For me, volcanic islands have always seemed to hold special secrets, and nothing is different with Porto Santo, Portugal. It is like an island from a fairy tale, not too big and not too small.

While touring the island, you will come across many different landscapes. Cliffs on which you can see fingerprints of lava, sandy deserts, a beach with volcanic black stones, a 9km long sandy beach where you can ride horses at sunset, a hidden green oasis in the heart of the island full of diverse vegetation…

Diving, however, adds a whole new dimension to this fantastic story. During my visit, the sea temperature was 18°C. That sounds a bit cold, but it’s one of the reasons why the visibility was so great, and I would particularly like to share more about a dive I did on the Madeirense shipwreck.

The Madeirense shipwreck, resting peacefully on the ocean floor, offers a glimpse into maritime history. Divers can expect to encounter the haunting remnants of this once-majestic vessel, now full of marine life. Although deliberately sunk in October 2000, this shipwreck has become an artificial reef and home to a large number of underwater inhabitants.

During our dives, everything was so full of life that I simply didn’t know where to look, when to take pictures, and when to record a video. There were rays, parrotfish, moray eels, 3 different kinds of groupers, jackfish, largescale scorpionfish, chromis, canary damsel, comber, Salema, seabream, trevally, barracuda and many, many more.

The wreck of this cargo ship lies about a mile away from the coast and rests at around 34m below the surface. There are also reefs off the coast nearby, and even an archaeological dive site where you can see ancient cannons. It is a very unique diving location, where the sunshine filters in through the transparent and turquoise waters to highlight the dazzling underwater world.

Although we had planned something else for our second dive, after the first dive on the Madeirense, we were all so amazed by its magnificence that we agreed to repeat the first dive.

The Madeirense shipwreck resembled a huge hotel, where all the marine inhabitants had their rooms like a giant underwater zoo. This wreck left a very strong lasting impression on me and I hope to dive there again sometime soo, however, next time I would like to do a night dive, because I believe it would turn out to be nothing short of a true dreamlike experience.

Written by Ivana OK following a dive in April 2024.

Photos by Tom St. George.

For more information, see: Portugal Dive’s website – Portugal Dive’s Instagram 

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