Out and About in Portimao

Saturday 25th August…  A lie in this morning. It was a day for chilling out and recovering from our two busy days. No chilling for Dean though as he had his battery head on, floorboards up, hydrometer at the ready. After a frustrating day it appears that the batteries are just flat with just a 15% charge in them. So tonight we’re running the generator to try and revive them. It’s a mystery why they are so low, but we have been anchoring for over a week now. On the other hand we’ve had the engine running most days. Let’s see how they are tomorrow after a good charge. 

Saffy’s beach walks are a bit annoying because she gets prickly ball thingys stuck in her paws. They are so sharp, infact tonight she totally refused to move and we thought she was having a funny turn, then we realised it was the prickly balls. 

Another view from Thesee this afternoon

Sunday 26th August…  Today we tried a new beach for landing and walkies, it was much better suited and in fact, nearer. The only reason we didn’t try this one before was because it’s small and busy, but this morning we beat the sun worshippers to it.

The batteries were annoyingly low again this morning, meaning we had to run the generator for another couple of hours to try and get them charged up. 

Looking down across the anchorage from the cliff-top

Close-up of Thesee and Portimao

Thankful for this breakwater

Someone's enjoying the walk

Yet another beach around the corner

We realised that this side of the river is Ferrugado and Portimao is actually over the other side. We were in need of victualling and after taking Saffy back to the boat we dinghy’d about a mile up river to the fishing port where we landed. From there it was only about a quarter of a mile walk to Lidl. The dinghy-ing was pretty hair-raising at times. There are so many boats of all types coming and going here there is a lot of wash and most of them don’t slow down for you, so it was a rather bumpy ride in both directions. At least we got the shopping back intact. 

This afternoon we had a surprise visit from our friends on Elos III. They are over in the marina and they came out to see us by dinghy. It was a real surprise, and just in time for Beer ‘o’ clock as Dean puts it. Tonight we’ve realised that most of the people we’ve got to know are going to be moving on and we’ll be here for the next few weeks so we’ll probably lose touch for a while until next year when everyone seems to be wintering in approximately the same area. 

Tonight we had the Cobb bbq out and cooked a pork joint and home-made kebabs, they were really tasty and we’ll definitely be doing them again. 

Monday 27th August… It was a bit stormy earlier today and we had a bit of thunder. The batteries were quite low again but not as bad as yesterday. We decided to go into the marina here in Portimao so we could plug into the mains electric and get a good charge up for a couple of days. 

Arriving at the marina across the river

Nice views of this fort

Starship Voyager

When we arrived at the waiting pontoon Dean switched off the engine but the ignition alarm was still sounding. He had to virtually dismantle the unit to get it to stop. It was really odd, but we thought could this possibly be connected to our battery issues?

After being allocated a berth it took three attempts to reverse in as the gap was fairly tight, there was a boat beside, and there was some breeze coming through the marina.  All tied up and secure Dean had the boat to bits in no time trying to find out what was going on. Eventually he pinned it down to a short circuit on the alternator….. Not the alternator AGAIN! This isn’t going to be fixed any time soon as we need spare parts. 

Yes, it's in bits again

The marina is in a pleasant setting but it’s quite a hike to the showers. Next month we will be spending two weeks here so will have to get the bikes out to get around easily. It’s been a stressful day, as Dean said… the definition of cruising is ‘boat maintenance in exotic places’.

Tuesday 28th August… Dean swapped the alternator back to the old original one. It’s not perfect because the pulleys are different but it will get us by until we have the new faulty alternator fixed AGAIN. Linda and Saffy had a local morning walk around part of the marina and the hotel that’s situated alongside. Then this afternoon we took shortish walk the other way towards the beach, noise, and hustle & bustle. 

The marina is kind of out on a limb, not really near enough for walking anywhere. The nearest chandlery is about 2 miles away, so there’s no way we could walk there and back in the heat with Saffy.  All seems abit crazy really, but we still like the marina itself even though it’s hard to function normally. But we’ve found that in a lot of places along the way. You really do need a car to get around here, and when we come back in a week or so we’ll be hiring one….that’s a definite. 

