Miradouro do Guindaste is located on the northeastern coast of Madeira Island, within the municipality of Santana.
I had seen a lot of photos of this spot and most of them seemed to show a person standing on the far ledge of a cliff jutting out over the water. As it turns out, that section was closed when we arrived due to tourists taking too many chances on the cliffs, so the local community closed it off. You can see the tip of it in my photo below. From different angles, this ledge could be placed in a variety of excellent compositions featuring the coastline behind it as the sun also rises over this part of the island, potentially providing a wide variety of lighting possibilities in the early parts of the day, so I understand why someone would position a model there.
Photographically, I can see why this particular location would be one I would have returned to regularly had we stayed for three months. In the mornings, the coastline would be bathed in different shades of light.
While writing this, I am reminded that we were so busy visiting other spectacular locations scattered across Madeira that it took us three weeks to visit this spot and it is only while I am reviewing my photos and writing these posts that I realize the huge rock face in the photo below is actually Penha d’Aguia.
Penha d’Aguia was one of the first real geological landmark that we noticed during our second week while hunting down the Levada do Larano Trailhead.
As our days on Madeira began to come to a close, we managed to grab a short visit here prior to hiking Levada do Rei.
Had we more time, I certainly would have returned at sunrise. If you are planning a visit, here’s the spot.
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