10 September 2012

Fall skies

The weather in our North-Atlantic island is slowly changing towards Winter. I've noticed that already about two weeks ago, while at work, early one morning in the port of Caniçal.
The hot temperatures and hazy skies of the morning time, regular during the past months, gave their place to a fresh dawn breeze and crystal clear atmosphere.
In the mountains things are no different and during the past two weeks the reduction of daylight time was so abrupt that made it noticeable.
Luckily, as in the previous year, we'll have a peaceful transition to Autumn. Meaning general decreasing of air temperature, increasing of the cloud cover and, hopefully, some rain showers (it has been a dry year and the levadas through all the island are somehow on the low level) and light breezes from the North. Better than that, only Spring time, during May and early June.
The skies look already different and yesterday, while descending from Pico Ruívo I had the first glimpse of the next season as you can see by the colors in the photos below.
Yesterday, while descending from Pico Ruívo, the highest in the island, I turned back, looking West, to watch the setting sun. The cloud cover, nonexistent during the afternoon time, was already thickening as a premonition to the rain showers promised for the next few days.
The cloud shape has also changed and the Summer sky, composed mostly by Stratus and Cirrus clouds, gave place to the more water-friendlies Cumulus clouds. During my professional mariner's life, we used to call Cumulus "the good weather clouds". Life's always good for a seaman while navigating under a sky filled with these puffy friends.
Pictures taken with Nikon D40X and cheap Nikkor AF-S 55-200mm f/4-5.6G ED kit lens.
Post-processing in Adobe Photoshop CS3.

09 September 2012

Into the Garden of Eden

Since my first days in Madeira, about eight years ago, I've been dreaming about hiking along the Ribeira da Janela valley, in Porto Moniz region.
However, the sheer length of the levada that leads us to the depths of the valley was always enough to turn me off. In fact, from the end of the levada (in Lamaceiros) to the beginning of it (near it's source, deep in the valley) we have a good fifteen kilometres. And since when we reach the end of it (or the beginning!), we have to turn back and return by the same way we easily end up our hiking day with thirty kilometres in our Vibram soles.
That's not too bad, since it's a gentle walk along one of the most modern levadas in Madeira, with a few tunnels along the way.
However for a person alone it can become quickly tedious, since you have to be prepared to be on your own in the mountain for at least eight hours.
For this reason only this levada, whose construction started in 1961 with the objective of feeding water to the hydroelectric power plant of Ribeira da Janela, was never to me a priority.
Until yesterday.
With a couple of friends, I finnaly decided to give my feet a little bit of action. Starting the hike in Fonte do Bispo (at the end of Paúl da Serra plateau) a forest road first and a mountain trail later would lead us to the levada itself, after seven kilometres of (sometimes) steep terrain.
When we finally reach the levada, it becomes obvious to us that we are in one of the most magic places in Madeira.
The Ribeira da Janela valley is one of the most pristine places in the island. There is nothing man-made here, except the gentle water stream flowing at our feet.
From this intersection, and since we've came a long way from the high plateau, we might as well walk upstream a couple of miles to reach the "mother" (or the spring) of the levada.
Up there, surrounded by a dense primeval forest and deep inside the Laurissilva, we easily imagine ourselves as characters in Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's The Lost World.
The return would take us three and a half hours, in a good pace, to complete the remaining fifteen kilometres separating us from Lamaceiros. Three and a half hours of thick green Laurissilva in the most preserved forest area of Madeira.
When we finally reached it, our feet were sore but our souls were shinning. Seated in a nearby bar, drinking a glass of fresh water, in a peaceful September afternoon, I was thinking to myself that we went to the Garden of Eden and returned back. In the same day.
Who has the courage to say that time travel is impossible?
The Levada da Ribeira da Janela begins (or ends) right at this spot, in Lamaceiros. From here it will be fifteen kilometres...
...and nine tunnels up to the spring, deep in the valley.
This levada is so vast and remote that, for maintenance purposes, some houses were built along it to help the "levadeiros" with their works. In the old days these professionals spent an entire working week away from civilization, only returning home at the weekends. These "levadeiros houses" were, therefore, vital structures to help the levadeiros with their works. Here they would have a shelter, a place to rest and to prepare their daily food.
The levada spring (or "mother"), near the end of the Ribeira da Janela valley, fifteen kilometres upstream from Lamaceiros. The levadas springs are, quite often, humanized places. Most of the times there's a small concrete wall, a dam, crossing the river in the optimal position to deviate part of its waters to the levada channel. However all this construction is well integrated in the landscape. So, it hardly hurts your eyes.
A friendly inhabitant of this levada. Always a nice companion along the trail. If, by any chance, he notices that you carry crackers, you'll have a friend for life.
Pictures taken with Nikon D40X and Sigma 18-50mm EX f/2.8.
Post-processing and resizing in Adobe Photoshop CS3.

