Cleaning beaches, making friends, and collecting the unexpected — August 2025
Wednesday morning. The sun is shining, and while most people were easing into their day with a coffee, (Portuguese style) we decided to do something a little less ordinary: a beach cleanup at Praia Formosa, Madeira’s largest pebble beach.
Now, you would expect a mission like this to be all plastic bottles and cigarette butts (and yes, there were plenty of those), but our team of Portuguese locals, internationals, and a handful of brand-new faces uncovered a treasure chest of random finds. Shoes. A dog toy. Glasses. And, for the grand finale, a toy arm. If anyone’s missing one… we might have it.
Despite the random discoveries, the beach actually looked fairly “cleanish.” A good thing? Maybe. But more likely, the strong waves of the past days had already dragged the worst of the trash back out to sea. That’s the tricky part about ocean cleanups, just because we don’t see it doesn’t mean it isn’t there. Which is exactly why these little missions matter.
But here’s the real story: this wasn’t just about picking up trash. Within minutes, strangers became friends, conversations started flowing, and the usual morning turned into something that felt, well, bigger. Someone said Madeira Friends* has the best community in the world* and mornings like this make it hard to argue.
This is not our first cleanup rodeo either. Last year we managed to clean up nine beaches. This year, by August, we have already matched that number. Some of those events even included local students, giving the younger generation a chance to jump in (sometimes literally) and do their bit.
A big thank you goes to Frente Mar for supplying the bags and partnering with us again.
At Madeira Friends, we like to think of ourselves as more than just a community. We take care of the island, but we also take care of each other.
And to be honest: any community that can turn finding a random toy arm into a good story is probably worth joining.