With wind forecast to be NW4-5 again today we left early given that we've got some 75 miles or so to cover as well as rounding Cabo de Sao Vincente, a headland with a reputation for being windy and rough no matter what the wind conditions. We've certainly heard some horror stories from fellow cruisers which made us aware that we wanted a good weather window or we could be in for a bumpy ride!

We awoke with dampness on the decks so it was a pleasure to see the sunrise as it began to warm both Flirtie and us up.

As usual, we're motoring again :-( but at least today we have fantastic visibility. This allowed us to see the spectacular, rugged coastline with rocks tumbling down into the sea and strange horizontal, vertical and angled striations, just beautiful.



Given the distance we had to cover we decided to take it in turns keeping watch so whilst I took the first shift, Bruce caught 60 winks... which turned out to be 3 hours snoozing as Flirtie rocked him gently to sleep... ZZZzzzz



Meanwhile we had a visit by a few dolphins who played around for half an hour before heading off looking for food.



As Cabo de Sao Vincente approached we could feel the anticipation mount - would we encounter huge waves and strong winds like so many other cruisers? I for one was very pleased when we rounded Sao Vincente in virtually flat calm sea. It was 3.30pm and for the first time in quite a while we're not heading South, but East, towards Gibraltar! :-)



We'd barely cleared the point when suddenly we had wind, coming off the land so we quickly rolled out the sails taking advantage of it. It was decent too, 18-22 knots with no swell (yes you heard right, no swell :-)) and just short choppy seas we sailed... a cracking sail... we were enjoying it so much that we decided to pass our anchorage for the night at Sagres and continued on.



Flirtie was in her element and Bruce was too as he kept rubbing his hands together (for those that know Bruce he tends to do this when he's excited!) With occasional spray coming over the deck and short choppy waves it was like being back in UK waters, but of course it wasn't raining and it was hot - excellent conditions. The coastline continued to provide spectacular views but as we approached Lagos we were beginning to feel tired and with the wind increasing we decided to call it a day and head into Lagos rather than the anchorage of Portimao.

Following a short trip up a narrow channel we arrived at the reception pontoon of Marina Lagos to check in, just short of the pedestrian lifting bridge.

What a fantastic day - we've made it into the Algarve!

Total distance this season: 1113.58 nautical miles