05 September 2012

The second horseman

Maybe it's just my natural pessimism, but, in these volatile times, I, sometimes, have the feeling that the worst days lay further ahead. That the crisis in which the all world is submerged is far from being dominated and vanquished.
And, amidst all these cyclopic forces, that we seem unable to control and truly understand, lies our old Europe. Helpless to herself. Navigating without a coherent course and lacking a competent helmsman. Heading to the shallow waters of a prophetic disaster and risking the peace project that took the founding fathers of our united Europe decades to build.
As we advance in time, the sinister look of this shell-beaten building in Budapest, the capital city of Hungary, is always a strong reminder to me that the war in Europe is, in the future, more than a virtual possibility. It's a fact corroborated by the past History. And that keeping the peace and fraternity among all the European citizens is a matter of survival. Survival of us all.
In these uncertain times, we can only expect that our leaders know what they are doing. For their sake. And for ours.
Shell impacts on a Budapest building.
Picture taken with Pentax MX and cheap Cosina 50mm f:2.
Kodak Ecktachrome 100 VS scanned in Nikon Coolscan V ED and post-processed in Adobe Photoshop CS3.

23 August 2012

Hurricane Gordon

Almost all of my professional seafaring career was made in the domestic trade, between the Portuguese mainland and the autonomous regions of Madeira and Açores.
Having sailed for more than six years in the Açores trade, I developed a deep respect for the Azorean people and for those enchanted islands in the middle of the Atlantic. Over the course of that amount of time I collected my share of tropical storms, gales and rough weather in general, either heading to the islands or simply navigating between them. The Azorean islands are beautiful, granted. But the ocean surrounding them is a completely different story. Except for the Summer months, the weather in Açores is, in the lack of a better word, unpredictable. And stormy is a word quite often used.
Also, being the islands located in the Mid-Atlantic Ridge and therefore subjected to tectonic activity, the volcanic activity and earthquakes are present everyday in the lives of its citizens.
Facing the danger on a daily basis and having developed a deep respect for these cyclopic forces of nature over the centuries, the Azorean citizens were always molded from a different steel than the rest of the portuguese population.
So, when I heard the news and found that a Class 2 hurricane was heading to the Açores I wasn't really that worried. The poor storm had to face one of the most valiant people that God placed on the surface of the good ol' Earth.
And two days before the storm arrived to the islands, all the society (citizens, police, regional government, firemen and the rest of the civil protection authorities) was already holding fast and starting the prevention procedures. To avoid bigger damages. At air, land and sea.
When the stormy winds finally passed over - except for a few mudslides and fallen trees - nothing happened.
A distracted person might say that it was sheer luck.
Knowing the Açores and the Azorean people, I, honestly, tell you that luck had nothing to do with it.

19 August 2012

MY Excellence V

MY Excellence V arriving yesterday to Funchal, for a routine call:
As soon as the global financial crisis reaches its end, I'll buy myself one of these. With my seafaring savings. Honest-to-God. She's already ordered.
Pictures made with Panasonic DMC-FT3 digital compact camera and post-processing in Adobe Lightroom and Adobe Photoshop CS3.

