As in 2011, we went back to Madeira because we needed somewhere we knew we'd be well looked after and where we could relax. The staff at Quinta da Casa Branca were as professional and friendly as ever and all was well with the world.

Please see earlier holiday photos for pictures of the island (in 2007, 2009 and 2011).

We took quite a few photos of the beautiful gardens at Quinta da Casa Branca, most of which are on a separate page.

When we arrived it was calm, sunny and warm so we were surprised to wake up to rain on the Sunday morning. It soon stopped and, after a yummy breakfast, we strolled down (and down and down) into Funchal centre and harbour.

We both remarked how the final hill on the way back to hotel didn't seem to be as bad as we'd remembered. Can't believe we're any fitter than we were 3 years ago but you never know.

Palm trees always remind me of holidays, especially when the sky is as blue as this behind / above them.

None of the dolphin watching boats seemed to be out (sea too rough) but there were a few wind surfers, kayakers and dinghy sailers about.

The harbour seemed to be as full of boats as ever but there seemed to be fewer tourists around. Still plenty of fish for the fishermen at the end of the jetty to catch.

A typical view for Jonathon - coffee, harbour etc.

We wondered how to get to the cafe above but decided to go back to our hotel for lunch - delicious as always.

Monday arrived and even more rain but it cleared up as the morning went on. Not to be put off by the weather, we enjoyed the hotel gardens between the showers. The gardens are beautiful and one of the reasons we keep coming back here.

We took a lot of photos of the gardens and the plants so most of them are on a separate page.

Far left is a new pupa, still a milky green and yellow colour whereas the photo immediate left shows a pupa that will shortly become a butterfly (the green and gold one) and a pupa that is now over because it has "hatched".

There were lots of Monarch (aka Wanderer) butterflies around. Jonathon's challenge was to get me a nice photograph of one before the end of the week. Never let it be said that he doesn't rise to a challenge.

Not to be outdone, a couple of days later I managed to capture a few photos of them as well - in the sunshine so the colours really glow. The challenge is now on!

The reason we know all the above about the caterpillars is courtesy of Chris, seen here chatting technical camera stuff to Jonathon.

Back to the garden itself and you might have noticed that I'm experimenting with slightly larger "small" photos this year.

This is the bed just outside the Pavillion restaurant (breakfast and lunch). It was this bed that gave me the idea of our patio at home in a round about way - not the planting but the design.

 

Hard to see from the photo on the right but there are lots and lots of these plants underneath the arches (all in pots).

The walk back up the hill to our hotel didn't seem as bad when we were walking through Santa Catarina Park.

 

There are some lovely views from the park looking back over the harbour and the town as it climbs up the mountain.

The fence on the left surrounded the children's play area.

The swan on the right was building a nest in the middle of the lake.

Back to the hotel for afternoon tea and the end of another lovely day.

Tuesday dawned bright, clear, dry and sunny so a late breakfast was followed by a general lazing around reading our books and a snack lunch before heading to the harbour for a trip on Seaborn.

The idea was to have a three hour trip and see some dolphins. We did see some Striped Dolphins. They are the fastest dolphins in the Atlantic and proved to be too fast for me. Quite a few pictures of splashes later, I had to rely on Jonathon to provide me with some photos of the dolphins!

It was a nice, calm boat ride and it was lovely to be on the sea and in the fresh air.

We saw a few interesting bit and pieces on the way back to the harbour. First up, a very large ship with a few smaller boats around it doing we know not what.

It was also great to be under sail for part of the journey. The photo above centre is not the cat we were on but one that looks almost the same. I hadn't realised how fascinated I'd been by the process of putting the sales up until Jonathon gave me this photo (above left). From the photo below left, it seems I wasn't the only one.

Wednesday arrived sunny and warm and it was my birthday. The choir (some of whom in photo on right) presented me with a delicious cake and sang "Happy Birthday" at breakfast. A lovely surprise.

 

After a relaxing morning, my birthday treat was afternoon tea on the tea terrace at Reid's. Very civilised and very tasty with special menu stuff for me instead of sandwiches.

This was my equivalent of sandwiches - cold meats and cheeses - delicious.

There were 24 different kinds of tea on the menu so Jonathon asked for coffee. He wasn't the only one and the waiter confessed he wasn't a tea drinker either.

Our hotel had obviously told Reid's it was my birthday so here is my second birthday cake of the day. Far too big for Jonathon to eat all on his own (I ate the raspberries) but the six people on the next table were more than happy to finish it off for us.

Thursday was another lovely sunny day with a great sunrise to start us off.

I'd wanted to visit the Desertas islands for a while but never been successful on our earlier visits. This time we got a trip booked so we were all set.

I took a few more photos of the gardens while we were waiting to be picked up for the trip. This swing chair is Jonathon's favourite place to sit and watch the world go by.

These two photos are from the drive rather than the main garden.

It was a reasonably long boat ride on Bonita da Madeira, a lovely wooden boat. We followed the coast for a while and looked back at Funchal. The houses on the right look like they're tumbling down the cliff but they are quite safe (apparently).

There were some interesting cloud patterns to look at while we were going along.

We arrived, anchored and had a delicious lunch on board before being ferried to the larger of the three islands. Getting off the boat and on to the island was an interesting experience, if somewhat wet!

Although the island looked barren, there were quite a few wild flowers around. There was also a hospital for injured Monk Seals but there were no seals in it while we were there.

A selfie - good to tell he's got long arms!

Our sandals drying out.

The end of the trip and back to the hotel for a snack, update of website and bed.

Friday gave us a whole new adventure in a 4WD with Jaime at the wheel. We went into the centre of the island - first stop near Fortes ...

Most of the plants were very low growing but very bright colours so attractive to the insects.

The path in the photo above was our "road" - so pleased we weren't driving.

While he was busy looking for birds, I took quite a few photos of cows (these first three are Jonathon's because he couldn't resist!)

They didn't seem to be too worried by us at all. Some of the time, the only noise you could here in this beautiful place was the sound of the cow bells that some of them were wearing.

We dropped down into Ribiera da Brava for a bite of lunch (Jonathon's pizza would have fed four of us - no wonder he couldn't manage to eat it all).

As we were driving along, Jaime explained that different crops were grown at different altitudes with bananas and tropical fruit lower down, then grapes (every garden at one point seemed to have vines) and cherries and chestnuts at the top.