T-Reef (Garajau Reserve)

T-Reef sits on Madeira's leeward south coast inside the Garajau reserve, with the bulk of the island rising to the north and Ponta do Garajau to the west shielding it from the dominant W-NW Atlantic groundswell, which must wrap and diffract around the headland before it reaches the site. The exposed window is the open Atlantic to the south, with the SE-SSE-S-SSW-SW sector fully open and most swell arriving on Southerly storms or sustained S-SE wind; the WSW-W sector is only partly open because the Garajau point and the island's south coast to the west block much of it. Due east the water is open ocean between Ponta de São Lourenço (away to the north-east) and the Desertas islands to the east-south-east, so an easterly sea arrives nearly unhindered, while the ESE itself is partly shadowed by the Desertas chain 25-35 km out. As a sheltered nearshore reef it is usually calm and diveable, but a Southerly blow or a big S-SW swell can build surface chop and add current on the pinnacles, occasionally forcing trips to be postponed.