Porto Santo 20 miles from Madeira is well worth exploring. The volcanic Pico
do Castelo high in the centre looks more Hawaiian than European.
Visitors from Madeira come for the long beautiful sandy beach, the only natural beach in this archipelago. It is smart, clean and exudes an understated wealth.
Vila Baleira is an attractive little town with a distinctly Mediterranean air of whitewash, palm trees and dust. The small town square is overlooked by the
venerable câmara municipal (town hall) and 15th- century church. Columbus’s reputed home on the
island, now the Casa Colombo museum, is up a narrow lane behind the church but was closed for Columbus day preparations.
‘use it as a toy’
We were anchored 500 m off the beach which gave us our first swim of the trip.
After a hull cleaning session we readied for dinner. We took the tender to the beach. Our first beach landing of the trip!
Opposite the Dragon tree was Apollo restaurant where we had the most amazing steaks prepared by JJ
He very kindly gave us a number of recommendations for exploring Madeira in the coming days.
A lovely trip to a lovely island and such friendly people.
The morning gave Paul & Pete time for a quick swim before we headed off for Madeira.
Carioca Sailing 
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