The oceanic archipelago of Madeira lies approximately 1,000km southwest of Lisbon, right in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean. Located between latitude 30° and 33°N, quite close to the Strait of Gibraltar almost the same as Casablanca (Morocco).

Komodo Island kept bobbing in and out of my field of vision as we continued to circle in water that was churning. I could almost see the Pacific colliding with the Indian Ocean. Ali, one of the many talented dive guides from the luxury liveaboard Arenui, popped up from the depths and shouted, “The current is going off!”

Pearls of the Mediterranean: From high speed to slow down