Madeira (hydrographic features: bays, coves, landing places and beaches) 1Bays, coves and ports
Madeira (hydrographic features: bays, coves, landing places and beaches)
Original title: Madeira (Aspectos Hidrográficos: Baias, Enseadas, Portos e Praias da)
Survey of Madeira's coastline features: the two bays (Funchal and Porto Santo), the small coves, the landing places graded as good, fair or poor, and the island's mostly pebble beaches. It serves as an index pointing to the individual entries on each port and beach.
1Bays, coves and ports
As we have already stated on page 116 of this volume, it is not easy to draw a strict distinction in meaning between the terms ‘bay’ (baía) and ‘cove’ (enseada). When referring to the inlets found along the coastline, we therefore class as ‘bays’ only those of Funchal (p. 66 of this volume) and Porto Santo (see that entry).
The small coves of Madeira are the following: Abra, Machico, Garajau, Câmara de Lobos, Lugar de Baixo, Santa Cruz, Reis Magos and Porto Moniz (see those entries).
According to an official report, the landing places (portos) of Madeira were until recently graded as follows. Those of Funchal (see Funchal (bay) and the harbour of Funchal) and of the south of the island of Porto Santo (see that entry) were considered good. Those of Abra, Machico, Santa Cruz, Câmara de Lobos, Ribeira Brava, Ponta do Sol, Porto Moniz and Porto da Cruz were deemed fair. Those of Caniçal, Porto Novo, Reis Magos, Oliveira, Campanário, Lugar de Baixo, Madalena do Mar, Anjos, Fajã do Mar, Calheta, Jardim do Mar, Paul do Mar, Pesqueiro, Seixal, Fajã da Areia, Ponta Delgada, Boaventura, São Jorge and Faial were considered poor. The landing places of the parishes of Porto Moniz and Porto da Cruz are regarded as good when the winds blow from the southern quarter, for at such times no traffic at all is possible along the whole southern coast of Madeira, although this happens only a few times each year. Over the last thirty years, conditions at the landing places of these localities have improved considerably, thanks to the building of small quays and landing stages and to the extension and repair of those already in existence (see each of the entries named above).
Of considerable interest on this subject is the article Maritime Distances, on page 367 of vol. I, which gives a table of the number of miles separating the various landing places of Madeira from one another.
2Beaches
It has been said that Madeira has no beaches, perhaps because they are not sandy and are of limited length. Indeed, the beaches of this island, with the exception of Prainha (‘little beach’) at Caniçal, are made up of small stones or rounded pebbles of dark basalt; all of them look sombre, and walking on them is difficult and uncomfortable. By way of compensation, the neighbouring island of Porto Santo has one of the finest and longest beaches in the whole country. The principal beaches of Madeira, some of them very short, are the following: Prainha, Caniçal, Machico, Seixo, Santa Cruz, Porto Novo, Reis Magos, Funchal, Formosa (see those entries), Câmara de Lobos, Ribeira Brava, Lugar de Baixo, Madalena do Mar, Calheta and Paul do Mar, on the south coast, and those of Porto Moniz, São Vicente, Fajã da Areia, Ponta Delgada, São Jorge and Porto da Cruz on the north coast. (See those entries, under the heading ‘Ports’ or ‘Beaches’, and also the article Ports.)
In this article
Place
Places mentioned · 24- ‘Hydrographic Aspects: Bays, Coves, Harbours and Beaches of Madeira’ · Subject
Câmara de Lobos
Survey entry on the coastline of Madeira. It describes the two bays (Funchal and Porto Santo), the small coves, the landing places graded as good, fair or poor, and the island's mostly pebble beaches. It serves as an index to the individual entries on each port and beach.
- Abra
Machico. Listed as a small cove with a fair port.
Abra is an inlet, point, anchorage and locality near the Ponta de São Lourenço, the widest cove of Madeira, listed as a small cove with a fair port and bounded by the Ponta do Furado. Its high rocks are the only site of Helichrysum devium, and a quay was built there in 1905.
- Calheta
Listed as a poor port and a beach.
Calheta is a town, parish and municipality on Madeira's south-west coast and one of the island's oldest settlements. The Elucidário covers its name, early settlers such as Pedro Berenguer, its church and many chapels, including one of a former Franciscan convent, and the 1834 riot.
- Câmara de Lobos
Listed as a cove, a fair port and a beach.
Parish west of Funchal. The Elucidário traces its name to Zarco's discovery voyage and describes its churches, chapels and collegiate chapter, early settlers, fishing community and renowned vineyards. It also records the parish's localities, boundaries, levadas and population.
- Caniçal
Machico. Listed as a poor port and a beach.
Isolated fishing parish at the eastern tip of Madeira, at the root of Ponta de São Lourenço. It originated as a Moniz entail and João Teixeira's hunting reserve and became a parish around 1561. It holds a Piedade feast with a boat procession and has a fort built after a pirate raid.
- Fajã da Areia
São Vicente. Listed as a poor port and a north-coast beach.
Well-known coastal fajã and principal locality of São Vicente parish, with a beach and a small port. The port, about two kilometres from São Vicente, was preferred to the town's own landing place, though it is also listed as a poor port. An unsuccessful attempt at salt-making was made there.
- Funchal
The Bay of Funchal is one of the two inlets the entry treats as true bays.
The capital of the archipelago and seat of the principal captaincy, where settlement began; it was made a vila c.1451–52. Its bay, the widest in the archipelago, lies between Ponta do Garajau and Ponta da Cruz and offers sheltered anchorage, though its harbour had never been studied oceanographically. The Elucidário discusses it as a health resort with climate data and records the January 1906 disturbances, the Danish prince's visit in May 1846 and recent volcanic cones in the area.
- Garajau
Santa Cruz. Listed as a small cove.
Garajau is a headland closing Funchal bay to the east, 2.9 miles from Funchal, named after the terns found there by the discoverers. It is topped by a basalt dyke, bears a chapel of Nossa Senhora das Neves and the 1927 Sacred Heart statue, and had a telegraph from 1839 to 1847. It is noted for volcanic bombs, a surviving dragon tree, the only wild norça, Senecio incrassatus and deep-water shells, and is recommended as a viewpoint.
- Lugar de Baixo
Ponta do Sol. Listed as a cove, a poor port and a beach.
Lugar de Baixo is a coastal fajã between Ponta do Sol and Tábua in the parish of Ponta do Sol, Madeira. It was greatly enlarged by a landslide from the Lombada in 1804 (the flood that enlarged it is also dated 1803). It has the Carvalhal house chapel, rebuilt in 1906, and a meteorological station set up in 1941, and Prince Luís landed and embarked there when the sea was too rough at the town quay.
- Machico
Listed as a cove, a fair port and a beach.
The parish of Machico was the landing place of the discoverers Zargo and Tristão Vaz and the seat of the captaincy of Machico; the parish was founded c. 1450. The Elucidário covers its clergy and stipends, chapels, historical events, mineral springs, localities, population and notable natives.
- Paul do Mar
Calheta. Listed as a poor port and a beach.
Paul do Mar is a parish on Madeira's south-west coast, created in 1676 from Estreito da Calheta. It is a fishing port watered by the old Rabaçal levada, where malvasia is grown and trachoma was reported to be very frequent. It had the Santo António fortress, a band, and salt works from about 1865 that were later abandoned for lack of profit.
- Ponta do Sol
Listed as a fair port.
South-coast parish and municipality, settled from about 1440 by Rodrigo Enes 'o Coxo'. Its parish church of Nossa Senhora da Luz holds a triptych. The Elucidário also records its quay of 1848, paid for by the council, and the royal visit of 1858.