Fires all out

Its reported that the fires are mostly out now and if there are a few still about they will be out as the day goes on.

Just want to say a Huge Thank You to all the Firefighters on Madeira, and those they came to help.

Most of the Firefighters are volunteers and we owe them everything. 

Extreme Sailing Series

Now in its tenth season in 2016, the award-winning and adrenaline-fueled global Series has given the sport of sailing a healthy dusting-off. Bringing the action to the public with Stadium Sailing, putting guests at the heart of the battle and dramatically increasing the pace on the water, the creators of the Extreme Sailing Series™ have set new standards, both in terms of high level competition and sporting entertainment. With a new fleet of hydro-foiling GC32s replacing the Extreme 40 for the 2016 season the Extreme Sailing Series™ looks set to be another fast-paced and thrilling year.

In Madeira 22nd - 25th September.

Click below for details.

Calheta Beach top-up

Thanks to David for these great photos of Calheta Beach receiving new sand today. 

Safest places to live.

Business Insider UK has just released the safest countries to live in the world.

Iceland tops the list, but its great to see Portugal comes in a 5th place, and the UK comes in a miserable 47th place.

Click below to see the article.

Rali Vinho Madeira (RVM)

The Madeira Wine Rally held last week was won by Bruno Magalhães.

In the last five years, Bruno Magalhães won four times Rali Vinho Madeira, the same number of triumphs as the victories recormen in RVM: Giandomenico Basso, Andrea Aghini and Américo Nunes.

Driving a Peugeot 208 T16, the portuguese driver was the fastest in 2015 edition of the madeiran event, finishing with the time of 02.13.08.9 hours, thanks to the very strong pace he was able to keep during the last half of the rally. Magalhães, who had a 16 seconds delay to the leader due to a lack of power of the car, ended yesterday 5.2 seconds behind Miguel Nunes who started today in the leadership.

Today, he won two stages and his times helped him climb to the first place, where he remained until the end. More News Here

Some great photos below from Miguel Moniz

Woman missing in Calheta

A 67 year old woman has been missing since Friday from the area of Loreto in Arco Calheta. The lady a Spanish National here on holidays has Alzheimer's, so relatives are very worried for her safety.

Not a lot of details on the news website but someone (a relative ?) has posted this in the comments.

We request information on the possible location of a lady who is missing since last 6ªfeira (12/06/2015), on the site of Loreto, Arc parish of Calheta, Calheta.

The lady's name is Laura dos Santos Garden, has 67-year-old Spanish national, has a height of 1.60 to 1.65m and about 75kg weight.

At the time of her disappearance was wearing a sports coat red, flowery blouse, blue jeans and wore sandals with cork heels. 
We request greater attention because it is a lady with Alzheimer's disease and may be in a state anxiety.

According to some testimonies, it has been last seen at the site of Cales Cales and Chada, Arc parish of Calheta.

Any information about his whereabouts, please come into contact with the squadron of PSP (Public Safety Police) from the County of Calheta (tel .: 291 822 422) or the corporation Volunteer Fire Department Calheta (tel .: 291 827 204 ).

Ferry set to return.

This is just a straight copy and translation from the diario online.

The Board of the Regional Government, meeting this afternoon under the chairmanship of Miguel Albuquerque, "decided to establish the necessary procedures and steps that will allow the restoration of maritime connection between Madeira and mainland Portugal for transporting passengers and cargo."

The regional secretary for the Environment and Natural Resources, Susana Prada, who was spokesman for the executive meeting, said that the efforts to resume ferry operations are already underway. However, he declined to reveal details, as this dossier is being conducted by the Regional Secretary of Economy Eduardo Jesus, who was the last two days in London and returns tonight to Madeira.

Palm Tree Beetle.

I found this article about the Palm Beetle that has been killing our Palm Trees on the Island.

Lots of information and photos of the destruction it causes. 

View the full article HERE or click the photo.

Jamie Oliver upsets Portuguese.

