Lagos – Portuguese version of Mooloolaba
14 August 2012
Lagos beach
Portugal
Position: 37 06.1N 8 39.9W
Depth : 12 ft
The wind stopped yesterday so our anchorage here is quite calm. We moved closer to shore but when Bill pulled up the anchor, another drama. A crab pot was attached to the anchor. No wonder we dragged! To think we slept all night attached to a crab pot... Nothing to it but cut it off with a kitchen knife. I hoped it didn't belong to a fisherman drifting by in his dinghy. We used the motor again as we thought a few minutes without the water pump wouldn't cook the engine. And it didn't.
Once settled we rowed ashore and set foot on the old continent for the first time. Holiday makers surrounded us bathing, making sand crocdiles, and sunning under umbrellas in their bathing costumes. The fashion among some of the ladies is for cheeky bottoms - g strings for us Aussies, thongs to our American friends.The water felt icy to us. And for us it is - only 14 degrees as Bill cooled the champers in a bucket of it on our first night measuring the temperature. After leaving the dinghy we wandered beyond the beach along the breakwater. A friendly black cat sauntered out towards the beach. I thought it was someone's pet but further along many more cats and kittens were obviously enjoying the sun in their own backyard. Perhaps a kitten might like to live on Lati for a while?!! Towards the back of the dunes, little cubby houses had been built for them by a charity.
Walking further along a dirt road we passed a high wire fence with boats on the hard. We found the chandlery and enquired about a water pump for Lati's engine. The good looking Ricardo assured us that he could get it for us once we provided the serial number. It would only take a couple of days. This was good news. Continuing to walk towards the marina we came upon a modern tourist complex of shops, cafes and stands selling tourist trips overlooking the marina. There are many pale English tourists here and a whole row in the newsagent was devoted to English magazines. I bought one and read about the Olympic games ceremony in London. It looked very extravagant. The marina office was very posh with staff who spoke excellent English. If we could get Lati into the river, a marina berth would be 34 euros a night. We weren't sure we wanted to stress the engine, and anyway 34 euros a day could be better spent on other things like food and wine! I found a café with free wifi as there is no wifi on the boat.
Water is a bit of a problem as we have to go to a service station with our gallon containers to fill. There are no taps here near the beach that we could see. We did a bit of shopping - fresh baguettes, cheese and wine. What more do we need? Later we also enjoyed the beach. We swam in the freezing water as we hadn't had a shower in 2 weeks! Later in the afternoon sun we wandered up to the Linda bar because we just had to go there! Expensive and touristy we enjoyed drinks and nibbles overlooking a pretty blue yacht in the harbour. It feels good to have arrived here on her rather than an aeroplane.
Loads of pictures in the photo gallery. click on little camera. Enjoy