a nature reserve and fishing and diving are strictly regulated.

Four wardens live on the island (see the little hut in the photo below) and act as protectors for the area.

The trip was terrific - lunch once we'd anchored was tuna, fresh bread, salad, baked potato and a very passable red wine, then we were taken ashore via a small inflatable dinghy for a "very" short tour of the island.

"Tour" probably inflates the experience - it's actually a footpath with some information boards, around 1/4 mile in total but still you do get to see the odd inhabitant.

In fact the Desertas also host an endemic Tarantula, but we didn't see that!






There was an opportunity to buy the T-Shirt, the brochure AND the DVD but we passed on that and then it was back onto the Ventura do Mar and sails set, back to Madeira, getting back to Funchal as night fell around 6:30 pm