0871 423-5053
Only £25 deposit per booking
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0871 423-5053
Only £25 deposit per booking
Driving a little further along the scenic coast road passing through the odd tunnel dripping water and offering free car cleaning service, you'll arrive at idyllic Ponta do Sol. It's peaceful here indeed, with an attractive pebble beach bay framed by cliffs, and a choice of lazy beach cafes. Ponta do Sol is renowned for its all year round sunshine and dramatic sunsets!
Ponta Do Sol has a famous son too - John Dos Passos, acclaimed American author. Well, he wasn't born here in Ponta Do Sol, but his grandparents originate from Ponta Do Sol.
Conveniently close to Funchal, yet offering a quieter Madeira beach base, Ponta do Sol is a Madeira holiday retreat indeed. Its history is linked to the Flemish sugar merchant and friend of Christopher Columbus, Joao Esmeraldo. He built his country estate here which still survives here in changed form. The plantations around Ponta do Sol were worked by slaves Joao Esmeraldo being the slave owner!
Checkout the Nossa Senhora da Luz (Our Lady of Light, and indeed the light is amazing here) church in Ponta Do Sol and discover wooden Mudejar ceilings.
Diving is popular here of the rocky cliff coast (Ponta Do Sol itself does have a good peeble beach bay and promenade which is a real suntrap). Many diving schools take trips out from Ponta do Sol to the wreck of the Bowbelle just off-shore. You might remember the Bowbelle a gravel dredging ship which operated on London s river Thames and collided in 1989 with the Marchioness pleasure cruiser. 51 people lost their lives. The Bowbelle was sold on to a company in Madeira, but sank off the coast here at Ponta do Sol during a storm with the loss of one crew member.
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