Day 5 at sea (part 1) - July 5

Once again I was soundly asleep when Mick called me at 0200 (BST). That was despite being awake only 30 minutes before.

The lights on Porto Santo were now  in view on our Starboard bow. The wind and our speed was as before.

The moon rose at 0335 or there abouts - a ghostly orenge apparition in our wake 

The main island of Madeira lay about 30 miles ahead of us at 0400.....

The dilemma to come, was, which port should we attempt to get into? All possible ones lie on the south coast...

There are four harbours with marinas and in normal times, all four operate as portsof entry. But of course these are not normal times. Before leaving Portamaio we had established that Madeira was open to fully vaccinated people with no requirement to test or quarantine but was that still the case? Additionally, were there special arrangements in place for visiting yachts? Would we have to go to a specific port?

Our preference, for what we expecto be a short stay of 2-3 days was Funchal but it's marina is notoriosly busy in normal times. It may be busier still, or very quiet, now. The biggest marina - Quinto do Lorde-  is to the east and seems the one most likely allow visitors but it's rather isolated. Calatra lies to the West of Funchal.

Tony and I visited both Funchal and Caltra in 2015 with 'Arctic Smoke'. The latter is pleasant enough but a bit souless. The entrance is narrow but straightforward. I'm inclined to try Funchal first and if no luck there go on to Caltra and hope we're not told to go back to Quinto do Lorde.

Once the sun got up we had splendid views (not done justice here) of Porto Santo...

and the Ilhas Desertas...

Madeira itself still shrouded in cloud...