Funchal is one of the easiest ports to dock at, as long as there is not too much wind. The dock is just an L shaped breakwater sticking into the sea parallel to the coast. Madeira, is nothing else than a mountain top sticking above the sea, it rises very steeply out of the North Atlantic ocean and the area in front of Funchal is just a little platform about 30 meters under water and thus ideal to build a port on. They figured that out already 100’s of years ago and since then the port of Funchal has been the lifeline for Madeira and responsible for its prosperity. The docking is made easy as the whole port area is deep so the ship can approach quite close to the coast and then turn to a westerly course and slide parallel along the dock into position. Leaving is even simpler, if you are docked at the end of the breakwater you only have to go astern the length of the ship and then turn the bow to port over the end of the pier and you are back in 1000 feet deep water and safely clear.

funchal The new cruise terminal building on the south breakwater pier, occupying the cargo berths that were once there. The first cruise terminal they built is located at the town side where you can see the AidaBlu docked. They stayed overnight and carry more guests, hence it made sense to have them being allocated that pier.

As expected it was wind still and very clear with only the top of Madeira covered in rain clouds. They have not embraced the concept of fuel saving here very much as all the street lights on all the roads were alight, making the island look like very much like a Christmas tree. You could not miss the place even if you did not know where to look. It took us only 10 minutes from the pilot station to come alongside the dock and to tie her up. To my amazement the pier had drastically changed since our last call. Gone was the cargo pier and a complete cruise terminal had been constructed on the pier. It was completed but still closed. According to the pilot they had not been bale to find anybody yet to open it. So they were waiting but he hoped that the terminal would be in operation before Christmas. Then my eye caught sight of a beautiful and very long shore gangway, with no steps, but a full ramp. Could I hire that one for the day? After much deliberation in Portuguese it turned out that the size was wrong for our access doors. A bit startling as our door dimensions are the world wide standard that most cruise ships adhere to. They could only hook it up to our open deck but that made it very steep again. So I used my own accommodation ladder in the end, it works well (and was recently tested, see previous blog) but it is not that wheel chair and scooter friendly. The guests need, and get, help from a special team that we have at the gangway for this purpose.

Unfortunately, the rain clouds decided to come down the mountain and for most of the day it was a very wet affair. The positive thing was that although being Sunday, there were a number of shops open for the guests, to buy last minute souvenirs or the famous Madeira wine. Portugal is in a real economic downturn and every Euro helps I suppose. Also with two cruise ships in port, the Aida Blue came in at 1300 hrs., there were over 3000 eager shoppers ashore, so it certainly made sense for the shops closest to the port, to try to catch some of the trade.

We left at 1700 hrs. to start our crossing over the North Atlantic to Florida. The weather is supposed to be reasonable, translate that in very good for the time of the year and there should be no major swell for the first two days. The long term prediction is indicating a disturbance building up near Cape Hatteras but if that will come down far enough what will affect us remains to be seen.

I am staying as far south as is possible. More about that tomorrow.