Portimao

HOT DAY! No wind so we motored an hour or so from Alvor slowly and attempted to catch a fish to no avail. Anchored inside the breakwall just off a sandy beach with a few other yachts. Very nice protected anchorage so long as you dont care about jet skis, speeding speed boats and fishing boats darting about. We don’t so its all good !

Took the dinghy to the beach for a refreshing swim, we really needed it again today. The Algarve coast is really hot this time of year from morning to night. Fortunately the nights cool off nicely so nice evenings on board and good rest.

In the afternoon we went grocery shopping, took the dinghy near the Museum and found a pingo doce supermarkardo as well as a chinese junk shop to stock up on some junk.

Unfortunately Jenijane started feeling a bit sick with a headache and blurred vision so we cut the groceries short and headed back to Sephina. Ouch, it didnt get better so a 3am dash to the marina and Portimao Hospital was called for. Some scans and tests and heavy meds helped a lot and Jen was feeling better but exhausted.. Some night!. We finally got back to Sephina the next afternoon and found Balrog waiting on deck, such a good boy

Needless to say we siesta’d in the afternoon to catch up on some much needed ZzZzzzzZzZ’s

 

Ate a nice BBQ dinner for tea at the nearby hotel and listened to some bad karaoke, or something!

 

Next day was sunny again and feeling back to normal (almost) we headed back out to anchor. This time we anchored a bit closer in and swam to the beach with Balrog. Really nice place and Portimoa itself seems like a pretty nice town as well. We zipped into the little town opposite in the evening. Jen loved this old organ grinder and his monkey (the monkey isn’t real, honest! )

 

Headed off from Portimao to Faro on the 13th and had a nice 30 mile sail and anchored overnight in the rivermouth.

* Note*  there is an uncharted fishery zone off Faro. 4 special marks about 1M offshore and approximately 1 sq mile full of fish nets. We almost went straight through till I checked with the lens and saw the seaward marks as well. We ended up going just inside. Up at 0600 on the 14th to sail across the Gulf of Cadiz. 80 Miles to Cadiz. We are pressing on because Easterlies are forecast for Thursday in Gibralter and when they blow they generally blow for a few days so we want to get there before.