It’s a very short hop to the Isle de Cies. We managed to pick when it was gusting to 20 knots on the nose so a touch bumpy. So after tacking the first part of the trip we conceded and motored the second half into the fairly sheltered bay at Playa Arena das Rhodas. With a south west wind there was some swell creeping in during the evening but as the wind went more westerly this dropped off. The anchorage was virtually deserted but we understand this not the case mid season. We dinghied ashore after the last tripper boats had left and tied to the landing stage (fine at this time but having seen the ferries the next day don’t leave a dinghy there in the daytime). A quick stroll down to the left to the board with a map of the island and then around to the lagoon created by the walkway built across the tidal inlet. The board there describes it as an aquarium and it’s not far wrong, many fish on view from a few metres over their heads. The highlight for all of us was the conga eel that drifted around and under the rocks for a few minutes. Often fully in view, he was about four feet long, around a hand-span in width and had beautiful golden colouring on his back, none of us knew what an attractive creature this could be.
The next day we landed the dinghy on the beach and pulled it above the high-tide line. Jeff learnt the first skill of the live-aboard cruiser the hard way – keep your balance jumping off the dinghy with the painter or you get a wet backside! We did the steepest walk to the lighthouse at Monte de Faro, it’s actually only a moderate walk if you are reasonably fit. It took us around three hours with a picnic stop at the top and is well worth the effort for the views. Try and go early in the day before tripper boats have had time to drop the multitudes off. We left to descend about 13.00 and they were almost queuing on the way up! There is a basic cafe by the landing point for a coffee and very basic toilets, there is a campsite on the island that has a restaurant but we didn’t bother. For our meals on our two nights on board here we had chilli and then roast chicken (plus the odd drop of beer and wine). The only slight shock of our stay was to get in eyesight of our dinghy but circa half a mile away to see figures bending over it (we had left lifejackets etc in there) Chris and Carolyn at full jog for said distance only to find it was a few kids drying their t-shirts on the hull (at distance it is difficult to judge size!) Grandma came over to apologise.

The shot shows the bay with Splice at anchor