The Portuguese islands of Madeira and Porto Santo are popular with European divers, but almost unknown to North Americans. Caradonna is now working with Portugal Dive to introduce these destinations to our market. Here are my impressions from an introductory trip to the islands.
Getting there involved a transcontinental flight to Lisbon and a connecting flight from the mainland to Madeira, which takes about two hours. Had this been a vacation rather than a research trip, I would have included a few days layover in Lisbon, as Portugal is a trending destination that's well worth experiencing.
Madeira is an absolutely lovely island, with tall coastal cliffs, hidden coves, flower gardens, colorful villages and rainforests set on misty mountain tops. It's called “the island of eternal spring” for its year-round mild and sunny weather. It's an ideal destination for a diver/non-diver vacation, as there's a lot to do topside.
I was hosted at the Dreams Madeira Resort Spa & Marina on the island's east coast. Time limitations didn't allow me to dive with the onsite dive center, as I was scheduled for excursions with the Cipreia Dive Club, which is located about 20 miles away at the Vida Mar Hotel in the town of Funchal. Dive Portugal works with several hotels and dive operators in the Funchal area and can design a mix-and-match schedule to fit each customer's preferences.
Ciprea uses fast Zodiac-style dive launches, putting many sites within five to ten minutes of the dive center. To facilitate entry and exits from the pier, the crew handles all the gear. Other dive centers on the island operate larger dive boats with sheltered bench seating and offer half-day two-tank dive schedules.
I visited Madeira in the spring when water temperatures were still in the high 60s, and I appreciated the supplied 7mm wetsuit. The locals told me that the water temps move into the high seventies from June to September, and that's when I'd recommend planning a dive trip.
I came to Madeira with modest expectations, and to be honest, the diving far exceeded those expectations. The underwater landscapes hint at the island's volcanic past, with rock reefs rising from sandy plains. There are lots of schooling fish, larger groupers, barracudas, moray eels, turtles and up to five species of rays (manta, eagle, butterfly, electric and stingray). Monk seals and dolphins are 'sometimes' sightings. Because the underwater ecosystem is a mixing zone between temperate and cooler waters, the species count includes familiar warm-water species such as jacks, cardinal fish, parrotfish, blennies, frogfish and wrasses, along with North Atlantic staples such as bream, bluefish and cod.
A number of the island's most popular dive sites are located within the Garajau National Park, which is a five-mile boat ride along the coast from dive shops in Funchal. The island's signature wreck dive, the Corveta Afonso Cerqueira is located close to shore, three miles west of the city in the Cabo Girão Marine Park. This 280-foot decommissioned Portuguese naval vessel was sunk in 2018, and now sits upright at a depth of 90 feet, with the superstructure rising to 40 foot depths.
The second stop on my dive tour was the island of Porto Santo. This second and smaller member of the Madeira archipelago can be reached via an island-hopping flight, but I chose an inter-island ferry, which takes about 2.5 hours. It was a comfortable trip across calm waters, and the boat is more like small cruise ship than a car carrier, featuring an onboard restaurant and a movie theatre.
The underwater landscapes of Porto Santo are similar to Madeira, but with even better water clarity. There are two wrecks to explore, the 280-foot Corveta Pereira D’Eca, which is a sistership to the Madeira wreck, and the Madierense, which is an island freight boat put down as an artificial reef in 75 feet of water. Both ships now shelter an intriguing assortment of marine life, including some large resident groupers.
In addition to diving, I would recommend devoting at least one or two days to land activities on Madeira and Porto Santo. There are historic areas to explore, local markets to browse and tempting seafood menus to sample. Driving tours take in the island's higher altitude cloud forests, while a signature activity unique to the island are the hikes on pathways that follow Madeira's network of mountainside aqueducts and canals known as levadas.
Caradonna is working with Dive Portugal to offer bespoke dive adventures in Madeira, the Azores Islands and mainland Portugal. You can find out more by speaking with one of our experienced agents, who can handle all the details of travel.