New Year's Eve

New Year's Eve at Madeira lived up to expectations.  We arrived early in the morning but six cruise ships into four berths won't go and so the Boudicca had to anchor and use the ship's tenders until it was our turn for a berth at 2:30pm.  Everyone who cruises knows that tendering usually ends up with some sort of cock-up.  This time it was the swell that turned stepping into the tender into an extreme sport for the over 70's.  Under these conditions the only way to fill a tender quickly is to operate a 'two refusals and you go to the back of the queue' system.  Faced with long queues we decided to stay on the balcony in the sunshine and wait until the ship docked.

Unfortunately the Saga Pearl II, who had the berth before us, was late leaving.  They probably have to check that all their passengers still have a pulse before sailing.  It was 4 o'clock before the shuttle bus dropped us off in the centre of Funchal and so we didn't have much time ashore.  Janet took some more photographs of the dodgy Santa balloon vendors who are the Madeira equivalent of the Big Issue sellers and we also saw a procession.  Last time we were in Funchal we watched a procession of old men in traditional costume carrying a Virgin through the town.  I assume that, by this time in the season, they must have run out and so the old men were all carrying hams.  God knows why, I suspect that the significance of these processions is lost in the cabinet in the Department of Tourism.

Having worked out that cruise ships normally back into Funchal harbour we'd chosen a cabin on the port side so we could watch the fireworks from our balcony.  We'd guessed right and were facing the island but the captain had decided that the Boudicca would sail at 10:30 and anchor a mile or so off shore to give everybody a better view.  Cruise Director Stein, with his unlimited supply of free wine, joined us for the formal dinner and afterwards we sat on our balcony to sober up.  We'd put the Christmas tree on the balcony table and wrapped LED lights round the rails.  The view of the harbour with all the lights of the town on the hills behind was breathtaking.  Our balcony wasn't bad either so we switched our lights off before sailing to avoid endangering other shipping.

Anchored offshore the starboard side was facing the island and we were looking for a good spot on deck to watch the display.  The usual contingent of passengers, determined to get the best view, had dragged their chairs into a wall and were sitting smugly in front of the ship's rail.  The captain had originally announced that he would try to point the rear of the ship towards the town so we took a chance and bagged a space at the back, which was then looking out to sea.  Five minutes before midnight the captain spun the ship round on the anchor chain and switched off all the lights.  The countdown to 2011 was punctuated by the satisfying sound of a number of smug people falling over their chairs.

I took some photographs of the display, but, even now that I've found the firework mode on the camera, they don't do it justice.  Out at sea you can see the whole of the island lit up with fireworks. In ten minutes 1% of the island's annual tax income goes up in smoke.  That's nothing compared to Gordon Brown's achievements, but it's still impressive and it's much more enjoyable to watch.  As soon as the fireworks had reached their deafening climax the captain slipped it into first and we were off.  There's no way he's going to be late back for the refit.  As the band belted out I'm on My Way to The YMCA at Una Paloma Blanca or something similar, we rocked our way towards the horizon.  The other cruise ships with all their lights blazing began to look like models on a lake, and a huge cloud of smoke hung over the island.  Magic, Happy New Year!

xx
Dave