Desertas Islands, Madeira: Boat Trip and Reserve Rules

What The Catamaran Listing Says

The listing for the Desertas Islands full-day catamaran states it plainly: landing on the Desertas Islands requires a separate permit and is not part of the cruise. You sail about 22 nautical miles from Funchal, you see the cliffs, you eat lunch on board, you come back. That is the product.

If stepping onto the island is the reason you are booking, this tour will not deliver it, and the listing says so itself.

How Landing Actually Works

IFCN's Como Visitar page describes the real visit. Thousands of people reach the reserve every year on private boats, maritime-tourism boats and Portuguese Navy ships, always with prior authorisation from IFCN. The main nature-tourism activity is a guided visit along an interpretive path, followed by wildlife watching and listening.

Authorisation is requested through the SIMplifica portal, on the service called Credencial para visitar a Rede de Áreas Marinhas Protegidas. That credential covers the Desertas, the Selvagens and Porto Santo's marine protected areas. The cost section on the service page reads Não se aplica, so no fee is listed.

There is no public ferry. IFCN does not publish a quota, a timetable or a landing-slot count, and it does not say which tour operators hold credentials. Ask the operator before booking whether they land at Doca.

What Is Allowed And What Is Not

The reserve is split into zones, and the split decides where your boat may go. The table below compares the two protection zones and the banned list, using IFCN's management page as the source.

What Needs IFCN Authorisation

With authorisation, IFCN allows access to land, the interpretive visit, bird watching and listening, overnight stays for awareness and educational activities, and non-motorised sporting nautical activities. Everything else on land is off limits. Contact IFCN on +351 291 145 590 or by email at dsgveac.ifcn@madeira.gov.pt if the SIMplifica form leaves questions open.

The Islands Side By Side

The table compares the three islands by length, highest point and the detail that matters most for a visitor.

Where They Are

The chain sits southeast of Madeira, 12 nautical miles from Ponta de São Lourenço and 22 nautical miles from Funchal. From the deck of the full-day catamaran the cliffs grow slowly out of the horizon on the way out, which is part of why the crossing takes a full day.

The Monk Seal

The Mediterranean monk seal, lobo-marinho in Portuguese, is the reason the islands got protection in the first place. A small colony survives here, and the 1988 conservation project grew into decades of work, including a rehabilitation unit built at Doca. Under the regional marine-vertebrates law, boats may not enter caves used by monk seals without authorisation, may not approach closer than 50 m, and may not chase or touch them.

Most catamaran passengers never see one. IFCN's board at Ponta de São Lourenço says monk seals may also be seen from land at the eastern tip of Madeira, and the Ponta de São Lourenço walk is the cheapest way to try.

Seabirds

Four petrel and shearwater species nest here: Cory's shearwater, the Madeiran storm petrel, Bulwer's petrel and the Desertas petrel. Deserta Grande holds the largest Bulwer's petrel colony in the Atlantic and possibly the world. The Desertas petrel nests only on Bugio, which is one reason the island is sealed off.

Guided bird watching and listening is allowed, but only with IFCN authorisation.

Endemics On Land

The strangest resident is the Desertas tarantula, Hogna ingens, found only in the Vale da Castanheira at the north end of Deserta Grande. Around 50 land snail species and subspecies live here, 44 of them endemic. There is an endemic lizard subspecies, Teira dugesii mauli.

About 200 vascular plant species grow on the islands, 30% of them Madeiran endemics, and two plants grow nowhere but Deserta Grande: Sinapidendron sempervivifolium and Musschia isambertoi. Turtles and cetaceans pass through the surrounding waters.

From Last Refuge To Strict Reserve

The monk seal had been pushed to the edge across the Mediterranean and Atlantic, and the tiny Desertas colony became one of its last strongholds. Rabbits, goats and mice were degrading the habitat and competing with the plants the seals' island ecosystem depends on. Habitat recovery on Deserta Grande began with rabbit eradication, and the islands have been watched permanently by nature wardens since protection began.

The European Diploma for Protected Areas from the Council of Europe, awarded in March 2014, recognises that work.

• 1988: monk seal conservation project begins, wardens start their permanent watch
• 1996: rabbits eradicated on Deserta Grande, goats and mice reduced
• 1997: monk seal rehabilitation unit built at Doca
• 2014: European Diploma for Protected Areas, SPA enlarged to 76,462 hectares

Your Three Options

The islands sit 22 nautical miles from Funchal, roughly an open-sea day out and back. No public ferry exists, and IFCN's page mentions none. The options are these.

Practical Booking Notes

The catamaran has no hotel pickup, so plan your own way to Funchal marina. Free cancellation runs up to 24 hours before, and in bad weather guests get an alternative or a full refund. That matters, because the crossing is exposed.

Give the booking three days of lead time in the busiest season, our estimate based on the fixed departure times.

Five Facts Before You Book

Read these five points. Any one of them can change your booking.

• The catamaran does not land. Its own listing says landing requires a separate permit and is not part of the cruise. (the tour listing on this page)
• The IFCN credential costs nothing on paper. The SIMplifica cost section reads Não se aplica, so no service fee is listed. [SIMplifica service page]
• Deserta Grande holds the largest Bulwer's petrel colony in the Atlantic and possibly the world, and the Desertas petrel nests only on Bugio. [IFCN Valores Naturais]
• A spider lives on one valley of one island. The Desertas tarantula is found only in the Vale da Castanheira at the north end of Deserta Grande. [IFCN Valores Naturais]
• The fajãs at Doca and Fajã Grande were formed by landslides in 1894, and the Doca landslide ridge is why that bay is the reserve's official anchorage. [IFCN Sobre]

Three Routings Compared

The table compares three ways of adding the Desertas or their wildlife to your stay, with the time each takes per the operator listing.

Our Pick

If the Desertas are on your list, give them the full day and nothing else. The crossing is long and the islands are the whole point. Cramming them into a morning does not work with any product on sale.

Treat the Desertas as a full-day commitment. The catamaran leaves Funchal marina in the morning, takes nine hours in total, and returns you to town in the late afternoon. Book it on a day with a settled forecast and keep the free 24-hour cancellation in mind. The day before and after suit easy activities in Funchal, since a full day at sea is tiring in its own quiet way.

If the islands are a secondary interest, skip the long crossing and combine a short whale watching tour with the Ponta de São Lourenço walk on the same or the next day. You get marine wildlife and the landscape closest to the Desertas at a fraction of the cost. For a broader plan, our Madeira in 5 days itinerary leaves room for one big sea day.