13 August 2012

Pico do Areeiro and the Milky Way

Yesterday I spent the night in the mountains. A few snacks for the way, a thermos with hot tea, a camping mattress and a Summer sleeping bag and the absolutely needed photo equipment were the items for another astrophotography attempt.
Still much to learn, tho. Photographing the night sky is not easy. And although I've tried my best... my best was not good enough. First the landscape itself. Madeira is not the best place for pictures of the night sky. Plenty of human lights everywhere. See the yellow-orange glow above the peaks? It's the city of Funchal litting the night. This man-made light effect can, sometimes, be counteracted by a low cloud cover, who can work as a diffuser. However past night was clear as crystal.
Second... the equipment. We are always limited to small shutter speeds. A max. of 30 seconds. However, a max. of 20 seconds is advisable. And that's with a wide angle. Use a normal or a telephoto lens and you have to dramatically reduce those times. Otherwise, you'll have star trails instead of dots. And the sky will be blurred. To avoid that, you'll need also the fastest lenses (between f/1.4 and f/2.0) and/or high ISO's. And we all know how difficult is to focus a lens with an f/1.4 aperture. Try that at midnight, in a dark landscape and with a dark viewfinder, to make things easier. Also, with the high ISO's comes the noise. All in all, a receipt for disaster. Or maybe I'm just not a good enough photographer for the task.
Could I've made a better photo? Eventually. Technically speaking, and with some thousand Euros more, a Nikkor 24mm f/1.4 (sharp even wide open) and a full-frame format body (D700, D3, D800 or D4), with it's remarkable behaviour in very high ISO's, would have made a clear difference. A different framing could have helped also. But that is a very different discussion.
The Pico do Areeiro (and it's Radar station) and the Milky Way seen from the Achada do Teixeira-Pico Ruívo trail, yesterday, around midnight.
Picture taken with Nikon D300 and Sigma 24mm EX f/1.8.
Manfrotto tripod and Junior geared head.
Exposure details: 15 secs at f/2.8, ISO 3200, Auto WB.
Post-processing in Adobe Photoshop Lightroom and Adobe Photoshop CS3.

11 August 2012

The Levada Nova da Ponta do Sol

The Levada Nova, in Ponta do Sol, is one of the rare round hikes in Madeira. In fact, with most of the levada walks, you start at the end and you go upstream until you reach it's source (in Portuguese the "madre", meaning "mother"). Regardless of the fact that these walks are generally beautiful, as soon as you reach it's end, you have to return all the way back through the same route.
That doesn't happen in Levada Nova. You begin your hike in the village of Lombada da Ponta do Sol, where you park your car near the town's church. From there, you will walk uphill for about five hundred meters (and ascending a couple of hundred), along the village, though a well signalized route. At the end of a small alley you'll reach the Levada Nova.
From there, you'll have a relaxed two hour's walk along the levada 'till the beginning of it, right in the heart of Ribeira da Ponta do Sol valley.
Upon reaching the Levada Nova's "madre", you'll walk a few hundred metres downstream, along the Ribeira da Ponta do Sol bed, until you notice, on your left, another levada, on a lower level than the previous one you've just hiked.
This one, the Levada do Moinho, will bring you to your starting point, right near the Lombada da Ponta do Sol church, two hours and some dozens of blackberries later.
The Levada Nova da Ponta do Sol is presently subjected to an intense repair work, including also the protection of the vertiginous places with handrails.
Although in some places the levada is quite exposed and vertiginous, the quality of the construction and repair works made makes it quite secure for walkers, as you can judge by the perfect cement path along the water channel. In the near future, with the last handrails in place, this levada will become one of the most enjoyable and safest walks in Madeira.
Contrasting with the present peaceful days, the past human attempts to control the waters in Madeira were not always sunshine and roses. The History of this massive engineering feat is filled with minor and bigger dramas that crossed thru generations. About halfway along the Levada Nova, we noticed this small shrine. A talk with a passing "levadeiro" (the public servant responsible for the levadas maintenance and repair) unveiled the mystery. It was an homage to a lady that fell to her death in that exact same place, in the early eighties. The circumstances of her death are, to the present day, not quite clear. Some say it was a distraction and a fall. Pure and simple. Some claim that the fall was preceded by a strong discussion with others and related with the rights to the water. Peace to her soul.
After a one hundred and fifty meter tunnel we reach the most lovely spot of the hike. A deep canyon...
... and the usual waterfall.

The way back, along the Levada do Moinho, is punctuated by wild fruits of all kinds. So, if you happen to forget your daily snacks at home... no worries. We've seen figs, prunes, apples and the ever present and delicious blackberries (pictured) along the way. At least during Summer time, our food problems are solved.

Thus ends the Levada do Moinho, close to the Lombada da Ponta do Sol church. With a small and luxurious garden watered by an aqueduct.
Pictures taken with Panasonic Lumix DMC-GH2 and Panasonic Lumix 14-42mm kit lens.
Post-processing in Adobe Photoshop Lightroom and Adobe Photoshop CS3.