Whenever I am in a strange place, I wake dead early, and the B&B in Funchal was no exception. I first opened my eyes at 5am, and though I tried, I never got back to sleep. I gave up at 7.15 and was quickly washed, dressed and ready to leave. I'd already told the lovely landlord not to expect me for breakfast, but he won me round with coffee.
And then I was off, walking around the port to get to the Marco Polo which I could see was tied up on the other side. Peter was waiting, and within a few minutes I was being warmly welcomed back on board. Peter was really pleased to see me, as I had brought new trainers, a printer cartridge and best of all, wi-fi! (I get a good deal on my phone, and this meant Peter could now sit in the cabin and catch up on all his emails and work.)
After breakfast, Peter made use of the wi-fi and I went back into Funchal, looking headphones for Peter and pencils for his class. I should have remembered that it was Sunday and that everywhere was closed, so I didn't find the headphones and the pencils were of the souvenir kind. It didn't matter though because I also ended up walking with a couple we've known since our first Amazon cruise 4 years ago. Moss and Robina are passionate bird watchers, and I love talking to them as I learn so much. If it wasn't for meeting up with them again, I wouldn't have known about the Monarch butterflies in the gardens.
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| Monarch Butterfly. Apparently they fly across the Atlantic to Mexico. |
Nor would I have found out that a bird I noticed feeding down in a waste outflow was a Common Sandpiper.
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| Little Egret |
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| Common Sandpiper |
It's going to be good to have Moss on board for the Amazon and all that wildlife.
The ship left Funchal at 2pm. Next stop Mindelo, Cape Verde islands in two days time. Now I feel like I'm on holiday.
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| Marco Polo at Funchal |
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