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Mooning honeys in a Mad era |
MADEIRA TRIP - Last week in August '09
No windsurfing again! Apologies for that, but this was my first honeymoon and windsurfing was banned! plenty of surf and cute creatures though..
Sick!
How's this for starters! Well, I'm now married and nothing has changed. First day of the honeymoon...
This was on a 3ft (swell not wave) at 16secs forecast, possibly the best forecast for the week, but I'm sure glad I bought the board with me! Sweet waves and only one other out!!
So let's talk about the surf in Maderia first. Maderia is basically a huge rock sticking out the sea, about 1hr wide and 30 minutes top to bottom by car. There's 18 known spots and ALL of them are pretty tricky to surf.
In a nutshell, here's the bad news..
5 of the spots are very rarely surfed due to being difficult to access.
4 have been severely compromised by sea walls or swimming pools (which is heartbreaking.. truly)
2 are highly dangerous (which around here means don't even think about it!)
3 are just not that good wave wise.
And the good news..
The remaining spots are all pretty much sick!
There's no kooks! by that I mean everyone is super friendly and courteous and knows how to take their turn -very refreshing.
I'm really not sure I should be writing this, I'd hate the place to change, but I think the gnarlyness will always keep the numbers down. These pics were all taken with surf in the 2-4ft barely breaking range, I'm not sure I'd fly over on a big forecast!!
Areia.
The lack of surfers is largely due to how sketchy all the spots are for beginners. Above is Areia on the North coast, the easiest spot on the Island. I gave this spot a miss as there were about 8 people out, but it still looks like it packs a punch.
This is the view down to Paul do Mar where I did all my surfing, with Jardim do Mar in the distance.
Paul bottom right, Ponta Pequena middle and Jardim in the background again.
A wave at Jardim do Mar. Once proclaimed as the worlds greatest big wave point break by Surfer Magazine.
Too small and shallow to ride this day though.
It's also now been severely fudged by the building of the sea defence and has never been the same. It still works on big swells for a few hours around low tide, but is for experts only with a very tricky entry and exit.
Paul do Mar is the most consistent spot on the Island. Usually offshore and ride able through the tide, but pretty nasty boulders to avoid when getting pitched over the falls, duck diving or getting in and out. Dropping in on a big one takes quite a bit of balls, the crystal clear water means the boulders look 1ft under the water and dredging fast!! (probably nearer 6ft deep though)
I lost a fin on the paddle out and had the odd good old duck dive nuckle scrape until I learnt not to duck dive too efficiently!!
The odd rogue set isn't unusual either. 3ft!! that's the biggest 'dark blue bar on seaweed' 3 foot wave I've ever seen, let alone 'light blue bar on seaweed'! some were more like double overhead.
I pretty much surfed this with one local dude (above) who couldn't speak much English, but always smiling.
The other locals were also super friendly.....
Coy at the Monty Gardens
Millions of lizards everywhere!
worse than Izzy this one!
Swans at Monty.
And the sea creatures were pretty friendly too. We definitely scored on our boat trip from Funchal..
And a whale...
Madeira is really pretty. The old coast roads are great for Miradors.
But you can now get around super fast these days due to the huge network of tunnels. 3hrs is now 40 minutes..
North coast..
Contreiras. A lefthander, but too small for a good surf every time I drove past.
Ribeira da Janela (another break) in the background.
Ponta do Moniz. Sea pools for swimming in and a remote break round the corner.
They say Madeira is for Honeymooners and old crooners...
The nightlife is non existent but they find other ways to get their kicks..
Silver surfers.
Some great walking on Madeira too, this is the most Eastern peninsuler..
Rock falls can be a danger..
There's not a huge amount to do otherwise. But we spent best part of a day at Monty Gardens, well worth the 10Euro entry..
Finally, back to the surfing and Paul do Mar..
Tudie gets carried away with the zoom.
One day I'll get a decent tube on film..
This was the last day. The forecast was for 4ft (swell again, not actual wave!) at 12 seconds which seemed to bring everyone out the wood work despite being a week day. Still a good vibe on the water though and plenty of waves.
As if to give me one final reminder of how powerful and sketchy the spots are here, I got caught whilst getting out the water... just started to scramble over the first few boulders, when a set came and washed me 10ft further up the reef, giving me a right good wack on the way and a deadleg I'm still nursing now 4 days later!
It did mean I got to speak to another friendly local though about the joys of sea defences and boulder reefs when he asked if I was ok.
LOVED THIS PLACE.
Then we were on our way home..
HM number 1 done and dusted, number 2 is Bali!!!! whoop whooop. O'shea gun purchased!!
ps. I'm banned from windsurfing on the HM's, it's not just me giving up and turning to surfing in my old age..
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