British chef Jamie Oliver has upset many of his Portuguese fans trying to recreate the traditional dish Bacalhau à Brás

The chef posted the recipe and photo on his website and also his Facebook Page on Friday evening for his Friday Night Feast Recipe.

Many of his fans have commented and shown photos of what the dish should look like.

Funchal Marathon

The Madeira Athletics Association (AARAM) promotes this major international sporting event.

This sports event consists of three main races, the Funchal Marathon (42.195,00 meters), the Funchal Half Marathon (21.097,50 meters) and the Mini marathon (5.900 meters). 

This race will once again be run on a flat course, almost entirely on a closed, attractively landscaped circuit, offering the perfect setting for healthy competition between athletes from different nationalities. 
The race will be held on 22nd February 2015

Register until February,19th on the official “Funchal Marathon” 

Funchal Marathon

Taken from Visit Madeira

Accident Campanario

3 people were injured in an accident on the Rapida yesterday morning at the Campanario junction.

I was actually at the viewpoint at Campanario, and saw and heard the crash. A van carrying ice cream smashed straight into the back of the truck carrying churns of fresh milk, the bang was pretty terrifying and shock us all up seeing it.

We later enjoyed a great day walking down to Calhau da Lapa, beautiful beach with about 30 little grotto's which people local people own. It must be very nice in the summer. It is only accessible by foot or by boat, any easy walk down around 25 minutes and about 45 minutes coming back up, but I don't fancy doing it in the summer.

A local fisherman was down there and showed us his little bar which he opens in the summer, and inside one of the family's grotto's .

Click the photo below to see all my photos from the day.

13 year old missing.

A 13 year old girl has gone missing in Caniço.

The girl has been missing since this afternoon, and the Judicial police are already in the area investigating.

I will keep this post updated as more news comes in.

UPDATE

I have heard the girl has been found safe and well, which is what I was expecting.

She was found at Cristo Rei in Garajau but seems not to remember how she got there.

The Diario website is not updated yet with news that she has been found, if any other news comes through I will post.

Ryanair

Probably the most hated airline in the world, but Ryanair will start flying from London Stansted to Lisbon from tomorrow 26th November. They will fly everyday.

Funchal Building Works

A few photos from the building works which continue on the front in Funchal.

You can also follow the progress on this link below

Please note the page starts at the first page, you can skip to the last page to see the latest photos.

Funchal Works 

Fire Threatens Homes

This evening a fire in the Sítio do Barreira above Santo Antonio has rekindled and with a change in wind direction, threatens peoples homes.

In the last few minutes the situation has become worse with the wind and moving towards houses, and with reports of some homes already being damaged by fire. fire fights from 4 areas are at the scene along with police controlling the traffic and evacuating residents.

The weather outlook is for this dry heat to continue over the next few days at least , and if the wind picks up more then we could see more fires breaking out.

driving back from Funchal today things seemed settled, with just pockets of smoke here and there through the high land above Funchal.

Fire above Santo Antonio moving towards property with the wind.

UPDATE

This morning the situation is much calmer in Sitia do Barreira, firefighters are still at the scene, but the fire is more under control now.

Madeira will remain on yellow alert for high temperatures until Wednesday evening-

The fires at Monte the other night made the BBC news.

São João

Today 24th June is São João, and last night we enjoyed the celebrations down our local beach with food music and drink, and at midnight its traditional to go for a bath in the ocean.

It was very busy and a lovely evening warm, no wind and with the Supermoon shining above, many people enjoyed the sea where the water was warm and refreshing. Some photos below but only from my camera phone.

In Funchal the Procession of São João took place, and I have been sent some photos below.

Bird Watching Madeira

Bird watching in Madeira is becoming very popular, and more and more tourists are coming to the island just for this hobby.

Bird watching can be done from land and sea, and organised trips can be booked with guides to help find and explain the different species.

This is a very useful blog to see what is being seen on the island throughout the year, you can visit the blog by clicking HERE

Also another good site is Birding Madeira,which has details of all the birds found on land and sea, and also on the Desertas Islands and Porto Santo if you get a chance to visit these.

Visit the full site HERE