Funchal (bay)

The bay of Funchal is the widest in the archipelago, bounded by Ponta do Garajau (‘tern point’) to the east and Ponta da Cruz (‘point of the cross’) to the west. It forms a fairly regular curve and inlet between those two headlands and is sheltered from winds from every quarter except the wind that blows from SSE to SSW by way of S. Its breadth makes it a vast anchorage, but communication with the land can be established with relative ease only at the most accessible points of the shore. These stretch from the Ilhéu da Pontinha (‘islet of the little point’) in the west to the vicinity of the Fort of São Tiago (St James the Greater) in the east, some two thousand metres apart. All the traffic and movement of the landing place takes place within these limits. It is bounded by a beach of rounded boulders, with deep water and free of reefs or shoals that might hinder access. High water, or the establishment of the port (time of high water at full and new moon), according to the geographical map of Madeira by General A. P. de Azevedo, is at 12 h 48 min, with a tidal rise of 2.28 m; the engineer Mariano F. Faria e Maia, however, states that the tidal range reaches 2.80 m. With regard to the harbour of Funchal (Porto do Funchal) and the tides of the Madeiran coast, the illustrious engineer Adolfo Loureiro says that little is known about the lunar influences on spring and neap tides, about their propagation, velocity and direction, about the height and force of the waves according to the direction of the wind, their thrust, duration, etc. The temperature of the waters and its distribution at the surface, and their periodic movements and conditions, which follow a law that seemed constant, ought to have become the subject of very interesting oceanographic studies, which unfortunately were never carried out.