Dean scrubbed the decks this afternoon, and then this evening Elos kindly invited us onboard for drinks and nibbles. They used to keep their boat in Beaulieu and  left the UK around about the same time as us and we’ve been crossing paths along the way. They’re good company so it’s always a fun evening when we’re with them. Sorry no photos today, will try harder tomorrow. 

Wednesday 29th August… It was a hot morning so Saffy had an early quick walk and then Linda tried to give her a bit of a haircut, whilst Dean did some more scrubbing boaty things. Saffy got into trouble after Dean found her footprints all over the clean deck. 

She can't blame that on anyone else

We decided to stay in the marina for one more night. Linda's working on the next jigsaw, it's an English pub... The Blackbirds. Late afternoon we took a walk into the beachy gift shoppy part of town (now we’ve found out how to get into it), stopping for yummy caramel and strawberry ice-cream cornet. Linda spotted a summer dress she liked and Dean treated her to it. Thanks Dean. He also bought a bargain litre bottle of dark rum and some extremely yummy bread rolls. We didn’t have dinner until 9pm but it was worth waiting until late afternoon to take Saffy out as it was considerably cooler. The batteries seem to be functioning as they should so tomorrow we're going back over to the anchorage to see how they get on. 

Jigsaw no.2 taking shape

This one is 1000 pieces....having a bit of trouble with the edges

Fun in the sun here at Praia da Rocha beach

Thursday 30th August… Today Linda was up early making biscuits because she wanted to give some to our Elos friends before we left the marina. They’ve been so accommodating, twice feeding us up on delicious cheese, grapes, and ham. We checked out of the marina and went back across the river to the anchorage arriving just after midday. We didn’t quite get the same spot as before but it’s OK and we’re only going to be here for one night to see how the batteries get on. Saffy likes it at anchor because you get all the breeze on deck. She just needs to learn not to sleep on the HOT solar panels. 

4 months in and i'm now a true sea-dog

Friday 31st August…  Well it’s the last day of August, and can you believe we’ve been on the boat for 4 months! Some marinas finish their high-season rate today and change to mid-season rate tomorrow. Funny thing is it’s only about 3 euros cheaper in mid-season. Not much of a saving that. 

Yet another hot sunny blue sky morning. Just before lunch we took Thesee about 8 miles west to Lagos and anchored just outside the harbour entrance. It was a bit bouncy at times being on the sea proper and we could see the breaking waves rolling into the shore. While we were there our friend on Right Turn came out of the marina and came by to say hello. He was on his way back to Portimao. If the anchorage had have been comfy we would have stayed overnight, but after an hour or two we decided to head back just a little way along the coast to a place called Alvor.

We had a gentle sail, a mere 3 knots and Dean did a spot of fishing. Well you’ll never guess what happened... HE CAUGHT A MACKEREL, Hallelujah!! 

There’s no stopping him now

Rocky shoreline at Lagos

.... and looking to the town

Local pleasure trippers

Entering the inlet at Alvor

Alvor is a big sandy inlet but there is room to anchor if you’re lucky, albeit rather shallow. There’s no proper buoys marking the channel to the town and we found ourselves getting rather too shallow for comfort, so we did a U turn and anchored just inside the entrance (along with a ton of other boats all vying for space). Then we took the dinghy to the town, it was a bit of a jaunt but we got there OK and had a lovely drink in one of the harbourside bars. 

Having a little wander in Alvor

Saffy obviously found something interesting

Interesting restaurant frontage

Interesting Cider Drinker wearing a sunbrella??

Lovely bars around the harbour

When we got back a lot of the boats had gone. Just daytrippers it seems, so we had much more swinging room and Saffy tucked into her fresh mackerel supper, lucky girl. Tonight we’ve realised we have flying ants all over the boat. Better batten down the hatches. 

Saturday 1st September…  We did get some sleep last night even though we were in a tight shallow anchorage. This morning turned out to be unexpectedly windy 15 knots gusting 25 knots, but the anchor stayed good and we monitored the situation until about 1pm when it started to calm down. In fact it turned into a beautiful afternoon and the sea was a lovely shade. Dean did a little snorkelling to clean the keel coolers and check the prop and rudder were OK. 

Our beautiful afternoon was interrupted by the first of five party boats to come in the anchorage today. Well it was Saturday I suppose. It’s 8.30pm now and there’s still one here and noisy! Bah...

