4th October

Saturday 4th October 2008, day 77.

Porto Santo is a tiny, bare, volcanic island, about 40 miles NE of Madeira. It has one harbour, with about 20 visiting yachts at any time, all of them en route to the Canaries, and mostly on to the Caribbean, though a couple are heading for the Guyanas, and one for the Panama Canal, and then on to the Galapagos and the Marquesas. Nationalities: Dutch, Norwegian, French, Swedish, Danish, Irish, Belgian, one American, one Canadian. Many of them have been living aboard their boats and sailing the world for years; we feel very new and inexperienced alongside them. At the same time, being part of this cruising community makes our plans seem quite feasible.

The first inhabitants brought rabbits with them for food, which did their usual trick: escaped, bred, and ate every green thing in sight. Reforestation efforts are in place, but as the island gets little rain – for some reason, it is all saved for Madeira - it is an uphill struggle.

Today’s linguistic curiosity: what is a frigideira? Deduct one point everybody (and that includes the spell-checker) who said a fridge or freezer. It’s a frying pan. The recipe does make a bit more sense now!