We moved ourselves into the marina on Wednesday morning ready for the ‘technicians’ to come aboard only to get a call that the refrigeration guy had flu and the electronics bloke had hurt his back! We needed to top up the water, do the washing and clean the boat so the expensive night wasn’t wasted. We also managed to get one of the local boat work companies to come on board to give us a quote for some work whilst we are back in the UK. Hopefully they will have all recovered when we return to Portimao.

We left at about 8.45am the next morning to sail to the lagoon area near Faro (where the main airport for the Algarve is). For the first couple of hours we had a nice 15 knot breeze from the north east and Splice was happily doing 7 plus knots. The wind faded as per the forecast and we motor-sailed for the rest of the way. Just before Faro there is a big area of sea with Tuna nets, we chose to go around the outside but it was clear that the majority of boats were going inland of the nets. There’s hundreds of orange bouys supporting these nets spread out over a couple of square miles of sea.

We motored through the rather choppy entrance with tides swirling around into the area of lagoons and creeks that sit between Faro and the sea. We anchored in the ‘Praca Larga’ off the Ilha da Culatra at about 3.30pm. This is a huge anchorage, mostly with 2-4 metres of water at chart datum (the normal measuring point you work from on charts). There are around 54 boats in the area we are in and a number more in other adjacent anchorages. I doubt you would fail to find a slot here as there’s still plenty of room. We do have constant small fishing boats flying past creating wash and the flights into Faro go overhead but the holding is good for our anchor in muddy sand and the sun is shining! The main settlement of Culatra is unusual in that there are no roads or cars, just sandy paths with concrete slabs but there are a few thousand inhabitants, not least the boats that have clearly been here for many years, some stuck in the mud at the very high tide line. The locals have now fenced off a lagoon where many old multi-hulls and other boats used to dry out and live aboards though there are still some boats in there. Ashore there are two small shops and a number of cafes/restaurants catering to the tourists that come for day trips. From what we understand from another English couple, there are only two places you can rent on the island and only locals are allowed to buy property.

We have found a cafe that has good wifi so we go each day for coffee and emails! We also went there last night for dinner. There was another boat couple leaving as we were having a drink and we asked them about their meal, getting a good report so we decided to partake of the fish as well. Chris went inside and tried to order. In a mixture of Portuguese, sign language and a bit of French he was offered two alternative fish dishes, as we’d already had bream he chose the other, not really knowing what it was. Well, he got the salad and potatoes right but the ‘fish’ turned out to be squid which neither of us likes, a whole one each and rubbery and inedible too. The staff were very good, took it back and 20 minutes later we go a big dish of assorted fish which was lovely. They even tried to give us a discount for the problem, we insisted on paying them extra as it was as much our fault.

We have booked to lift the boat out of the water in Portimao on the 14th July so we can catch our flight back to the UK on the 15th. Hopefully we can get the various broken bits aboard fixed whilst we are away.

This afternoon we will take the flood tide and go up the creek to the old town of Faro. It’s supposed to be quite different from the newer areas to the east of the place but we will have to anchor in a very restricted waterway..... probably two anchors needed, one out of the bow and one on the stern. We will make our way back towards Portimao over the coming week to be in place for the lift.

The photo shows the very crowded harbour at Culatra.