Beautiful afternoon in Alvor

Party boat arrival no.1

Saffy had two nice walks and it was easy to get ashore on the nearby beach. There were some kite surfers in the bay today when it was low water around midday, along with a number of boats who we saw go aground in the shallows at low tide. We’ve got 8 yachts as our neighbours tonight. We’re all in close proximity but you have to expect that in a small anchorage I suppose. 

Kite surfing in the shallows

Saffy's evening walk

Sunset in Alvor

We calculated our monthly marina costs for August and it turned out to be an average of 23 euros per night. Not bad for high season. We did in fact anchor for 15 nights out of 31... Wow!


Sunday 2nd September... HAPPY BIRTHDAY CLAIRE!! An early call to Claire to wish her a Happy Birthday and hear all about their trip to the Safari Park yesterday. It was cloudy here in Alvor today...yes cloudy... how dare it. This afternoon it brightened up a bit and we took a dinghy ride over to the town for a few hours, doing a little shopping and having a really nice meal at the bar we went to two days ago. Linda even had a Pina Colada.

Now we're getting adventurous

Dean's more interested in the food

This magificent residence takes pride of place

The dinghy ride is about a mile into town and it can be quite bumpy at times when we're going fast. Fortunately we all managed to keep our dinner inside.

Monday 3rd September…  Neither of us slept well last night for some reason. I think Dean had batteries on his mind, and Linda was uneasy that most of the neighbours had gone and we were virtually alone. Anyway, morning finally came and after Saffy’s walk ashore we left the anchorage about 11am and set a course for Albufeira. After three days in Alvor we needed a change of scenery and decided to sail the 25 miles or so to Albufeira for a few days before returning to Portimao later this week. 

We stayed close inshore because we wanted to check out the anchorage at Carvoeiro, that’s where our good friends Sharon & Michael have a place. We’ve read it’s a day anchorage (not sure really what that means) but I guess it’s open to the elements and therefore not advisable to stay overnight, like many of the anchorages on this coast. We didn’t stop as we had a berth booked in Albufeira marina, but it looks fabulous…. just like the incredible coastline here, littered with caves and secluded sandy bays. Here’s a few photos…

 

It was only about 4 hours journey and in no time we were at Albufeira and feeling excited. All was going well and we were directed to a huge berth (plenty of space to manoeuvre). The weird thing is Thesee looks so tiny compared to tonight’s neighbours. We’ve had a quick look around and visited the chandlery. There’s a Spar shop selling Bisto Gravy and Iceland Coleslaw, plus an open-air launderette!

Bunjee jump... no thanks

Handy Launderette

More white knuckle fun

Along the marina promenade

Villas for rent

Thesee you're so tiny tonight... can hardly see you

 

Dean's new way of climbing the backstay using a Prusik knot

This is the last post entitled Out and About in Portimao

The next post will be called More Exploring in the Algarve

Algarve Countdown

Saturday 18th August…  Well it wasn’t calm last night as expected because the wind dropped but the swell kept coming, albeit not much but it was constant throughout the night. But we did get some sleep because Linda’s dreams were all about swaying.

First thing we saw today was a fishing boat laying a massive net all around the harbour. I said to Dean, best not to leave just yet! They laid it all out and then proceeded to pull it all in by hand, at least 12 men tugging away on the beach to get the net in. Quite a sight really.

Here they are

It was a beach landing for us this morning to take Saffy ashore. Dean got his shorts rather wet because the water was deeper than he expected when he jumped out of the dinghy! We only had a quick walk up and down the seafront and we weren’t very impressed. Not like last night when the shore looked fabulous from the boat, all lit up and so was the large castle up on the hilltop. 

Fort on top of the hill at Sesimbra...view from Thesee

Wall art in the town

We only made a 10 mile trip today up the River Sado towards Setubal. There’s an anchorage we’d heard of called Praia de Albarquel so we thought we’d give it a try. When we arrived Dean could hear a hissing noise but couldn’t put his finger on what it was. Later on tonight we went ashore and his suspicions were correct, it was crickets. We walked along the beach and it was real noisy. I’ve never heard them so loud before. 

The anchorage is quite nice, apart from some graffiti here and there, with a lot of greenery behind the busy beachfront. When we arrived we anchored near a 26 metre boat and there was a cat sitting quite casually hanging its front leg out of a porthole, watching the world (water) go by. It was so funny to see. 

