Skipper’s Log 2006 –
part 1
We returned
to Lagos on 28th February, after a four month
break in Denmark.
We found the boat in good order, dry inside but cold. The next day we got up to
a warm day with 22 deg C. The first few days were spent putting everything back
in its place after winter storage, we had stored sails, liferaft, rubber dinghy
etc. in the forecabin. We found that our laptop computer had been damaged on
the flight, and when I took it to a computer shop they found it was the
backlighting on the screen. The easiest solution was to buy a flat screen, but
in order to find a place for it the navigator’s bulkhead had to be reorganised.
That led to many ugly screw holes that had to be filled, and we ended up
painting all the bulkheads in the galley and main cabin as well!
We have two
Swedish and one Norwegian boast in the harbour. Over coffee on board SY Ayla,
we were introduced to an alternative way of connecting to the internet. This is
by subscribing to Boingo, at half the price of Lagos Wireless, which gives
access to most WiFi hotspots in Europe.
On 8th
March, we went with Tord and Pia from SY Ayla and Bjorn and Annika from SY
Lindisfarne for a boules match on the sand dunes. Afterwards, we had a picnic
together on the beach.
The next
day, Ron came down and sorted out our dripping injector and suggested that our
engine would run a lot quieter if we retarded the timing of the injector fuel
pump. This is done by fitting extra shims under the pump assembly. So next day,
I trotted over to Sopramar and ordered a shim kit. It actually took over a week
to arrive, but now Rom has carried out the adjustment and the engine does sound
a lot better.
We
contacted Rod Snook, a local smith, to make a support for our new solar panel.
However, he said he was very busy and would come down in two weeks time.
Meanwhile we drove to Aljesur with Dave Thomas to buy the solar panel, a 90
Watt unit.
We have
been for a couple of long walks with the marina walking group, one was in the
forest and the other was in the nature reserve behind the Alvor lagoon where we
saw some flamingos. We also walked along the coast on our own and saw the
stunning cliff views there.
Many boats have now left the marina now, including our neighbour boat Cochinelle, and SY Josephine with Bjorn on board.
Cochinelle leaves Lagos SY Josephine leaves Lagos
2nd
April
Our smith
still hasn’t started our steelwork, he now says he’ll have it ready by Easter.
We decided we needed a change of scenery so today we left Lagos to see the Rio Guadiana on the Spanish
border for a few days. We set off after lunch and headed east. There was no
wind, so we motored the four hours to Albufeira. It felt good to be moving
again. The marina complex at Albufeira is still under development and we were
not impressed with their facilities, but they may improve. The apartments
surrounding the marina were painted in a variety of colours, making it look
like Toytown!
The next
day, we left at 1130am but the wind was on the nose at 15 knots, so we motored
for two hours into he waves until we reached Vilamoura. This is one of the longest
established marinas on the Algarve
coast, so all the surrounding apartment blocks are in place, and all the shops
and bars are open. There are many good golf courses in this area and many of
those we met were actually golfers on holiday. We came across an Irish pub
which served a really good hot beef sandwich!
4th
April.
We left
Vilamoura at 1230. the wind had gone round to south west, so we had a fine sail
to the anchorage behind Isla Calheta in the Faro lagoon area. We had timed it
nicely and came in on the tide. This is a very fine anchorage, and although the
wind picked up later in the evening, the anchor held fast.
5th
April.
We weighed
anchor at 1040am and pushed the last of the incoming tide to leave the Faro
entrance as we had to time our arrival right for the Rio Guadiana. We had a
good following wind and we soon had the twin sails rigged. After being under
way for about three hours, the wind had increased to 25-27 knots and the swell
was at least 3m high. Neither the Windvane or the Autohelm could cope, so we
dropped the working gib and continued under reefed genoa alone and hand
steering. We arrived off the Guadiana too
early and dared not risk the entrance with the sea conditions as they were. So
we decided to continue to Isla Christina, which is just over the border in Spain.
We’d had an SMS from Josh on the yacht Cochinelle, so we knew they were also in
Isla Christina. We arrived two minutes before the office closed at 7 pm ( Spanish time i.e. one hour
ahead of Portugal).
After checking in, we moved to our pontoon, and Josh and Claudia were there to
meet us. We were very tired after the
day’s sail so had an early night.
