Madeira News Blog

Today’s photos – Many thanks to Pete … "Tail of 3 Ribeiras of Funchal. Are they trying to tell us something, about land erosion and the environment? 1st pic Ribeira de São João   2nd Ribeira de Santa Luzia,  3rd Ribeira de João Gomes. Der – Would a Ribeira campaign of asking people for photos help to make thing more aware in the blog help?". It might do Pete, but please don’t look to me to run it or publicise, as I have more than enough on my plate … any volunteers?

Ken emailed me with this story, thank you : Unfortunate Experience. Having met our family who are on a visit to Madeira, at the airport last night (Saturday, 27th March), we were driving home in Tandem, myself leading my son who was driving a hired car, to go to our home in Estreito da Calheta. Going down the long decline on the Expressway after the exit to Madeira shopping, we were in the right hand lane as we didn’t want to drive faster than about 80 km per hour. Cars were obviously passing us as usual in the left hand passing lane, going down the hill towards the big bridge in the valley. Suddenly we noticed that the flow of passing cars had slowed to our pace, and in fact the pace of cars ahead of us in the right hand lane had also slowed to below 70 kph. The reason soon became clear as we saw a small car ahead in our lane weaving dangerously from side to side. It sometimes went right across the middle line of the road and then back again. The car we saw later was an older model Ford Fiesta, dark blue/black. Both lanes of traffic were reduced to the speed of the offending car, the driver of which seemed to be under the influence of alcohol or perhaps something else.

One or two cars tried to overtake the weaving car, but were forced back by the erratic track of the offender. With the number of cars backed up behind us, my son who is a driver with years of experience of driving on the freeways in and around Los Angeles, who was in the hired Ford Focus, decided to lead the way in overtaking the offender, which he did but for his troubles received a slight side swipe from the inebriate driven vehicle. This was as we were going through Câmara do Lobos at about 20H10. Once my son had overtaken him, the driver of the offending car seemed to get a grip on himself, and stick more to the right hand side of the road than he had previously, and the backlog of cars then followed my son’s example, and went past the offending car. After the rush petered out, we too were able to pass the car. It was driven by a sole occupant. Prior to our overtaking him , whilst he was going through a tunnel, he was in fact so far over to the right that he ran against the walkway curb.

I wonder if any of your other readers were perhaps involved in this incident and can perhaps tell us what the final outcome was. We unfortunately didn’t take the registration of the car. We just hope that no disaster happened either to the stupid driver, or any innocent bystander.

Many thanks to Elaine (East) for these web snippets :

Madeira appeal could top 100,000 pounds. Jersey Appeal

PUT YOUR BEST FOOT FORWARD WITH OUR GUIDE TO HIKING HOLS More calorie-based incentives – do the walk, you get to have your Madeira cake and eat it. NEWS OF THE WORLD

Many thanks to Becky for this video and web snippet :

Madeira Island – as beautiful as ever

A comprehensive travel blog from 2008:  "Funchal itself clusters in a valley around a pleasant bay but, as I said, don’t expect a beach. The sea-shore offers only dingy pebbles, and you won’t see anyone bathing. I only saw a few kids on the pebbles and one of the few homeless to be found there. This particular chap was dressed as if for the Arctic, wore the traditional woollen hat with side-flaps – the story has it that these are so the men can let them down to block out nagging wives – they’re considering it for export – and he wore a huge gold chain and medallion around his neck along the lines of a mayor. (Unless he was, indeed, the mayor of Funchal, I would have thought that the police should have taken a closer look at his regalia than I did.)" TRAVEL BLOG

