Abra (cove, port, point and site of) / Abra (enseada, porto, ponta e sítio da)

This term is only used as a place name in Madeira. At the eastern end of the island and near Ponta de São Lourenço, between the points of Abra and Furado, there is the cove of Abra, which, of all the small coves in Madeira, is the widest and most deeply indented, forming a relatively spacious bay with a good anchorage. During the Pombaline government period, there were plans to build a military port and respective arsenal in this cove, and in the first quarter of the last century, the idea of establishing a small sheltered port there was also considered. In addition to a beach or Calhau, there is a private landing pier there. Limiting this cove on the west side, there is a protrusion of the coastline, which is called Ponta de Abra, also preserving the name of Abra, the site that, with its high peaks, surrounds the aforementioned cove and its adjacent port. The Helichrysum devium, a peculiar composite of Madeira, has only been found to date on the high rocks of the site of Abra, while the H. abconicum appears near the sea on almost the entire south coast of the island.