Festa do Senhor

Thanks to Joana Zita for the photos from Festa do Senhor in Santa Cruz last weekend.

Marina Repairs

The Marina at Santa Cruz looks set to be repaired by the summer. The marina was almost washed away in bad seas 2 months ago and many boats were sunk. The repairs will use the floating walk-ways that are in the disused Marina at Lugar  de Baixo. They hope these walk-ways can be adapted to rebuild the marina at Santa Cruz.

The marina at Machico is a different story as it seems its going to cost a great deal to repair with the highest figure coming close to 300,000 euros, and its still not sure who will pay for this.

Santa Cruz Clean up

The sea front at Santa Cruz is being cleaned up this morning on a large scale. The wood and debris that came down the rivers from the heavy rain on Thursday night has left beaches along the south east coast a mess. Large amounts of wood are being piled up along the sea front for anyone to go and collect for burning.

Photos below from the Diario...

Large Forest Fire

Just coming back along the motorway I could see a large forest fire had started, The fire is reported in the area of Meia Serra Santa Cruz, and the fire department are there with 4 vehicles and 8 men.

* Update 8.20pm *

The latest update states that the main front of the fire has been controlled, but 2 others are still active, and it will be a while before this is controlled. There are now 24 fire fighters in the area helping to bring the blaze under control.

São Pedro

Tonight sees the São Pedro festival kicking off, this is one of the largest religious parties, and Ribeira Brava is the place to be, with an all night party and the Procession tomorrow (São Pedro)

Santa Cruz is also another place where they celebrate the Festival with music food and fun all along the sea front.

This is a glimpse of last year in Ribeira Brava.

Festa do Santo Amaro

Santo Amaro is celebrated all over Madeira on the 15th January. This is the close of Christmas where friends and relatives get together to finish up the last of the delights left over from Christmas, also known as sweeping the cupboards.

This is the day people take down their decorations and nativity sets, and any food left over is laid on the table for everyone to enjoy.

Santa Cruz and Ponta do Sol hold big festivals marking the occasion in honour of it's Patron Saint, the celebrations will go on late into the night with plenty of food and drink, finally closing the Christmas holidays.