Water sports in Porto Santo

We're big fans of water sports, something easy to find at Porto Santo, or we wouldn't be talking about an island full of small coves and vast stretches of sand bathed by crystal-clear waters.

Kayaking, snorkelling, stand up paddle, bodyboarding, wing foil and diving... There were so many options that we found it difficult to fit everything into our plan. But as we love water sports, we made a point of trying everything available!

We started with kayaking, which we ended up doing twice. The first was in Calheta Beach. We took to the sea with Matias in two kayaks: me, Margarida and the kids in a big kayak, Matias and his water dog in another one. As far as we could tell, the dog always goes with him to the sea and we confirmed that he was very comfortable in the kayak.

We rowed towards Ilhéu da Cal, where we arrived on the north side as the sea was calm. At one point Matias tells us: 'See that crack in the rock? That's the way!' A quick look made us feel it would be impossible to get into that 'hole' with the kayak. The fact is that even with only a few centimetres on each side of the kayak, we managed to get inside the cave. Once inside, we noticed that on one side it was dark, but on the other we could see the sea in a crystal-clear blue colour, due to the rays of sunlight that passed under the rocks and lit our way. This was one of the highlights of kayaking, and on the way back to Calheta we still felt the excitement of catching the foam from the waves breaking in the shallows of the canal.

The second round of kayaking happened on the other side of the island, in the same place where we were going snorkelling. Matias told us about his 'friend', a wild octopus, and said that, if we were lucky, we might get to see it up close! Of course, we laughed when he told us that the octopus was his friend, and I confess that we were very reluctant to go snorkelling with the octopus in the place where he assured us we could find it.

We set off with the kayak from the beach, at first with some emotion, as we had to row against the foam of the waves, surrounded by rocks, but in no time we were floating without any wind, in unbelievable water (crystal clear and warm) waiting for the whole group to gather in the sea. We didn't wait long, but it was enough for the kids to jump into the water and start peering through their snorkelling goggles, looking for marine life.

Once we were all back together, we were ready to start kayaking again. We continued rowing through coves and small rapids between the rocks (there was something for everyone, with or without emotion, but we always opted for more excitement), with Matias and his dog leading the way. After about 15 minutes we pulled the kayaks over to a shallower rock and began our snorkelling adventure.

We put on our fins, adjusted our goggles and snorkelling tubes and jumped into the water searching for underwater life. 'He's here!' Matias shouted, referring to his octopus friend. We swam quickly to him, head in the water, and there he was petting the octopus! We couldn't believe it, the octopus was right there with him, it was spectacular to see.

As we can't get enough of water sports, we spent another day on the (giant) Porto Santo beach and went to the old pier where locals were showing off their daring dives from above into the sea. We decided to go for a stand up paddle ride along the beach, passing under the pier and watching those brave kids land up close. Stand up paddle is one of the simplest ways to enjoy Porto Santo's spectacular water, both on the rocks and on the sand. Besides, it's easy to take the kids and it's great for keeping fit without too much effort, but it requires good balance!

A booming water sport is wing foil, which is perfect for making great edges along Porto Santo's long sandy beaches. When the wind blows enough to lift the board out of the water, we start flying low through the hydrofoil, we stop hearing the noise of the water and off we go, 'speeding' along the sand. Currently one of my favourite water sports.

The kids wanted to go bodyboarding, but there were no waves that day, so we ended up towing them by motorboat and so they got some thrills from the fast curves and counter-curves, with a few falls and lots of good humour. It's relatively easy to find a bodyboard in water sports centres.

Margarida's favourite activity is diving, as she loves being underwater watching marine life, discovering corals and shipwrecks, in the peace that the underwater world conveys. And on one of the mornings we managed to dive from the Porto Santo marina to a shipwreck near the top islet, which is at a comfortable depth of around 20 metres, making it a calm dive. The kids and I stayed on the surface in our snorkelling gear, watching Margarida go down into the blue water below.

If there's one thing that won't fail you in Porto Santo, it's water sports! One of the main reasons why we love this island.