WARNING: Long blog alert!

Waking up in the very early hours of Monday morning to torrential rain, wind whistling in the rigging and waves crashing onto the nearby beach made for an easy decision - we're not sailing today! After all we're cruisers so we turned off the lights, rolled over and resumed snoozing until a more reasonable hour. Later the same morning we scrutinised the latest forecast. Conditions were still not inviting with a 3m swell, gusty winds and showers all day. Tuesday however was looking very promising with a nice NW wind of about 15 knots which was going to veer to the N and then NE late morning with a slight swell of 1-2 meters coming from the west. The rest of the week predicted very little wind.

Tuesday arrived. If conditions were as forecast we could easily get to Culatra within the 12 hours of daylight that we now have in October. We should even be able to sail! We left the marina waving 'farewell' to Bob and Barbara off 'Zoonie', an Oyster 406. 'Zoonie' were planning to depart a little later to head for the Canaries (approx four or five days sail away) ready for an Atlantic crossing sometime in November/December. 'Zoonie' maintains a web diary which can be found here: Zoonie's Web Diary. We wish them a safe and enjoyable passage. Our morning breakfast of smoked salmon, scrambled eggs and toast with good company will be fondly remembered ;-)

We left the Bay of Cadiz behind just as the cruise ship 'Independence of the Seas' approached. The swell was noticeably larger than the predicted 1-2m, more like 2-3 meters as we rode up and over each wave, reminiscent of our journey down the western coast of Portugal. As for the wind, well, it was far too light for us to be able to sail and coming from the WNW - on our nose! However, we remained hopeful that it would shift and strengthen enough to allow us to sail.

Meanwhile we continued motoring. We sighted a few dolphins in the distance but they weren't interested in us and soon disappeared. On two separate occasions we sighted large shoals of flying fish and watched in amazement as they launched themselves out of the swell, glided for a few meters before disappearing. We've only ever seen the occasional flying fish to date so this was truly fascinating to watch.

Eventually the wind arrived. Not as predicted but instead a brisk F6 still on our nose but now creating a nasty sea on top of the swell. It's been a while since we've experienced swell and a nasty sea but Flirtie punched through with ease. We did scoop the occasional wave as her bow dipped under which subsequently broke right over us. Having shipped a few 'greenies' we were aware that it was getting a tad uncomfortable as we listened to items below 'shifting' in the lockers. Our cue to slow our speed to make Flirtie and our lives a little more comfortable. If we adjusted our angle to the wind we could have sailed but this would have doubled the distance of our trip, something that neither of us really wanted to do. No doubt serious sailors like our friends Peter off 'Salara' and Simon and Jenny off 'Fenicia' would have followed this strategy ;-)

With us now making 3 knots, progress was slow. It didn't take us long to realise that we would be arriving at Culatra in darkness with a lumpy sea. Although the pilot book suggests that night access is possible we didn't fancy it given the sea state and from previous experience we knew that the current can run strong at the entrance. We considered alternative ports but felt that for our own comfort and safety we would stay out in deep water and continue to Portimao instead. Portimao has a wide, deep entrance and is navigable at any state of tide and the vast majority of weather conditions and happens to be where we plan to spend this winter.

Having made our decision we were in for a long night which wasn't planned so we started our watch system given our arrival in Portimao would now be closer to dawn on Wednesday morning. Even though we're familiar with the entrance, entering in the dark is a totally different experience and one where we both needed to be alert and not blurry eyed upon arrival!

It would have been nice to have seen the moon but sadly with the cloud cover it was a really dark night. Still, we weren't alone as we had dozens of seagulls keeping us company as they flew extremely close to Flirtie matching our slow speed. They must have thought we were a fishing vessel and were probably very disappointed when they didn't get any fish or fish remains! Still, they stayed with us and kept us entertained for hours.

Travelling along the coastline at night as multi-coloured lights twinkle from cars, street lights, homes, discos etc was captivating however this made spotting the harbour entrance port and starboard markers tricky even with a chart plotter. Once we spotted them we didn't take our eyes off them.

Strangely, lights at night seem to appear much closer than they actually are so we inched our way through the entrance until we were safely behind the breakwater. All we had to now was to anchor. We've never approached an anchorage at night. Neither have we actually anchored at night but we were keen to give it a go. After all, it makes for good practice and a new experience! Yachts at anchor are supposed to display a single white light. Some yachts use the anchor light located at the top of the mast whilst others rig up a light lower down somewhere in the rigging. Then there are the yachts that just don't bother - whether this is a conscious decision we will never know but if anyone is reading this blog take it from us that arriving in an anchorage in darkness, with no moon, YOU ARE NOT EASILY SEEN amongst the other yachts!

I actually found it hard to spot anchored yachts amongst the background of street lights etc however Bruce didn't seem to have any problem so it wasn't long before we found a spot to drop our anchor. This brings us onto our next challenge as without light I couldn't confirm to Bruce how much chain I had let out. Not normally a problem during the day as we have painted markers set at 10m intervals but at night it's impossible to see them without a torch. Lesson learnt; use the head torch next time!

With the anchor firmly dug in all that remained was for us to switch on our anchor light, hoist the anchor ball (used for daylight hours), replace the Spanish courtesy flag with the Portuguese flag before turning in for the night. We climbed into bed just as the sun started to rise! We'll be spending a few relaxing days here at anchor before booking into the marina for the winter.

It took us 24 hours to travel 113 miles from Rota to Portimao, sadly all done under engine. In hindsight, if we had known that we would be motoring all the way, we would have delayed our departure for 24 hours when the forecast predicted flat seas and virtually no wind. We would also have reached Culatra within the 12 hours. However we were keen to sail hence the reason why we left but unfortunately the wind didn't veer as the forecast predicted. No surprise, yachts sailing towards Cadiz were having a wonderful ride! C'est la vie!

Total distance this season: 320.35 nautical miles