Since the provisioning was done in town yesterday, today we felt it was time to explore the Ilha Tavira, that is protecting the anchorage from the Atlantic swells.

Not too different in size than Culatra Island I would think but very different. First of all it is so much greener. Where we could only find one (!) tree on Culatra (plus a very old and beautiful fig tree in a well pretected garden in the village) this island has lots of trees, bushes and herbs too along it's sand dunes. No drying banks on the island itself but some offlying. Another difference is that it seems a lot more adjusted to visiting tourists, with a dozen large restaurants along the beach, a little group of older summer houses, a research centre and even a camp-ground. All of this appears to be set up for at least a thousand visitors a day, but the tiney passenger ferry doesn't seem up to the job really. We saw only a bit more than a handful tourists during our morning walk, but the season hasn't really started yet.

ON our way back to the boat, we stopped at the local 'Escola do Vela' and *Clube Naval do Tavira'. This means the local yacht club, and they have a nice club house with a big signt that says 'members only' but they do not deny us a 'Sagres', the local blonde beer in their Bar