Approaching the River Sado

Here's the cat, sorry abit fuzzy photo (had to zoom in)

Across the very wide river (which is really just the entrance to the estuary) is a town called Troia, sitting at the top of a 10 mile spit of land. The marina there is very expensive, 80 euros a night for Thesee. When I look across the water at it, it somehow reminds me of the Gulf Coast in Florida. Maybe it’s the miles and miles of beaches.

Troia.....or Florida maybe?

A BIG THANKYOU tonight goes to Dean's friend Robert, who so kindly took the time and trouble to fix the washing machine back at home for Claire.

Sunday 19th August…  It was a bit of a day with a difference today, as we took Thesee out for the afternoon and then came back to the same anchorage as last night. We’ve never done that before. 

So what did we do? We went across to the Troia peninsula. First we motored past the marina just have have a peep. It’s a bit intriguing because it looks real posh and there’s a casino next door. I guess we’ll never know. Then we followed the shoreline and after just a couple of miles we found a lovely anchorage. The seabed shelves quickly from the beach to about 14 metres, so you can get in close but it’s not ideal for getting good holding, being so steep. We must have done something right because we didn’t have any trouble at all, dropping the hook in about 8 metres and not budging an inch in the six hours we spent there. 

It was a very hot afternoon, about 31 degrees but a super breeze kept it bearable. After a spot of sunbathing, yes sunbathing on deck, Dean got his flippers on and jumped in to do some hull scrubbing. Afterwards we both had outdoor showers on the back of the boat. Dean has used the outdoor shower on a number of occasions, but it was Linda’s very first time in the 4 years we’ve had Thesee. Wow, it must have been a hot day. 

At 5.30pm we headed back to our anchorage at Praia de Albarquel and so here we are again. It was a calm night here last night, so tonight should be the same, fingers crossed. It gets real windy in the afternoons, they call it the Nortada, and today we had 22 knots coming back across the river. But by nightfall it all calms down. 

Overnight we raise our dinghy to deck height with the Spinnaker Uphaul 

to keep it safe and out of the water

Nice views this morning

Saffy's walk along the beach

 Passing Troia marina

Our afternoon anchorage off the Troia peninsula

Monday 20th August…  There was little wind today but we wanted to move on anyway and get to Sines which was about a 40 mile journey south. We knew we would probably have to motor all the way (which we did) but WOW, the sea was SOOOOOOOO calm. At last! The swell was still there a little but the journey was so pleasant, even though we were having to use diesel to get there.

Can this really be the Atlantic? 

So serene and calm today

Only a gentle roll about now and again

Saffy really is a live-aboard doggie these days

Time to ponder over our journey so far

Now i've caught him watching dolphins 

After 6 hours or so we arrived in the bay at Sines. This is really the last stopping off place before you get to go round the corner of San Vicente and into the Algarve. Tonight there's been dolphins swimming around the boats here in the bay. 

We’ve made a reservation at Marina de Portimao for two weeks in September where we’ll be meeting up with friends, and we’ve also secured a 3 month winter berth at Almerimar marina in Spain so we’ve got a bit of a plan coming together.

After dinner we went ashore in the dinghy as always and there were no waves or wash it was just about the best and easiest beach landing we have had since we left the UK. So it was typical that Linda should end up in the water, losing her balance whilst trying to get into the dinghy from the beach and ending up on her bum in 12 inches of water! That’s both of us getting wet shorts in the space of a few days.

We haven’t really decided how long we will stay here yet, but tomorrow we’ll have a mooch about in the town and see how we feel. 

Tuesday 21st August…  An early 9am start to the day and we went ashore, leaving the dinghy on the beach locked to a bracket on the wall. We’ve never had any trouble leaving the dinghy but we knew we would be out for a couple of hours and didn’t want to worry about it. 

The town here is on the cliff and so we took the lift up to the top. We didn’t have a map and so the first streets we found were very traditional. At the castle there’s a statue of Vasco da Gama… you know, the famous Portuguese explorer. He was the first European to reach India by sea in 1499, linking the Atlantic and Indian Oceans. To be honest, his statue looked remarkably like Henry the VIII, but I guess they were around about the same era. Vasco was born here in Sines and grew up inside the castle..... or so they say.

