After the exertions of the previous two days we were ready for something more relaxing. We departed Sagres at 9am and had the genoa up straight away, doing 5 knots. After 50 minutes the wind was easing so we put up the mainsail and had a lovely sail for half an hour before the wind died completely and the engine had to go on. We passed by small resorts with pretty white buildings reaching down the cliffs towards the sea, wherever there was a cutting. The cliffs were magnificent, all red sandstone, eroded to produce stacks and caves. There were quite a few boats anchored around the caves as well as trip boats coming from Lagos, our destination, just around the corner. We anchored off Lagos beach in 5 metres and settled down for lunch, before donning swimwear to relax in the cockpit. A quick dip in the sea to cool down, freezing again! We dried off in the sun and put up the canopy to keep us cool and prevent any burning. The Nortade (northerly wind) picked up again in the afternoon and continues to blow as I write this at 6pm. Hopefully it will ease before we settle for the night, as a decent night's sleep is well overdue. Tomorrow we plan to make the short trip to Portimao, where we may spend a night in the marina, do some washing, shopping and perhaps have a meal out.

I can now tell you that the wind, in Lagos, didn't drop overnight until the early hours and I didn't get the greatest of night's sleep, listening to the wind and halyards clanking. We departed Lagos at 0930 and managed a gentle sail for 35 minutes before the wind died and we were back to the engine, for 2 hours to Portimao. The approach was very pretty, with a small castle and old town on the eastern bank and the marina, with its colourful hotel rooms on the western bank. The staff in the marina office spoke excellent English and were very friendly and welcoming, even printing off extra copies of our insurance certificate for future use. We moored up in our allocated berth without incident. Time to do the washing then and have a shower and wash my hair, which was definitely ready for it. The washing was nearly done by the time we headed for the showers, as we met another English couple, Nigel and Janet and ended up chatting to them for half an hour. They had been crewing a yacht from Torquay to Portimau for a couple who were relocating there to live on their yacht but lacked the experience to cross Biscay. Nigel and Janet do this, free of charge and even pay for their own flights, as a way of getting sailing holidays. They never accept though if there is a strict timetable. After some lunch, we headed to the grocery store, close by the south end of the marina, to replenish our drinking water supplies. That was our only glimpse of the rather brash beach resort of Rochas da Mar. Not really our cup of tea! Around 5pm, when the worst heat of the day had subsided, we cycled to the Continente supermarket, about 2 miles away from the marina, to re-provision for another few nights at anchor. On the return journey, my baseball cap blew off and I nearly crashed the bike stopping to retrieve it. Earlier in the day, I had been on Google maps looking at restaurants for dinner and had identified L'Interdit as my favourite. It was situated in a more residential area, away from the tourist resort and beachfront. We walked the mile and luckily managed to get a table. I started with an aperol spritz, which was long, cool and refreshing. Pete had a large beer (no change there then!). We both chose the duck breast, with raspberries and risotto, which was beautiful. I couldn't resist having dessert, not that I am really a pudding girl but the limoncello ice cream with vodka was up my street. If you are ever in Portimau, I can recommend this restaurant and it was really quite cheap at €58 including a bottle of wine. We had a steady walk back to the boat, where we were joined by Janet and Nigel for a drink. Their friends didn't make it, unfortunately, as Mark had stubbed his toe and it looked to be broken.

After the late and boozy night, we didn't depart Portimao until after 1030 hours. We managed to sail for just over half an hour before the wind completely died and we had to resort to the engine again. Just after a lunch of bruschetta, I spotted something glinting in the sunshine, which kept disappearing. I pointed it out to Pete and we watched as it came closer. At about 250 metres, it was clearly a pod of Orca. Usually this would be a cause for celebration and a move in for a closer look. However, last Summer and this season, Orca have been approaching yachts and causing considerable damage to the rudders. There is a boat exclusion zone in the bay of Cadiz, for boats under 15m, to try to reduce the number of incidents. The Orca are not attacking the boats, as such but in an environment where they are now competing for food with humans, they have learned that fishing boats have long lines which catch tuna and that's an easy meal. Yachts have become the victims of that. So, having seen the Orca quite close by, we switched off the engine and the autohelm and sat quietly for ten minutes while they moved away and a few motor boats passed between us and them. We then continued on our way, keeping an eye open. We passed the resorts of Albufeira and Villamoura, with their high rise hotels and expensive marinas and headed towards the Cabo da Santa Maria, where you can head north west to Faro or north east to Olhao (pronounced 'ol ee how'). The tide was running through the entrance, creating a chop and many whirlpools and it was slow going as we headed round the Ilha da Culatra to anchor. The pilot book described the area as a nature reserve, which stunning bird life but also sail it was popular in Summer and there could be as many as 100 yachts anchored there. I am sure there were three times that many, as there were masts as far as the eye could see. Despite that, the place had a certain charm and the sunset was stunning. We didn't see any of the promised birdlife though. We sat in the cockpit and had a bit of an 80's music night and a couple of glasses of wine. Pete couldn't remember 'Wishing' by 'A Flock of Seagulls'!

We left quite early next morning, to catch the tide out of the river and through the piers. It was three hours before we had enough wind for a brief 30 minute sail. We were approaching the end of our sail through the Algarve and had a short ceremony to lower the Portuguese flag and raise the Spanish one, on the starboard side, as a courtesy to our host nations. Pete called ahead to confirm availability of a berth at Ayamonte, the marina on the Spanish side of the Rio Guadiana, which forms part of the border between Portugal and Spain. We chose the Spanish side because the marina on the Portuguese side is in the river and subject to the tidal currents, whereas the Spanish marina is not. Both marinas and towns looked beautiful and historic, on approach but more about that in the next instalment of the blog.