"A nice balanced piece I thought" – Adrian. Bargains to bag as Madeira gets back to normal – Places that rely on tourism for their livelihood develop the ability to bounce back from disaster.  Madeira hit the news in February when a month’s worth of rain fell in just one hour, triggering appalling landslides that temporarily paralysed the island’s capital, Funchal. It was a cataclysmic event that claimed 42 lives and made 200 homeless. Yet within days, the Portuguese island in the Atlantic, famous for its mild climate, was attempting to convince travellers that it was back in business. Previous experience of such disasters suggests that people are inevitably affected by the negative news stories. The TV cameras reveal awful pictures of destruction yet there is no follow-up which shows that things have returned to normal. The Madeira tourist office has vociferously appealed to people not to cancel planned holidays to the island – with limited success. The result is that, in the words of one UK Madeira specialist: "Bookings have fallen off a cliff." In these situations the way to recovery usually lies through cut-price deals. For anyone planning to travel in April, for example, there are extraordinarily good buys to Funchal. Teletext Holidays WEBSITE is offering a seven-night package to a three star hotel for just £186 including a return flight from Gatwick – seven nights’ half-board at a top-grade hotel costs £444. While there are still signs of damage, the message is that Madeira is almost completely back to normal. At the prices currently available, it’s a prospect too good to miss. Frank Barrett.  (Mail on Sunday Travel 28/03/10). Many thanks Adrian.

‘Cheetahs of the Deep’ and other whales off the Calheta Coast! The blog site of the whale & dolphin watching boat ‘Lobosonda’ is reporting with photos impressive sightings in the last few days. Among them are Pilot Whales. The North Atlantic Ocean population runs, in a band that runs from South Carolina in the United States across to Madeira, the Azores and Morocco.

Length (metres): Adults are 3.5 – 6.5 metres in length. When they are born short-finned pilot whales are about 1.4-1.9 metres long.

Weight: At birth, Short-finned Pilot Whales weigh about 60kg (135lb). A fully grown adult will weigh between 1 and 4 tonnes.

Diet: Fish, Squid, Octopus

Life span is about 45 years in males and 60 years in females for both species. Image caption: Globicephala macrorhynchus, The Short-finned Pilot Whale (Globicephala macrorhynchus)

Logging, lobtailing, slapping flukes, porpoise and spyhopping. Short-finned Pilot Whales are very sociable and are rarely seen alone. They are found in groups of ten to thirty, though some pods are as large as sixty. They are sometimes seen logging and will allow boats to get quite close. They rarely breach, but may be seen lobtailing (slapping their flukes on the water surface) and spyhopping (poking their heads above the surface). Before diving, they arch their tails and raise them above the surface. When coming to the surface to breathe, adults tend to show only the top of their head, whereas calves will throw their entire head out of the water. Adults occasionally porpoise (lift most of the body out of the water) when swimming particularly quickly. They are known as the ‘Cheetahs of the Deep’ for the high speed pursuits of squids at depths of hundreds of metres.

Fin whales off the Calheta Coast! Also, Lobosonda has sighted Fin whales. “In the morning there were 4 fin whales that rushed very fast to the east, in the afternoon there were 3 fin whales which went for a while just beside our boat.” They are the second largest whales and the second largest living animal after the blue whale growing to nearly 27 metres long. They live to 94 years of age. Its food consists of small schooling fish, squid, and crustaceans including mysids and krill. Image caption: Fin whale off the Calheta Coast, Madeira.

Image : Fin whale size.  Wiki pages: FIN WHALE PILOT WHALE Link to Lobosonda’s blog:

Many thanks to Paul for all that information on our oversized neighbours. 

Today’s news headlines from the front page of the Diário de Notícias :

To purchase a house on Madeira is more expensive – A bank assessment in the Region comes up with values superior to the national average by almost 25%. The price of construction is higher, and the consequent bank evaluations even more so. Madeira has the highest rating in Portugal. According to a study by the National Institute of Statistics, the average bank evaluation on housing in Portugal, during the month of February, stood at 1,183 Euros per square meter, or 0.5% less than in January, but more than 4.5% higher compared to February last year. However the banks have evaluated the value per square metre on Madeira to be €1,470, 24.2% higher than the average for Portugal.

Today’s main news headline : Storm already caused three lawsuits – There are two criminal complaints lodged by relatives of victims (crane and landfill) and an investigation initiated by the MP (Babosas). One of the cases (pictured) is of a crane that fell in Laranjal killing people. One of the lawsuits has actually been instigated by the Prosecution Service (MP) itself, after hearing news and complaints about the situation in Babosas, something that the MP has the power to do. There will be other such cases for sure, as 6 months are allowed from the date of the incident to formalise complaints.

