Winter preparations in Albufeira and a cruising pause
12 November 2018 | Serra de Monchique
Minnie B sailed and motor-sailed the 24nm to Albufeira where she will stay until March next year – we plan to have the boat ready to go before 29th March, the date of the madness that is Brexit.
She is in the water at the marina so that we can fly back for a few weeks in the New Year.
The trip to Albufeira included a first for us. On the way to Culatra we saw a yacht motor-sailing with its day mark visible, the inverted black cone – we felt a bit ashamed that we had never used ours and determined to be proper, so after hoisting the mainsail up went the cone. It felt better.
We arrived at the marina on 25th October and did the usual winterising of watermaker, engine, outboards, interior and removed the sails and much of the running rigging.
There are a few other folks wintering their boats there and we fell in with some very nice folks for a bit of socialising, watching rugby and getting up to speed on facilities and services.
A hire car for a couple of days took us to Portimao and Lagos, as well as a drive through the Serra de Monchique where the wildfire devastation from summer was extensive (nearly 800 square miles) and quite shocking, and an afternoon in lovely Silves with its castle, cathedral and archetypal cafes. Despite the extensive tourism development in the Algarve there are places to seek out and gems to find.
So back to the UK for a while and time with family and friends. It has been a superb year starting in Trinidad and having sailed 6232nm through the eastern Caribbean, Virgin Is, Bahamas, Bermuda, Azores, and Morocco to Spain and Portugal. We continue to be very fortunate and hope to be again in 2019 with the prospect of cruising in the Mediterranean.
Back on here when we get under way again.