Piscinas Naturais do Seixal

Seawater fills hollows in the black volcanic rock at Seixal, on the north coast of Madeira, and the result is a set of pools you can swim in. Fish swim in them. Red rock crabs and spray crabs sit out on the rock around the edge, and a small sea cave opens off one side. A low retaining wall holds back the open Atlantic, but not completely: when a breaker comes over the top, the water in the pool churns. The pools are far quieter than the better-known ones at Porto Moniz.

• Changing: there is somewhere to change, but it is a shared space with a shower rather than cubicles.
• Rough sea: when the swell is up, the pools are not swimmable, and water comes over the retaining wall.
• Café: there is one on site, but it was shut in February — do not count on a hot drink afterwards.
• Toilets: right by the pools, free to use. The nearest drinking water is about 200 m away.
• Payment: cards are accepted, so you do not need cash on you.

Seixal sits on the north coast of Madeira, and cars come right down to the pools. The car parks are within metres of the entrance, so the walk in is short enough not to matter. A bus stop is close by as well, within about a hundred metres of the water.

Better: a calm day, when the sea is flat enough to get in the water.

Avoid: days of heavy swell, when waves come over the retaining wall and swimming stops.

The pools are open to the Atlantic, so whether you swim depends on the sea rather than on the season. People swim here in February too, though the water is cold then.