Culatra for short

The trip here from Portimao was uneventful except for the procession of pot markers as far as the eye could see, coupled with fish farms and a proliferation of tunny nets jutting out from the coast line.

The entrance into Culatra was narrow and the tidal flow on springs (what else) was fast, fortunately we had timed it to coincide with the flood and we raced through the stoney entrance and into this beautiful big lagoon at a rate of knots.

The holding here was superb and the anchor set straight away , there is a big debate on different types of anchors and their merits right now on ybw and it made me smile, the old cqr on here has never failed to set and hold (so far)

I turned in for the night and switched on my anchor alarm - just in case.

The following morning saw a fantastic sun rise , a crisp golden glow in the distance rapidly becoming a hot sunny morning , that turned my thoughts to the two big solar panels sat on the coach roof , they hadnt worked since the storms in lisbon

I checked the outputs and wasnt shocked to find both of them were buggered, i checked to see if they were repairable but the damage was internal under the laminate and not fixable... Damn !

So with the fridge turned down low to conserve power i weighed anchor and on the first of the ebb tide made my way out of the narrow entrance past a Portugues naval ship and off towards my final bit of portugese coast line .

Im sad to leave here, Portugal was a good place to winter, the people have been so kind , but Spain beckons again

Pics to follow