We hoped to get away as soon as possible before the tide got too low as we had discovered that there was a very shallow part of the approach to the marina. Luckily, there was a Facebook page with some very handy hints from other sailors and we also gleaned some information from other people in the marina. It seemed that, although a lot of dredging work had taken place last year, strong winter winds had silted things up again.
We got in a short queue for fuel and had just pulled away to take our place when one of the tourist boats started to pull into the fuel station ahead of us. Fortunately they heard us shouting and got out of the way. There was a slight further delay when Marco had to jog to the marina office to pay by card because the fuel station could only take cash payments.
Overall, we felt that the marina could have polished up their communication and could certainly have warned people who were arriving about the difficult, shallow part of the approach.
Anyway, in the event Marco held his nerve and expertly steered us around the buoy, past the shallow water, where we were cheered on by a big school group, and into open sea where we could put the fenders and ropes away, relax and celebrate with a cup of tea and a digestive. Party on! 😃
Ahead of us, it is a six hour sale to a lagoon just south of Faro. There was no wind for the first few hours but then it gradually built and built, until we were running ahead of a 25 knot wind. During this time we had a tasty lunch of leftover pasta and pesto with fried halloumi on top. Dave felt a bit peckish so we also had a cereal bar for pudding. There was not much to do during the sailing apart from looking out for Fishermans bouys. Marco instructed Sue how to change course with Otto the automatic pilot.
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We arrived at the entrance to the lagoon at about 4:30 pm and we brought the sails in and went into the lagoon on the motor. The wind was still very strong and we were a bit concerned about what sort of night we were going to get, as the waves were quite choppy. Marco steered us to where we were going to anchor and I went forward to getting ready to lower it.
The anchor was deployed quite smoothly but then there was too much pressure on the winch wheel, we tried to get the rope around the cleats but it didn’t fit properly in the anchor channel. So Marco got out his new anchor gadget and after a few attempts we managed to get that on, so that the boat was securely held.
Once that was done we chilled out and had a cup of tea.
It was my turn to cook, so I prepped all my items, lit the oven and cooked a chicken and chorizo oven bake meal. I served it up and we sat down to enjoy it with a glass of red wine. Just as I started, I noticed the sun going down behind a yacht a few yards away. So I grabbed my camera and took a few photos and then return to my meal. After we had finished eating we all went outside to watch a fabulous sunset and I took a load more photos. We fed the chicken bones to the gulls who seemed very happy with our waste, we thought it was probably better than letting it go smelly in our bin bag.
Sounds as if you are coping with all the eventualities, lovely sunset
Thanks
Yes, it is the same comment from me, my comments disappeared into who knows where.
Anyway, lovely to hear everything is ok and Marcello is looking after you.
I don’t understand some things re. Yacht speak but I like reading it!!
Lovely food.
Glorious day here today, unbelievably glorious.
I am sad I didn’t master comments on Dave’s first trip with Marcello. I kept looking up in the right top of my screen and no where else.
Bed time. Good night J.x