We left Lagos on Friday morning and had a nice easy sail for an hour or so down the coast to Portimao. The wind was about 12-15 knots on the quarter so Splice went along happily at about 6.5/7 knots in the flat water. We like flat water!
We intended to anchor in the area by Ferragudo quay but it was too crowded so we returned to the anchorage just inside the breakwater and dropped the hook there. It's been quite calm with only the occasional wash from a fishing boat to disturb us.
On Thursday we dinghied up the river looking for a place to land Alan when he left for the station. Under the road bridge there is a pontoon to port with lots of small local fishing boats so we moored there and asked at the restaurant if this was OK. They were friendly and said it was fine. We decided to eat lunch there, the sardines were very good - with salad and potatoes as normal. They said they would watch the dinghy for us and so we had a stroll around the old town and did a bit of shopping for provisions as well as checking out the rail station. That night we ate at a place on the fishing quay at Ferragudo. A whole 'Golden Bream' (not sure what that is in English terms) was griddled on coals outside between four of us. John from another 'Cat' was there alone so he joined us to celebrate/commiserate Alan on his last night with the crew. The food was excellent if a little more expensive than is normal around here, about E30 per head including wine.
On Friday we dropped Alan at the same pontoon to head for the train and then we relaxed on board reading for the rest of the afternoon. We took the dinghy to Ferragudo around 5.30 as it got cooler and walked around the village and along the shore. It's a lovely place, much nicer than most of Portimao as it still has real working fishing craft mixed with a little of the tourist requirement. The beach is nice too. Dinner was ham and mushroom pasta back on board that night.
Saturday was another relaxation time through the hot hours (its around 28 degrees in the shade) until about 6.30 we dinghied to the beach (all of 300 yards) and sat in the beach restaurant for a beer and food (seared Tuna salad with soy dressing - really good. A stroll on the beach in the moonlight and a glass of wine on the foredeck trampoline completed a very nice day.
We needed to fill up with water, do washing, wash the boat and have our 'black water' tanks pumped out so today (Sunday) we have come into the marina in Portimao. 'Black water' is all the stuff that is not urine that goes down the loo. Of course you can't just let that out into the water in the harbours and bays so we have two tanks fitted that contain it until we can pump it out - either more than 3 miles off-shore, or by pump at the harbour side, clearly better!
We also have a slight leak in the floor of the inflatable dinghy so Chris has been trying to find that with the dinghy upside down on the narrow pontoon - as always it's impossible to see where its coming in so there will be lots of adhesive shoved in any possible crack!
We only plan to stay here for one night as its expensive and will be heading slightly back on our track to Alvor, just a few miles away to anchor there for a few nights and then we will move to Albufeira.

In Portimao there are about 20 tall unused chimneys, we assume they are left from previous pottery businesses or similar. Well they are unused by humans that is.................every-one has a storks nest. Photo by Alan: