On Friday 27th September, we visited the Madeira whaling museum, which was free because of world tourism day. We got an audio guide to listen to as we went around. There were movies with clips of the history of whaling, one of the clips talked about how there used to be lots of sperm whales hunted off Madeira but the numbers reduced and by the 1980s there were only four whaling boats left. Whaling in Madeira finished in 1981.
The museum also had two full size whaling skiffs, models of bigger whaling boats, and a gallery of artwork. There was also a room with models of whales, dolphins and seals, with information about protecting the oceans. One of the exhibits was a real life jaw bone from one of last whales ever hunted off Madeira.
I (Archie) thought the museum was very interesting but I felt sad about the whales that were hunted. I'm pleased that they don't hunt whales in Madeira anymore, but it is wrong that some countries still hunt them. There is no reason for hunting whales any more, as we have alternatives to all of the produts that used to come from whales, and we know that hunting them was cruel.
After the whaling museum, we drove along the north coat of the island to Poro Moniz. There was a big salt water pool made from the volcanic rocks with man made walls between them. We swam around for a bit and then sat on a wall that had big waves washing over it that washed us off. There was one wave that crashed right over us! The waves were our favourite part.
On Saturday we went into Funchal at lunchtime and looked around the old town with Pilar.
Then we went to a Lido with a big salt water pool and a mini water slide. The sea was rough so we couldn't swim in the sea. At one stage, a replica galleon sailed past!
After we'd finished swimming we had an ice cream and then went to show Pilar the viewpoint near the marina before we went back to the boat.
In the evening, Daddy and Pilar took us to a go kart track and I (Archie) crashed through the barriers on one of the corners! It was really good fun, we both got faster and faster as we got used to it. The track was underneath the airport runway.
Then, we went shopping for some things for our trip to Lanzarote.
