Author: Ricky Hanson

Flooding Morning After Hurricane Irene

This is the flooding we experienced after hurricane Irene. The baseball field is a river, the basketball and tennis courts are swimming pools, the play area is in the creek, and our street is under water. My building is now on a small island and there is no way out, no electricity, no cable and no internet. Our cell phones are all unable to find a connection. Good thing I’m a Mainer and know what to do in these situations. Evacuation bags are packed and stowed in the windowless bathroom, the bathtub is full of water, fridge and freezer are full of ice and food, plenty of candles, a gas stove, flashlights and batteries, radio and batteries, personal dvd player is all charged up. My ipod is charged and connecting to some super slow phantom wireless internet connection, I have no idea where it’s coming from, it was never here before, but it at least lets me check twitter and see a few videos of what’s going on outside our little island.

SEPTA Stops All Trains Busses and Trollies For Storm

SEPTA will cease all operations at 12:30 a.m. Sunday in anticipation of heavy rain and wind from Hurricane Irene. First time ever in history. (They stopped it an hour and a half early because of the bad weather, sucks for people who thought they had till 12:30am, hope noone was stranded as a result.)

Madeira Island, Western Tour Itinerary

We pick up from the hotel and head to Camara de Lobos, a traditional fishing village, located five kilometers from Funchal.

Further along the road between Funchal and Camara de Lobos and towards the hills, stands the Cape Girao. This Cape is the highest cliff in Europe and second in the world.

After this, we go to Ribeira Brava: a small village on the southwest coast of the island, where we visit a church from the fifteenth century. The village has several cafes and terraces for you to enjoy a little (around forty-five minutes). Then, we climb to the plateau at 1500 meters, Paul da Serra, located in the central-eastern part of the island.

It is the flattest part of Madeira and has fabulous views of mountains and green valleys, which contains one of the largest nature reserve parks in the world!

Then we go to Porto Moniz where we stop for two and a half hours for lunch and to enjoy. If you choose the volcanic pools of salt water at this point you have long enough to rest, go for a little stroll and relax. Our route then continues until Seixal. Along the way, we can see several waterfalls and then we stop for twenty minutes.

We then turn our gaze to Sao Vincente, one of the most predominant villages of the north coast of Madeira, where you will be able to visit the church, built in the seventeenth century. Finally we turn to Encumeada, one of the stops where you can see an incredible view of the south coast and north coast of our beautiful island.

Return to Funchal.