Travel Planning
The harbour camera and the Porto Santo ferry
Pontinha shows whether a ship is alongside. It does not show the timetable, the gate, or the sea halfway across.
The ferry to Porto Santo uses Funchal harbour. The camera and the boat are different places.
Pontinha and the port camera are Madeira-Web. A large hull alongside means something is berthed. It does not name the ship and it does not give a departure. White water outside the breakwater is the sea you meet after the harbour, not a forecast for the crossing. Which of the three harbour pictures is which is which harbour camera. The short sea-state page is the ferry check. The harbour write-up is harbour and boats.
On the other island, Porto Santo is NetMadeira with the municipality, from the high ground, and the beach camera is the sand. A calm Funchal quay is not a calm beach over there. Wind on that flat island lifts the sand. Look the morning you travel, at the quay and at Porto Santo, before you treat a booked crossing as a settled sea. The operator has the timetable. The picture only shows the water and the quay.
Related Articles
- Which Funchal harbour camera shows what
Three pictures, three different bits of the waterfront. None of them is a departure board.
- Cruise-ship days in Funchal harbour
Pontinha shows whether a ship is alongside. The marina camera shows the promenade, not the gangway.
- The Funchal marina picture, before a boat trip
The marina camera shows the quay and the promenade. It does not publish works dates or a boarding pier.