Cascais to Lagos
19 August 2008 | Lagos
Cascais to Lagos
We left Cascais and set off for Sines which came highly recommended. Sines is in the same bay as an oil terminal, can't say more as we didn't moor. It was a Bank Holiday and we quickly saw that the anchorage and marina were full so we decided to go overnight for Lagos. As we set off Tim and Bev came alongside and asked if we could sail together as their radio was on the blink. We decided that they should take the lead as they were a bigger boat and we didn't want them accidentally bumping into us in the fog which was developing.
Fog, what a bonus for my first night watch alone (of course Steve was below and not likely to fall asleep very deeply!) It is quite eerie in the fog and I saw nothing except the pinprick light from Emerald ahead of us until that too disappeared. There were a few craft on the radar but nothing came near.
I was on watch when we rounded Cape St Vincent, the most westerly point of Europe with its light house guarding one of the world's busiest shipping lanes. It is one of the most powerful in Europe and can be seen as far as 60 kilometres away. The sea was like a mill pond and despite it being a dolphin hotspot not one was in sight. We motored past the red sandstone cliffs, pock-marked with caves eroded by the sea. As we neared Lagos around midday we saw a tiny armada of little craft scurrying around the coast taking tourists on grotto or fishing trips. Large ribs powered out to sea taking excited holiday goers on a dolphin safari and colourful kites towed wind surfers across the bay.
We checked into the marina but having made no arrangements to contact Tim and Bev we never managed to find them in the packed marina but hope they were there somewhere.