Diocese doesn’t comment on the suspicions of paedophilia – There are cases of two padres on Madeira. But Paço says to the Diário that doesn’t talk "based on conjecture". And that "if there are cases being investigated, they should be investigated, proved, and that each one  assume their own responsibilities". The Diocese ignores investigations of members of the clergy suspected of sexually abusing minors that occurred in 2008 and 2009, according to church spokesman, Father Marcos Gonçalves. The Justice Police are investigating cases following the receipt of anonymous letters.

Free calls to South Africa and Venezuela. Almost old news really, as Cable TV company Zon offers free calls to fixed phones in those two countries between 9 pm and 9 am, from next month. That’s using the telephone package that costs €9.99 per month. The change has happened as Zon increased the list of free-to-call countries from 20 to 30. They now include Austria, Germany, Andorra, Belgium, Denmark, France, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, Norway, Poland, United Kingdom, Sweden, Switzerland, Chile, Peru, Australia, China, Japan, Croatia, Slovakia, Czech Republic, Canada and USA. With Canada and the USA  you can also make free calls to mobile networks, no doubt subject to some restrictions or conditions, before someone finds out otherwise and sues me.

Social Democrat Party conditions representative of the Socialist Party on the table of the Legislative Assembly of Madeira – Ramos only accepts Serrão.

PP [Peoples Party] criticises deputies on holiday with support, when there are matters from the storm to be dealt with.  Had to guess that one a bit, seemed an impossible headline to translate, but even the Diário often makes errors, even on the front page.

If anyone else can oblige with the translation of any of the ‘blank’ or sparsely filled headlines, or other news stories, here is the link. All contributions much appreciated. 

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If you can, please contribute something Madeira related. A funny story or good or bad experience, a news item, or a story from a Madeira newspaper, a teaser, news of a bargain flight or item in a supermarket. Please help keep this blog going … without user contributions it won’t survive. Please don’t send in automatic translations (like Google translator) without checking them through and correcting them first, thanks.

You can email blog@madeira4u.com with any large contributions and other material.

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Please use the comments here for general chit-chat, or feel free to ask any questions … someone usually has an answer.

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TODAY’S PHOTOS : Thanks to Sue … Quinta do Lorde

"Took advantage of the beautiful weather on Sunday and we went to do a check up on the status of Ponta de São Lourenço Peninsula where they are recreating a small typical coastal village that is called Quinta do Lorde Resort.  Things have moved in a year but cannot believe it will be finished in June 2010, which is their prediction date.  The initial start was made with the Marina (which does have one bar/restaurant) and some initial housing.  This development will include various bars and restaurants, plazas, incredibly a chapel, a gourmet shop, also, I was informed it will have its own supermarket and pharmacy.  Anyone interested in reading more able it should go to their web page www.quintadolorde.pt ".

You sound quite upbeat  about it Sue, but it is an ecological and visual nightmare in the situation where it was built. Not only that, the planning consent process was a farce, and the development is even bigger and higher than the consent that was ‘granted’ allowed. The PSD social democrats have managed to quash various attempts to uncover what really went on, through the Regional Assembly, including a forced public enquiry, and god only knows how many fat brown envelopes were involved. From a personal perspective I would say don’t visit, don’t buy, and tell anyone thinking of buying that they will be condoning ‘naughtiness’ on a breathtaking scale. (I didn’t use the word I really wanted to).

On the 1st of November 2009 3 American species of ducks were recorded in Madeira Island. Wood Ducks, the Green-winged Teal, and American Wigeons were spotted, with one species sighted for the first time. MADEIRA WIND BIRDS for more information and great photos, and a video.

"Nailed in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean, the paradisiac archipelago of Madeira offers a different trip, to a wild corner which principal element is the Forest of Laurisilva, forest relic classified by the UNESCO like Natural World Patrimony. It is one of the few ones in the world that there preserves the purity that existed millions of years ago". I guess the author of this article meant well, but the writing style is just a bit weird. NEW WAYS TO USE THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE

José Sócrates presents government programme for the next four years – MPs of the PSD and PS don’t assume for now any firm position. Thursday and Friday have been scheduled for debating the document. Rather than speculate about what the proposals will do for Madeira in terms of the revision of the regional finance law, Madeira’s MPs will wait to see the conclusions of the various parliamentary groups that  will meet to discuss the issues. With a reduced majority, Sócrates may have to negotiate with other parties both to the left and right, to get the programme accepted. As president Jardim already had the commitment of the PSD nationally to accept changes to the regional finance law (a pre-election deal), then it may stand a good chance of going through. Exactly what it will do for us the people in €€€s and our economy I can’t really tell you, as I can’t remember everything, but we will know fairly soon I would imagine.

