A Reserve You Watch From the Water, Not From the Sand
Look southeast from Ponta de São Lourenço on a clear day and the silhouette on the horizon is the Desertas Islands: three long, bare, red-brown ridges rising out of the Atlantic, uninhabited and largely unchanged since Portuguese sailors first charted them. They belong to Madeira’s story but not to its tourist trail in the usual sense — there are no ferries selling tickets ashore, no cafés, no paths to walk. The Desertas are a strict nature reserve, and the single fact worth carrying into any trip here is that you will not set foot on them. What you can do is get close by boat, cruise their cliffs, and — with luck rather than certainty — spot one of the rarest marine mammals in the world.
This page is about that specific experience: the Desertas as a protected reserve, the monk seal that depends on it, and the day-boat trips from Funchal that approach the islands without landing. It is not about general whale and dolphin watching around Madeira, which has its own dedicated guide covering trips from Funchal, Calheta and Caniçal that focus on cetaceans rather than the Desertas themselves.
The Islands Themselves
The Desertas comprise three landforms strung out roughly north to south: Ilhéu Chão, the smallest and nearest to Madeira; Deserta Grande, by far the largest at around 10km long and the one most day trips run alongside; and Bugio, the southernmost and most remote. All three are volcanic, arid, and largely without fresh water or vegetation cover beyond scrub grasses — a striking contrast to Madeira’s green, laurel-clad north coast just 25km away. The name itself is blunt: desertas simply means deserted.
Nobody lives here permanently. A small wardens’ post on Deserta Grande houses reserve staff on rotation, but there is no settlement, no infrastructure for visitors, and no safe anchorage sheltered enough for casual landing even if it were permitted. The cliffs drop steeply into the sea along most of the coastline, which is part of what makes the islands such an effective refuge for the species that depend on them.
Why the Desertas Are Protected
The Desertas were designated a nature reserve in 1990, specifically to protect one of the last strongholds of the Mediterranean monk seal (Monachus monachus), one of the most endangered marine mammals anywhere. Hunted to the edge of extinction across the Mediterranean and eastern Atlantic through the twentieth century, the population around the Desertas became one of only a handful of colonies left standing, and the reserve exists to give it space free of disturbance, fishing pressure and human contact.
The protection extends beyond the seals. The cliffs of Deserta Grande and Bugio hold important seabird colonies, including Zino’s petrel — a species that breeds almost nowhere else on Earth — alongside Cory’s shearwaters and Bulwer’s petrels. The surrounding waters, largely undisturbed by coastal development or heavy boat traffic, also support a healthy population of dolphins and passing cetaceans. Access is tightly controlled precisely because this combination of isolation and minimal human pressure is what makes the reserve work.
Practically, that means no public landing, no anchoring in the sensitive coves where seals haul out, and no operator authorised to bring passengers ashore. Reputable boat companies keep a respectful distance from any seal sighting rather than closing in for a better photograph, and the same etiquette that applies to responsible cetacean encounters elsewhere in Madeira applies here too — read the guide to responsible whale watching before booking if wildlife encounters matter to you.
Can You Land on the Desertas Islands?
No — and this is the point worth repeating, because it is easy to find older or vaguer descriptions online that leave the impression a landing is part of the experience. It is not. Setting foot on Ilhéu Chão, Deserta Grande or Bugio requires a formal permit from the Instituto das Florestas e Conservação da Natureza (IFCN), the body that manages Madeira’s protected areas, and that permit is issued for research, conservation or reserve management purposes only. There is no channel through which a visiting tourist can apply for one, and no commercial operator sells or arranges landing access. Any trip advertised as a “Desertas Islands tour” is, without exception, a boat trip that stays offshore.
That is not a technicality to be disappointed by so much as the reason the reserve still has monk seals in it at all. Treat the Desertas as a place you observe from a deck, camera in hand, rather than a destination you walk on.
Getting There: Boat Trips From Funchal
Day trips to the Desertas leave from Funchal marina, usually departing mid-morning and returning mid-to-late afternoon. The crossing itself takes around ninety minutes to two hours each way, run on catamarans, sailing yachts or rigid-hulled speedboats depending on the operator, and most itineraries build in stops for swimming, snorkelling or simply drifting along the coastline once they reach the islands.
Because there is no landing to organise, the shape of a Desertas day is straightforward: crossing out, a few hours cruising the eastern shoreline of Deserta Grande with time in the water where conditions allow, and the crossing back. Some operators fold in a wider loop that also covers the cliffs near Ponta de São Lourenço or the waters off Caniçal, Madeira’s old whaling port and now home to the Whaling Museum, which gives useful context on the region’s marine history before or after a Desertas outing.
A private sailing option that runs this stretch of coast is a private charter covering the waters off the eastern tip toward the Desertas, which suits smaller groups wanting more flexibility than a fixed-departure catamaran. For a faster, more adrenaline-led crossing, a speedboat run along the south coast that can extend toward the Desertas covers similar ground in less time.
If you would rather sail than motor, an east-coast sailing trip that takes in the same stretch of Atlantic explores the same eastern waters at a gentler pace, though it is not itself sold as a dedicated Desertas crossing — always check an operator’s exact route before booking if reaching the islands specifically is the goal.
