Madeira Island Warnings Or Dangers

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It's said it may happen once in 100 years. When that happens it's absolute disaster: Rivers bursting the banks, landslides, rocks of basalt falling down. Flight delays. Planes doing "go arounds" when they are about to touch the runway. Flight cancellations. Ferry connections cut, etc.

On the 20th, February, 2010 a normal bad weather recipe, a weather front, but this time put together with very unusual proportions came to Madeira island causing massive flooding.
It hit mostly Funchal, a very crowded town that spreads out to precarious hills.
Funchal's streams run in man-made deep riverbeds. They were digged after the storms of 1803, the worst ever recorded floods in Madeira. But in 2010 the deep banks of the river beds were not only not deep enough to hold the massive rain, they also became blocked by stones of basalt draged from landslides at high areas. The rivers bursted to the sloping streets draging stones, cars and people. 42 people died.

Despite of being rare, heavy flooding it's a possibility.
Always check out the weather in Madeira. The seasons more likely to have storms are autumn and late winter. January is usually calmer and sunnier than the months around. July and August are usually sunny.

As far as I know Madeira island has only three sandy beaches. Of these two are man-made: in Calheta and a new one in Machico. The only natural sandy beach is really a tiny one between Caniçal and the São Lourenço easterly tip. It's called Prainha (little beach). Its sand is dark.

All the other beaches in Madeira are basalt ones. If you do not like sand, Madeira is perfect for you. Otherwise, there's always the sister island of Porto Santo with it's long sandy beach, only a ferry ride away.

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Tourism made famous two local cocktails: Nikita, a long drink based in cream, and Poncha,a strong short drink with alcohol and honey, both sweet.

Though some places claim "the best of..." it is possible to taste them almost everywhere now.

In Portugal we use to say that "one image speaks more than 1000 words". Having that in mind, and more than 1000 pictures to post, I decided to change my behaviour, posting the pictures as soon as they are ready, and adding the comments later.
Don't get mad on me - I'm glad to share my pictures with you, and the comments will be added soon.

There are relatively few things in the Madeiran countryside that could ruin your vacation, but don't let that make you too careless. The common European blood-sucking tick is also present in Madeira and while relatively few ticks carry the Lyme disease, you are still at risk if you get bitten.

If you go hiking especially outside the main hiking routes, carry a tick remover and check for any ticks when you return home. If you get a suspicious red ring on your skin afterwards, seek medical assistance immediately.

However, the tick is probably the most dangerous animal species on the island, and the risk is small so don't it put you off.

We had a terrifying experience in Madeira. WE hired a taxi to take us to an "easy" walk as we are only recreational walkers, and he left us at Boca de Risco on the cliff path to Porto da Cruz. We were not prepared for the narrow, cliff edge paths or the sheer drops. We had no mobile phone and got frightened with no one to help us. We managed to get to the end but it was extremely dangerous. We could not contact anyone and had no map. The hotel manager said we should never have been allowed to go there. We also had another terrifying experience in the nun's valley. It was raining and the taxi driver said he would drop us off for an easy walk & then pick us up in the valley below. It started off well and then after about 45 minutes we heard rumblings. Then we saw rocks falling. The sound got louder and we ran to try to get some shelter. The rocks landed on the path just a few feet away. Huge boulders!! We were both shaken and had bruises & cuts and a tourist behind us said he saw us and filmed the rocks coming down. We were very naive.

This is not a real danger, but in Madeira the tourist will seek for signs and sign posts pointing out sights (e.g. the Fort Pico) or the "levada"-paths in vain. There are hardly any signs, not even in Funchal. You are forced to ask locals at least ten times in order to find something. It is a pity, since Madeira is a tourist island as well.

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There are a few different Lavada walks which start from Ribeiro Frio. The one we took was in 2 parts. The first part, to the view point known as Miradouro dos Balcoes, is all we completed due to the forbidding look of the path ahead. We walked less than 100m along the ledge running round the cliff-side before thinking better of it! Maybe it was easy going the rest of the way, this we will never know. Just didn't want to fall 'off' the beaten track!