About Madeira Boat Tours

Who we are

Lead reviewer is Pedro Andrade, a Funchal-based licensed skipper and trained marine biologist. Pedro is on the water 200+ days a year, runs the monthly cetacean-sighting log used by several local operators, and writes every category review himself after a current-season trip.

Editorial oversight, fact-checking, and pricing audits are coordinated by the same independent Madeira-based editorial team that covers diving, fishing, jeep tours, and wine touring. Combined: 30+ years on Madeira tourism.

Why this exists

Most "Madeira boat tours" listicles are SEO-padded affiliate spam — operators ranked by who pays the highest commission, no boat-type comparison, no honest take on which categories are overpriced.

We started this site because we got tired of friends booking the wrong tour for their needs. A €99 Desertas trip is incredible for the right person and a 9-hour seasickness disaster for the wrong one. We tell you which is which.

How we work

• Quarterly category sampling. Pedro takes a current-season trip in each major category every quarter — sunset, swim, wildlife, Desertas, Porto Santo, pirate ship.
• Operator audits as fee-paying clients, never disclosed in advance. We assess captain competence, safety briefing depth, ratio compliance, and inclusion accuracy from the buyer's seat.
• Pricing refreshed quarterly from operator websites + our own bookings. Last-verified date is shown on every category and price page.
• Cetacean sightings cross-checked against the SPEA Madeira log and our own monthly observations.
• We never accept hosted trips without disclosing them. If we ever review a comped trip, you'll see "comped" tagged on that review.

How we make money

We earn affiliate commission when you book through GetYourGuide or Viator links on this site. The commission is paid by the platform, not by you — your price is identical whether you click through us or go direct. We disclose this on every page that contains affiliate links.

For private charters and group bookings, contact us via WhatsApp — we route those to a vetted local operator and earn a referral fee, disclosed on each hand-off.

What we don't do: sell ad placements, accept cash or comped trips for placement, or rank operators by commission rate. Our affiliate split is identical across all platforms (currently GetYourGuide ID 2VCHGBU, Viator P00275871).

Trust + accuracy

Every category and guide page shows a "Last verified" date and the verifying author. If you find something out of date — pricing changed, operator closed, link broken — we want to know.

Email hello@madeiraboattours.org or message us via WhatsApp. We update verified content within 7 days.