Many thanks again to Elaine for a summary of yesterday’s main news article :

Portuguese consuming less. Following on from the report about fewer imports /exports in Madeira. Portuguese consumers are taking advantage of  falls in interest rates on housing loans to pay off debt and increase savings, but do not seem to consume more, preferring to defer purchases of higher value. This is typical behaviour in times of recession and crisis, and savings rates have risen. They have not started to buy for Christmas yet.

522 new cancer patients already this year. The numbers of cancers detected are increasing each year, as they are worldwide. 453 in 2005 and 614 last year. Increases are mainly in colon cancer and breast cancer which are thought to be due to less healthy lifestyles. Survival rates are improving due to early diagnosis and more effective treatment. Malignancy is still the second cause of death in Madeira, exceeded by cardiovascular diseases. In 2006, there were 462 deaths from cancers, breast cancer leading. About a thousand patients use the Day Hospital  facilities, mainly for oncological diseases as well as others.

Airport security guards want more recognition. Since May 2007, the access controls at the airport of Madeira are no longer the responsibility of the police but ‘Securitas’ security guards. These workers have minimal training and are not certified. They are regularly trained with bogus bomb threats without much knowledge of weapons or explosives. Despite the increased responsibility, they are in the same category as other security staff, e.g. supermarket employees. The responsibilities are not proportional to the category. They want a recognized professional career. They are responsible for passenger screening, staff screening and luggage security checks, e.g.. using x-ray machines and other detectors. The task of the police is to maintain public order and prevention of incidents. The National Association of Wardens wants the airport authorities and the Ministry of Internal Affairs to establish a new professional category for airport security staff that would create better conditions, wages and training. This was promised in March but has not been implemented. A ‘Securitas’ spokesman says it is up to the union and the authorities to resolve labour issues. The training is the same as for those working in other situations with an additional 71 hours of specific training for airport employment.

Residents do not want funeral directors in their apartment block. Originally a cafe was promised in the commercial area on the ground floor of the apartment block in Porto Santo. The residents now realize a funeral parlour is being installed. The conversion work has started without any notification, or authorization by the apartment owners, as established by law. Following their complaints, the council have stopped the building works as they are unauthorized by either the council or the residents. Any other types of trade will also need approval.

Rockfall threatened access to Nun’s Valley just before festivities. About 4.10 am, there was a landslide from the back garden of a house onto the Estrada da Eira do Serrado blocking the only access to Nun’s Valley, where they expected thousands of sightseers to the Chestnut Festival. The 72 year old owner immediately hired men and a lorry to clear the debris although it was still dark. The firemen visited later on Sunday and just put red tape across the area where there should have been a support wall to prevent the collapse but did not recommend that the owner moves out. The owner built the house 30 years ago and the council queried its legality. He has recently noticed cracks in the walls of the house which he blames on the increased traffic, especially lorries on the nearby road. He is hoping the council will start securing the area on Monday.

Councillors safeguard their own interests (receive more money). The later they leave, the more money they receive. The inauguration ceremonies for new councillors and mayors are on November 2nd instead of being in October. If the outgoing staff left in October, they would receive 10 months salary. By delaying to November, they receive an additional month’s salary and full Christmas bonus.

Constitutionalist Jorge Miranda believes that the Lisbon Treaty "is a mistake". "For better or worse, the Lisbon Treaty, which is almost a carbon copy of the former called the European Constitution severely limits the powers of state sovereignty and therefore it will also affect the relationship between States and Autonomous Regions." Jorge Miranda says the important thing is "to strengthen the participation of the Autonomous Regions in the European construction." He is pro-Europe but against the new agreement. "I am an advocate of European integration but not in this sense of very centralized and federalist."  —- From yesterday’s rant, Bertie for EU President?

