Porto Santo, the Golden Island

Late October 2007. Leafing through a catalogue in the travel agency near home, a few lines catch my curiosity; straight away the word spreads among the usual friends in our group (there are four couples of us) and off we go. Destination: the island of Porto Santo in the Madeira archipelago, 500 km from the Moroccan coast, a Portuguese colony in the Atlantic Ocean. A direct flight from Verona to Porto Santo, and after about 4 hours we're landing on this golden island not yet kissed by hordes of tourists. Waiting for us is a dear friend, Corrado, who has already been basking in the sun for a week. The temperature is 29° C, confirmed by our friend's roasted face. A minibus gets us to the hotel in a few minutes (also because there are no holiday villages, for the moment).

Hotel Vila Balera is a big 8-storey building overlooking the sea, with a thalassotherapy centre attached; we miss the palm-filled resorts of other exotic destinations, but as time goes by we find that the service, cleanliness and food are well enough looked after. According to the island guide there's no vandalism or theft, and even less anyone trying to sell you something at all costs. The roads, gardens and beach are clean. Let's talk about the beach itself: 7 km long with fine golden sand, and in this season, with few tourists, it's truly enchanting, surrounded by low dunes and a few large rock formations at its far ends - the island being of volcanic origin - where the mighty ocean waves break. Swimming is perfectly easy, the seabed slopes down gently and the water temperature ranges from 19 to 24 °C all year round.

Unfortunately this week the clouds and wind kept us company for much of the day, sometimes making us take our tops off and put them back on; only towards evening did the wind drop and everything became more pleasant. The long beach invites walks in search of little corners still rarely visited, where in a few years new hotels and tourist centres will surely spring up. Every comfort is available to visitors, from the heated seawater pool to the fitness centre and the rental of cars, scooters, bikes and quads to explore the interior in complete independence. We preferred to hire a 4x4 with a driver who also acted as a guide; after showing us the island's most characteristic spots he suggested we have dinner in a churrascaria, where we were more than satisfied.

The water from the taps is desalinated, comes from the sea and is good; about 15% of the electricity comes from wind power, the rest from fuel-burning plants. The 18-hole Golf Club is a feather in the cap of the island community; there's a small botanical garden and a military airport for emergencies. The main reason that drew me to this place is my passion for diving; I can assure you that the dive centre inside the thalassotherapy complex, led by Miguel Matos and Alberto Miranda, is highly professional. Friendly and expert people, excellent sailors and always available even outside working hours; both speak Italian and are ready to introduce you to the fantastic world of silence. This is the first dive centre where I've found three separate tanks for washing with specific detergents to clean diving gear.

The two Coltri compressors quickly fill both air and nitrox into 12 and 15 litre tanks. The rental equipment (worth it) is new, and you can also get a DPV or diving scooter to go down to 30 m. A new 9-seater van will take you to the port in a few minutes, where a comfortable 6 m RIB with a powerful 150 hp engine waits to take you to the dive site. To speed things up, it's advisable to bring your medical certificate and diving licence. The dives range from the small wall at -12 m to the anchor cemetery, the barracuda bay, the wreck of the cargo ship Madeirense lying at a depth of 34 m - 65 m long and in sailing trim, teeming with groupers and lots of other fish - and the very atmospheric cave, plus many more.

Water visibility is from 20 to 40 m, there's no thermocline, little seagrass, and since the bottom sand is fairly coarse it doesn't kick up suspension; there's no coral reef at all, but the steep walls will console you all the same. I'd like to close these travel impressions of mine with a special hello to Miguel and Alberto, in the hope of hugging them again soon and hunting down some new site together. To you all I wish happy holidays. Giancarlo Camillo, Jesolo, Venice