The São Vicente beach is covered with Portuguese Caravels (Portuguese Man o War), which is why bathers should pay special attention when deciding to go bathing in this area.
The same has happened with some frequency at Praia Formosa, in Funchal, with information also that in recent times they ‘hit the coast’ in many other coastal areas on the island of Madeira. A situation that has already prompted an alert by the Portuguese Institute of the Sea and the Atmosphere (IPMA), to account for a large amount of this species ‘Physalia physalis’, in the archipelagos of Madeira and the Azores.