Last leg to Europe
01 July 2009 | Gib
Jane, warm and sunny - yippee
We had an amazing trip from the Azores to Lagos in Portugal on our last leg across the Atlantic. With Dick the three of us made a terrific team and had a ton of fun together. Our watches were every three hours, and one two hour watch In the middle of the day, so we got plenty of sleep and arrived on top form.
We left approximately a day and a half after the ARC Europe boats and from what we have heard had a much kinder trip. We understand that they had very bad weather and up to 13 boats lost their auto-helms (among other things) during the trip. The joke in Lagos was "have you sold your boat yet?". We really felt for them and were glad that we were able to wait for the right weather which kept us on the same tack the whole way with wind around 15-20 knots, although we did have one night that was a tad bumpy.
Lagos is lovely, in fact the whole Algarve is, and the Portuguese people are delightful. We spent five days in the Marina cleaning the boat, enjoying the old town and its many bars/restaurants with music playing everywhere, and catching up with cruising friends. Sadly Lagos is terribly touristy with so many English and Irish holiday makers you sometimes you feel that you are in Britain and not Portugal.
The Algarve coastline is incredibly beautiful and we had a lovely sail to Faro, we think it would be a delightful area to spend more time. The channel up to Faro runs between marshland that is part of a National Park, and is very tidal. Yes, another new challenge which caused us some exciting moments when we were at one of the buoys off the city as all the boats go round in circles at certain times with certain wind conditions and they have not left enough room between buoys (oh the stories we have). Luckily we were on the boat!!
Faro old walled town was lovely with superb views over the estuary. The cobbled streets lead us to the perfect restaurant were we enjoyed local seafood in a tiny courtyard setting with lemon/lime/papaya/passion-fruit/fig/orange trees and grape vine surrounding us amongst the other foliage. It was a memorable meal. There were many churches, with the one leading into the old town having stork nests in its upper spires - quite the sight.
Then it was off to Cadiz, this time with no wind!! On arriving we found that there was a large regatta happening and no room in the Marina, so we went across the bay to Puerto Sherry where we were able to anchor in the bay for a couple of nights and visit Puerto Santa Maria. We were happy to be at anchor again and it is much cheaper too!! As I write this we are at anchor just off the commercial area (a secret that was passed down to us), we are the only boat here and it certainly seems a bit odd. We walked our feet off today sightseeing what is one of the oldest cities in Spain with most of its private and public building dating back to the 18th century. Churches are everywhere, some quite spectacular, but there is not much green space which we missed, although we love all the cobbled streets.
Next stop is Barbate before we go through the Strait of Gibraltar into the Med, another exciting day ahead of us!! Our plan is to stop in Gibraltar for a look see and duty free "goodies" before heading as quickly as possible to Ibiza. Wifi is very difficult to get here, so next blog will probably be Palma where we pick up Edwin and Amy.