Our view of the castle from Thesee

Inside the castle walls

Looking back now at the anchorage, Thesee in the middle

Inside the battlements

There goes Dean

Here's Vasco looking out to sea

It's definately Vasco, not Henry

We continued our walkabout and soon came across the more modern side of town, which we were’nt really expecting.  There was a car rental place and Dean asked the price of car hire but they didn’t know and they kept him waiting for so long we gave up in the end. How weird. We did however have coffee and lunch at a lovely café in the old town. When we got back to the beach the sand was red hot and after about only 10 steps it was unbearable, causing us to run and sit down on the dinghy for relief. 

Later on the boats started arriving from the North. One of them was Perle who we know and no sooner had they arrived, we were invited on board for drinks along with Elos crew. Before we went over we had to walk Saffy and the outboard engine ran out of fuel so Dean had to do some rowing and we were late. Anyway it was another brilliant evening and another midnight hour. Thanks to everyone for making it such fun.

Wednesday 22nd August…  It was a foggy morning and we could hear the very loud fog horns blasting out at sea for many hours. It was also an exciting morning, getting a visit from the local police officials for a passport check etc. They were in the harbour doing the rounds so we kind of expected them to come to us. 

Here's the police boarding our Maltese neighbour

Here's the beast with the loud fog horn 

and now we know why, it's enormous!

Jobs for the day were washing and more hull scrubbing (it’s all done now for another month). The sun did come out late morning and it was a pleasant day but not as warm as the last few have been.

It’s going to be a big day for Thesee and the Three Sailors tomorrow. We’re going to do the last leg of the Atlantic Coast rounding Cabo Sao Vicente on Portugal’s south west corner, and from there on we’ll be in the Algarve. It will be a long day but we’re starting early, journey time approx 12 hours. 

 Colourful fishing boats in the calm water this evening

Thursday 23rd & Friday 24th... Sorry Thesee Followers for not blogging for two days. We've sailed 100 miles the last two days to beat a windy weekend forecast and are now in Portimao anchorage. It's been quite eventful especially today.  We are all fine, safe, and happy. Here's the two days update....

Thursday 23rd August…  Alarm clock was set to go off at 5am so that we could get Saffy ashore and be ready to go at first light. However, at 5am we awoke to thick fog! We could hardly see the boat next to us. How many times has that happened to us when we have a long trip to do? We checked the forecast further south and it seemed ok so we still wanted to get going. After a little delay we waited for daybreak to get Saffy ashore (still foggy), but we knew where to land and find our way back to Thesee. Once the dinghy and outboard were safely stowed back on board we set off, just a touch behind schedule. As you all know, we’ve got AIS and Radar which we use regularly and so we were confident to edge our way out of Sines and into open water. As we were preparing to leave another boat also raised his anchor just before us. They had AIS too so we kind of followed his route on the chartplotter. 

All was good and after an hour or two we crossed paths with a Container Ship who we’d been monitoring on the AIS. After it had passed we could just make out the bridge at the top of the ship, but we couldn’t see the ship itself. It was really eerie. His fog horn was sounding but we never really heard it until it passed by. Dean went downstairs to make a coffee and was gobsmacked when he came back outside to find the visibility greatly improved. Not long after we must have just sailed out of it and from then on it was just a few foggy patches. 

All was going well and fairly comfortably, we were motoring as expected for at least 5 hours. After lunch the wind rose now and again to 11 knot or so and we got sailing for a while on and off. We noticed that our total engine hours were approaching 1000 hours and we marked the occasion with a photo of it. When we bought Thesee four years ago he had only done 300 hours. We think we’ve clocked most of the rest up having to motor around North Spain and Portugal (lol). 

Can you just make out the 1000 hours?

It wasn’t until we neared Cabo Sao Vicente that we put the genoa out once more and, as always, the wind started to rise to 16-20 knots approaching the headland. The sea was a bit rough but we could have had worse, and we were both excitedly looking forward to leaving Atlantic Portugal behind and arriving in the Algarve. 

