We were delighted when we got in touch with Emily, a fashion blogger from London. With a love for fashion, food, drink and travel, it was time for Emily to go on holidays in Madeira to explore this beautiful island. As you may know, one of the must-do’s on Madeira are the dolphin watching tours, or even better, the swimming with dolphins tours.
We hereby share Emily’s experience on holidays in Madeira, which she also shared on her blog, The London Blogger:
Off of mainland Portugal sits the small (800km) island of Madeira; mine and my Mum’s residence for a week of R&R.
The island volcanic, green and rugged, with high cliffs, pebbly beaches and settlements on deltas of the Fajã River. We were staying in the capital, Funchal, which is absolutely brimming with gorgeous mountainous walks and too many dining destinations to even begin to put into words. A true foodie paradise, set amongst 600-year-old architecture or facing the glistening waters of the harbour.
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The weather in June is known as ‘blanket month’ due to the cloud that gathers by the mountains at this time of year. However, despite this, I am writing to you right now with a rather sore sunburn after at least three full days of beaming sunshine and poolside relaxation! We happened to have a rather fabulous pool with the most gorgeous views at Four Views Baia which had us slothing out on the hotter days like two beached whales
On our second to last day, we went swimming with dolphins with SeaBookings. Swimming or even just seeing dolphins has been a bucket list item for my whole life… probably the top one too. If you’re a long-term follower of mine you’ll know I’m animal obsessed (which, even with using the word ‘obsessed’ is still the understatement of the century…) and I’ve always found dolphins to be SO intelligent and majestic… just totally mesmerising!
We set out on a two and a half hour RIG boat consisting of 8 people and a biólogo marinho and saw two types of dolphin (the Bottlenose and Common dolphin) and were also lucky enough to spot some Beak whales too. They played by the boat and put on a show for us, jumping and doing summersaults above the water and the marine biologist talked us through their species, where they come from etc.
We then got chance to swim with the ‘Common’ dolphins (who were the cheekiest of the bunch – flapping and jumping and playing with us). We jumped in the water and held onto the side of the boat in our snorkels as they played around us.
I really can’t begin to explain how incredible it was not only to see dolphins but to know we were seeing them totally in their wild and natural habitat and obeying all wildlife laws and regulations; no feeding them, touching them and we could only stay with one group for ten minutes maximum before whizzing off to find our next set of friends. Thank you SeaBookings for SUCH an amazing experience! The highlight of our trip.
Thank you, Madeira, you bloody beautiful island, you!
