Porto Santo is not far from Madeira though the two islands are completely different. While Madeira is generally green with a rocky and steep coast line, Porto Santo has a golden colour due to its 9 km sandy beach.

Porto Santo, which means ‘Holy Port’ in English, was the first island of Madeira’s archipelago to be discovered, when the Portuguese navigators João Gonçalves Zarco and Tristão Vaz Teixeira took shelter from a storm, in 1418.

Only one year later they have faced their fear and sailed to that large cloud they always saw on the of Porto Santo Island, and that way they discovered Madeira.

Photos by Catarina Fagundes