Along the way.....  and out of the fog now

Nearing Cabo Sao Vicente

We're finally on the corner of SW Portugal

There it goes

We rounded the corner and the wind kept up sometimes reaching 27 knots, but all was well. Our first choice anchorage was in the harbour at Baleeira but it was quite a grotty place, not much room to anchor, and blowing a hoolie. Went actioned plan B and went back to the previous bay Ensenada de Sagres where  it was still blowing a hoolie but there was a lot of room to anchor. We dropped the hook and settled down. Another 5 or 6 boats followed suit over the next hour. The wind was howling but there was no swell, just chop and it was bearable. The only trouble was we couldn’t risk going ashore in the dinghy for Saffy’s walk so we went to bed about 9pm.

Our big day was done and we’re in the Algarve…. HOORAY! 

Friday 24th August…  Up early again and first job was to check the weather forecast. It said horrible and getting worse for the next two days.  There was no chance of getting Saffy ashore in the worsening conditions and she needed to pee?  The weather looked considerably better in Lagos and Portimao 20-25 miles west. If we could get there we could either go in a marina or anchor in Portimao harbour. What do we do?  Stay or go?  We decided we needed to get out of there and so we chose to leave. There was 30 knots of wind but we coped in 27 knots last night. It wouldn’t be a pleasant journey but at least we would be in a better place in four hours time. 

We had been sailing with a fully reefed mainsail and staysail for about an hour keeping a lookout for buoys but it was difficult to pick anything out. Suddenly we were surrounded by black fender-type balls and a yellow submerged buoy. Neither of us saw it coming. We were on a Tunny net! OH NO! These are massive nets laid out by fishermen for catching Tuna. We’ve read it’s not advisable to go over one. It was too late we were right on it. We heard a bump bump bump on the hull and expecting to get tangled up with it we feared the worst. Suddenly the big yellow buoy appeared out of the back of the boat, somehow miraculously we weren’t tangled….we were clear. The buoy must have gone under the boat and dragged the net clear of our keel, rudder, and hydrovane. We’ll never know how we cleared it. Someone up there is definitely our guardian angel, looking out for us.  Thank you to who-ever you are. Could you imagine trapped on a net in 30 knots of wind? What a nightmare. So much for our ‘Yippee we’re finally in the Algarve’ Looking back on it now it’s just surreal, it all happened so quickly. 

With still another 15 miles or so to go we were watching eagle eyed at every tiny little thing but happily we didn’t come across anything else. We had wanted to go to into Lagos but the marina is 90 euros a night for us so that idea was abandoned. We knew it would expensive as others had warned us about the place. We decided to carry on across the bay to Portimao anchorage where it’s free, sunny, and calmer.  By now the wind had reduced to 15 knots and we put some more sail up and Dean was helming the best sail we’ve had so far. He was loving it. Crossing the bay we were joined by many dolphins…real ones now we think as they were just massive compared to the rest we’ve been coming across. It was like a ‘Welcome to Portimao’ moment. 

Meanwhile, Saffy still needed a pee…it’s been 32 hours (almost as long as our Biscay crossing). We dropped the anchor in Portimao bay inside the breakwater, quickly getting a bite to eat and offloading the dinghy and outboard for going ashore. Suddenly Saffy ran all the way along the deck to the front and guess what happened? SHE PEED ON THE BOAT!! After 4 years of trying everything we thought she would never do it. So turns out she waited until Portimao to do it, so we’ve renamed it as POTTYMAO. Saffy is now called Pottymao Dog.

Looking inland across the bay

.... now across to the main town

Here's our closest beach for walkies

Worth all today's toil and trouble me thinks....

The weather is sweltering. We did go ashore to a super beach bar for lots of refreshments and ice-lollies. It’s lovely, great bar, great views all around, and great views from Thesee.

In the anchorage we’re next to a boat that’s from our home port ‘Wicor’ in Portsmouth, and we were very kindly invited over for drinks this evening. They are doing the ARC+ this year. It was a lovely evening and by the time we got to bed it was 11pm and we were exhausted. What a busy eventful two days it’s been. 

We’ve been anchoring for over a week now and the boat batteries are not performing as they should. They’re not holding their charge and the fridge/freezer keeps switching off. The batteries were all brand new in March and we can’t understand it. It’s been windy and sunny (for the wind charger and solar panels) plus we’ve been running the engine so it doesn’t make sense. Tomorrow Dean will look into it further.

This is the last post entitled 'Algarve Countdown'.

The next post will be called 'Out and About in Portimao'