Part of our complete guide: Madeira webcams: 18 live streams from across the island
Camera by Portal Netmadeira. Nothing reaches YouTube until you click. The click sends data to Google, including your IP address.
What you see
Seixal bay, black rock, green cliffs dropping almost vertically into the water. The north is the island’s weather side — this is where the rain that spares Funchal falls, and where the swell arrives unbroken out of the north-west.
When it’s best
Before you set off. This isn’t a mood camera, it’s an instrument:
- Flat water — the natural pools are open, and Seixal is one of the loveliest places to swim on the island.
- White water over the rock — the pools are closed. That closure is enforced, not advised. Go anyway and you’ll see a very beautiful coast and not get in the sea.
In a north-westerly the second case is more common than holiday plans allow for.
Watch it or go?
Go — but look here first. The drive over the mountain takes about an hour from Funchal, and the difference between open and closed pools decides the whole outing.
While you’re up there, take in Porto Moniz; the better-known lava pools are twenty minutes further west, and in a swell they’re shut too.