The next
day dawned very overcast and not very warm. The wind was still blowing hard
from the south west so it was not the day to enter the Rio Guadiana. So, we had
a lie in and later had a wander around the town.
7th
April.
The weather
was much better today for the task in hand, flat calm, so we decided to make a
dash for the Guadiana. We left the marina at 10 am, on the first of the flowing
tide and motored round the shallows off the river entrance. We saw many fishing
boats scooping up shellfish over their bows, at first we thought they were
trawling backwards! We had no problem entering the river, the buoys were much
further apart than shown on the chart. We soon came to the marina at Vila Real
de St Antonio where the staff met us at the reception pontoon to help moor in
the strong current. We soon met Bjorn ( SY Josephine) and George (SY Florina), Bjorn
decided he would to sail up together with us to Alcoutim tomorrow. In the
evening, we went out for a meal with Bjorn, Josh and Claudia (George having
flown home that afternoon).
8th
April.
We left
Vila Real at 1050 and motored upriver and under the new motorway bridge. We
could just make out Bjorn in the distance – he had left half an hour before us.
This is a beautiful river with rolling hills on both sides covered with small trees,
possibly olives and cork oaks. We motored at a steady 5 knots and with the
steady push from the tide, covered the 20 nm or so in three hours. Both yachts
anchored off Alcoutim roughly in the middle of the river, I think we were still
on the Portuguese side. There was a long empty pontoon on the Alcoutim side,
but we were told they expected a small cruise ship to arrive the following day,
so we would have had to move anyway. The setting here is fantastic with the
twin towns of Acoutim and Sanlucar on opposite banks of the river. A couple of
small boats constantly carried foot passengers from one side to the other. It
was strange that the town clock on the Spanish side struck the time an hour
ahead of that on the Portuguese side! We went ashore in Alcoutim, but here the
shops close on Saturday! We decided to eat at The Riverside Tavern on the
Alcutim side, Bjorn joined us. This establishment is owned by an English couple
who arrived by boat several years ago and settled here.
9th
April.
We decided
we would explore the river further up to Pomarao by dinghy, instead of risking
running Restless aground. So we set off about midday with a gallon of fuel for the outboard and water
and fruit for us. It was a wonderful trip, at first the narrow strip of flat
land by the river was well cultivated with orange groves and olives, but later
gave way to open hillsides with scrub. We passed an old mining town on the way
up, it had a large abandoned loading quay for the ore. From a distance it
looked like a fort. We pulled in to the side a couple of times to look at
turtles sunning themselves on rafts of bamboo. On arrival at Pomarao, we found
a small bar open, where we were able to buy a couple of slices of bread and a
small cheese, which we washed down with the local brew of course.
We met a
couple of Irish expats who had arrived by boat and fallen in love with the
place. They had bought and renovated an old riverside border post, their boat
lay to a mooring by the riverside. Back in 1997, there was a flash flood on
this river, and at this point the level rose by 20m! No chance for a yacht on a mooring! We set
back downriver after the tide had turned, but now the wind increased from the
south so it became rather choppy and we got rather wet.
10th
April.
We took a
walk around Sanlucar with Bjorn in the morning and weighed anchor around 2 pm and motored back to Vila Real,
again taking just 3 hours. We had an evening meal at a harbour restaurant where
we shared a pot of seafood rice. It was full of cockle shells and other smaller
varieties. It took a while to eat but tasted very good. We checked out with the
marina office and handed in our access card as we wanted to leave early the
next day.
11th
April.
We left
Vila Real at first light, which was at 0630. There was a light north easterly
wind so the river entrance was nice and calm. This river can be very dangerous
in onshore winds. We sailed most of the way to Vilamoura, having to motor just
he last hour. We found the place much busier as it was nearly Easter. We found
the Irish pub again where a beef sandwich and Guiness went own very well! Then
back to the boat for an early night.
12th
April.
We set off
from Vilamoura at 1030 with a northeast wind and very overcast and misty,
visibility being only 3 nm. At first we had a good sail but after a couple of
hours the wind dropped and the heavens opened. We rolled in the genoa and
motored the remainder of the way back to Lagos
in heavy rain.
20th
April
We’re still
in Lagos,
waiting for our steelwork. The smith came down yesterday, he has at last
started the work and we hope to have t installed by the weekend. We hope to
leave Lagos the middle of next week, bound for Cadiz ( after celebrating
Rie’s birthday on Tuesday).