Departures from Funchal Marina fill up in peak months, and cancellations for rough weather are common enough that booking a flexible date, or leaving a buffer day before flying home, is worth building into a one-week Madeira itinerary or the longer Madeira and Porto Santo week.
What to Expect on the Day
Sea conditions dictate almost everything about a Desertas trip. Madeira’s south coast, sheltered by the island’s mountains, is usually calm; the open water around the Desertas is not, and the swell picks up noticeably once boats clear the lee of Madeira. Anyone prone to seasickness should take precautions before boarding rather than after leaving harbour — there is no quick way back once you are an hour offshore.
Wildlife is the main draw and the hardest thing to promise. Dolphins are seen reasonably often on the crossing, riding the bow wave or crossing ahead of the boat, and crews are generally quick to spot them. The Mediterranean monk seal is a different matter: the population is small, wary of boats, and hauls out on remote stretches of coastline that vessels are required to approach cautiously and from a distance. A sighting is a genuine highlight when it happens, not a guaranteed line item on the day. Treat any operator who promises a seal encounter with scepticism — reputable companies are candid that it depends on the day.
Where conditions allow, most trips include a swimming or snorkelling stop in open water off the islands’ coastline, well away from any seal haul-out zones. The water here is clear and considerably less crowded than Madeira’s own coastal pools, but it is open Atlantic rather than a sheltered bay — current and depth are both greater than at somewhere like the natural pools at Porto Moniz or Seixal, and swimmers should be confident in open water.
Comparing the Ways to See the Desertas
| Trip type | Typical duration | Landing? | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|
| Catamaran/speedboat day trip | 7–9 hours | No | Wildlife spotting, swimming stops, group trips |
| Private sailing charter | 4–8 hours | No | Flexibility, smaller groups, calmer pace |
| Viewing from Ponta de São Lourenço | Free, on foot | N/A (islands seen from Madeira) | A glimpse without a boat, on a clear day only |
| Research/conservation visit | Multi-day | Yes, by IFCN permit only | Not available to the public |
Wildlife You Might See
Beyond the monk seal, the crossing and the coastline around the Desertas support a broader cast worth watching for. Common and bottlenose dolphins are the most frequently sighted cetaceans on the route, and occasional pilot whales or beaked whales pass through these waters, though — as with the Mediterranean monk seal — nothing offshore is scripted.
Overhead, the cliffs of Deserta Grande and Bugio host nesting seabirds through the spring and summer months, including species found almost nowhere outside this stretch of the Atlantic. For a fuller picture of what swims and flies around Madeira more broadly, the general whale and dolphin watching guide and the Garajau Marine Reserve page, covering the archipelago’s other major protected marine area, are useful companion reading.
If diving rather than a day boat is more your interest, note that the Desertas themselves are not a diving destination open to the public — the closest comparable protected diving is at Garajau or Canico de Baixo, both accessible from Madeira’s south coast; see the diving in Madeira guide for the practical detail.
Best Time of Year to Go
April to October is the reliable window. The Atlantic swell around the Desertas eases through spring and summer, crossings run closer to schedule, and visibility for both wildlife spotting and snorkelling improves. July and August bring the busiest boats and the highest prices, so shoulder months — May, June, September — tend to offer a steadier ride and a quieter deck for a similar chance of good weather.
Winter trips (November to March) do run, but far less predictably. Atlantic depressions bring heavier swell more often, and operators cancel outright rather than run an uncomfortable or unsafe crossing, so a winter booking is best treated as provisional rather than fixed — worth knowing if a Desertas trip is a must-do on a short winter visit.
Budgeting a Desertas Day
A standard shared-boat day trip runs from around €70 to €100 per person, generally including snacks or a light lunch and use of snorkelling gear. Private charters, whether sail or speedboat, run higher — from roughly €100 up to €140 or more per person depending on group size and vessel, and considerably more again if chartering an entire boat privately for a small group. As with most Madeira boat trips, prices climb in July and August and ease off in the shoulder seasons either side.
Factor in that this is a full-day commitment rather than a half-day add-on: with the crossing time both ways, there is little scope to combine a Desertas trip with much else on the same day, so it is worth planning around it rather than squeezing it into a packed itinerary such as a three-day Madeira visit, where time is already tight.
Practical Notes Before Booking
Bring more than you think you need for a day on open water: a hat and reef-safe sunscreen, since there is no shade once clear of Madeira’s coast; a light layer, as it can feel noticeably cooler and windier offshore than it does in Funchal; and seasickness tablets taken well before departure if you have any history of feeling unwell at sea. A swimsuit and a change of clothes are worth packing if the itinerary includes a swimming stop.
Check cancellation terms before paying. Because the Desertas crossing depends heavily on swell conditions, operators cancel or reroute trips more often than sheltered south-coast outings, and a policy that allows a free date change rather than a forfeited booking is worth prioritising over a marginally cheaper fare. Building a spare day into your trip, rather than booking a Desertas crossing for your last full day in Madeira, removes most of the stress if the weather does not cooperate.