New exhibition about whales and dolphins of Madeira in Ponta do Pargo. 4 December to 4 January in the Civic Centre. The exhibition is organized by the Whaling Museum in Caniçal and will display images taken between 2004 and 2006 of dolphins and whales that inhabit the seas of the Madeira archipelago. (The permanent exhibition at the Whale Museum is presently closed)

Porto Bay wants to open two more hotels in Brazil. The economic crisis in Europe has made the group rethink its strategy and take advantage of the good indications for the Brazilian market, with extraordinary economic growth and a series of events scheduled for the coming years. Three of their hotels have 500 beds in Rio de Janeiro, Buzios and São Paulo. In the future Olympic city of Rio, in Copacabana, the Porto Bay International hotel has 117 rooms and is also well placed for two airports and exploring the historic town, shops, museums, park and night life. They want to adapt or build a beach hotel in the northeast.

Naviera Armas and Ports Institute on a collision course. The Spanish owner ensures that they comply with the rules imposed by the licence to load and unload at the port. The regulator ruled the operation illegal. The company is working with their lawyers to provide their defence. The case could go to both the Portuguese and Spanish Governments.

Some of today’s news headlines :

There have been 4 new cases of Gripe A swine flu detected on Madeira this last week. Three of the cases came from Venezuela and Belgium. The big relief is that there have still not been any cases in our schools.

Madeira’s newest airline FlyMI made it’s inaugural flight today. The plane is on the TV as I type, already landed at Madeira airport, so I assume it has delivered it’s first cargo inbound from Lisbon.

On the front page of today’s Diário :

Support for ‘Flor do Mar’ refused by Tribunal de Contas (Audit Office) – In dispute is the contract of accommodation for the professionals that shoot the film. Flor do Mar is the national soap opera filmed on Madeira by TVI. Putting up 50 people for three weeks every month between September 2008 and last May, was too much said the tribunal. The arrangements were made through the secretary for Tourism and Transport, and have set Madeira back €423,040. The issue was that the cast and crew were accommodated in the ‘CS’ hotel, and the contract for accommodation should have gone out to tender. The tourism secretary has argued that it was all arranged as a matter or urgency to safeguard the public interest, and appealed the decision, but the appeal has been rejected.

The main headline today : Complaints in the hotel sector – The trade union talks of over one hundred cases of unpaid staff. The Chamber of Commerce of Funchal says that the numbers are worrying, but requires confirmation of the numbers. The TU spokesman says the salary arrears also extend to restaurants and other hotel establishments. The numbers relate to trade union members, when in fact between 50 and 60% of hotel workers are not in the trade union, saving themselves 1% of their salaries.

Madeira wants to widen the the timescales for applying for community funds of QREN.

Most of today’s front page is taken up with a photo of our two football teams, Nacional and Marítimo, pictured in a joint team pose : Derby game in Caracas – IV Banif Trophy to be played in Venezuela. The game will take place in may 2010, at the end of the premier league.

‘Night of the witches’ brought bad luck for 5 youths from Porto Santo – Inappropriate adventure suppressed by the police. That’s the name given to Halloween night in Portugal, although it is noticeable that ‘Halloween’, the actual name is becoming more popular. The 5 youths, who gathered together to play some pranks on Friday night, tried to rob an elderly woman wearing masks, and also raided an empty holiday home as a ‘haunted house’. It seems the police at the arrest were not happy with the situation, and gave the gang a good kicking, and that will be the subject of a counter complaint against the police.

Individual detained in Santa Catarina with 5 thousand doses in his body. The 25 year old Portuguese man was detained at the airport and taken to hospital where the drugs (cocaine) were removed through surgery. The drugs have a street value of €125,000. The man is being held in custody, and was under surveillance by police prior to his arrest.

Maiata : People insist on using dangerous road. Maiata is in Porta da Cruz, and the road in question is closed through danger of rockfall, a fact that does not worry the local population, who seemingly use it as they always have.

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If you can, please contribute something Madeira related. A funny story or good or bad experience, a news item, or a story from a Madeira newspaper, a photo or video, a teaser, news of a bargain flight or item in a supermarket. Please help keep this blog going … without user contributions it won’t survive. 

You can email blog@madeira4u.com with any large contributions and photos / videos.

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Please use the comments here for general chit-chat, or feel free to ask any questions … someone usually has an answer.

(more…)