Woke up and went ashore to the marina with Daniel (Luna) to check in officially. Mathias a guy that Daniel first met in Vigo Spain had also arrived and was moored in the marina.
Maetias is Swedish and had built his own boat (Carma) completely from scratch. This boat has to be seen to be believed!
Maetias is Swedish and had built his own boat (Carma) completely from scratch. This boat has to be seen to be believed!
At 19ft long it looks like a miniature submarine with a tiny mast. Inside is pretty basic and the thing is 'unsinkable' even when full of water. Lastly, there is no engine but he does have an oar! Due to delays in the build, Maetias had trailer'ed the boat to Vigo to avoid the North Sea and Biscay out of season and sailed from Vigo to Porto Santo over the last 11 days - the maiden voyage! Like the rest of us Maetias is also heading for the Caribbean via the Canaries.
We all went into town where I also met Willem (last seen in Cascais) who was also in the marina. The four of us took the open top bus tourist bus trip around the island.
We all went into town where I also met Willem (last seen in Cascais) who was also in the marina. The four of us took the open top bus tourist bus trip around the island.
To be honest there's not much to report on, it's a tiny island with a few nice beaches. After the tour we got some shopping and arranged to meet on the beach for a bbq.
Monday 20th October
Despite the approaching bad weather, we all (except Willem) decided to stayan extra day in Porto Santo. I decided to spend the day on the boatsnorkelling and practicing my 'free diving'. After several attempts andspending longer and longer under water I decided I was going to 'touchbottom' in the 7m of water in which I was anchored 'if it killed me'.
When looking down at the bottom from the surface it doesn't look too faraway. I was finding it hard work to get down due to the buoyancy of myshortie wetsuit and also had to abort several attempts due not being able toequalise my ears properly. I slowly got used to the pressures and was goingdeeper and deeper. When I finally did reach the bottom I turned to look upand start my ascent and scared the crap out of myself! The surface lookedmiles away with Doris silhouetted against the sky a long long way away.Kicking like mad I made the surface gagging to take a breath. I repeated theexercise over and over until I was relaxed being so deep and found thatthere was reason to rush back to the surface. In fact, it's quite addictivewith the water being so clear and deep blue it's amazing down there and youhave to remind yourself to come back up in good time! I really need to buy aweight belt as I use most of my air in simply working to get down there andstay there. My new target is to get down to 10m depth which I will work onslowly over the next few months, mainly because I want to know that I canreach my anchor if required.
Due to the bottom being clean sand there were only a handful of tiny fishand starfish around so no point in unleashing the speargun ('the bitch').All in all, I went in the water for two sessions and was pretty tired by theevening. I made a few preparations for tomorrows sail to Madeira beforegoing to bed.
Monday 20th October
Despite the approaching bad weather, we all (except Willem) decided to stayan extra day in Porto Santo. I decided to spend the day on the boatsnorkelling and practicing my 'free diving'. After several attempts andspending longer and longer under water I decided I was going to 'touchbottom' in the 7m of water in which I was anchored 'if it killed me'.
When looking down at the bottom from the surface it doesn't look too faraway. I was finding it hard work to get down due to the buoyancy of myshortie wetsuit and also had to abort several attempts due not being able toequalise my ears properly. I slowly got used to the pressures and was goingdeeper and deeper. When I finally did reach the bottom I turned to look upand start my ascent and scared the crap out of myself! The surface lookedmiles away with Doris silhouetted against the sky a long long way away.Kicking like mad I made the surface gagging to take a breath. I repeated theexercise over and over until I was relaxed being so deep and found thatthere was reason to rush back to the surface. In fact, it's quite addictivewith the water being so clear and deep blue it's amazing down there and youhave to remind yourself to come back up in good time! I really need to buy aweight belt as I use most of my air in simply working to get down there andstay there. My new target is to get down to 10m depth which I will work onslowly over the next few months, mainly because I want to know that I canreach my anchor if required.
Due to the bottom being clean sand there were only a handful of tiny fishand starfish around so no point in unleashing the speargun ('the bitch').All in all, I went in the water for two sessions and was pretty tired by theevening. I made a few preparations for tomorrows sail to Madeira beforegoing to bed.
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