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LOG ENTRY DATE: August 25, 2003 Stayed at the Lagos marina for three days, and left on Thursday, August 21. Nice facilities, but hectic, touristy, and full of people. What a relief and a welcome change to actually be back on the boat, sailing!!! I calculated that it had been almost 4 weeks since we'd arrived in Sines, since the transmission had gone kaput, and I'd been travelling. Amazing to think that 1/6th of my entire sabbatical was taken up by things on shore. But—other than the transmission—it's OK, as that was always part of the deal: to see other places and to do more than just sail. Still, it was wonderful to head out to open sea, and to take a jaunt on the old girl. Although our destinations are to the east, we came out of Lagos and took a right, since neither Tom nor I had seen the coast between the southwest corner at Cabo St. Vincente and Lagos (Tom having arrived after sunset, sailing solo). The area just outside of Lagos is littered with rock formations that have eroded and tumbled into the sea, leaving behind many, many sea caves and grottoes. After sailing Chase west for about 6 miles, we turned around and anchored her amidst the sea caves, and went exploring. Besides having been off the boat for a record 3.5 weeks, this visit to the sea caves also established other new records: the first time we'd dropped the anchor since leaving the States, and the first time we'd used the dinghy and outboard! Sad commentary on our sheltered marina life! However, the anchor was soon employed again, when we ventured into Alvor, about 5 miles east of Lagos. Not that far, but a whole different world. Although isolated and snug, the harbor at Alvor makes you pay for entrance: you must pass up 2 miles of "dredged" (supposedly to 6 feet at mean low water) channel between sand dunes. It's not the sort of place an open water skipper truly feels comfortable to taking his deep keeled (Chase draws 6' 4") boat. Nonetheless, we went in at dead low, with the sun behind us, and were able to see all the shallows as we threaded our way through. Very strange, though, to be motoring past a fisherman standing only a few feet away in water up to his knees.... The town of Alvor, from the water is very scenic. Although there are a number of transient boats in the snug little harbor, most choose not to make the trip in, so there's not a lot of turnover. What you don't see from the water, though, is that Alvor is a tourist town, with the typical Algarve hotels built up along the seacoast behind it. During the afternoons and nights, the tourists flood the old section of town, which has—again, like so many Algarve towns—an unbelievable saturation of bars, restaurants, and gift shops. How they all stay in business is a subject Tom and I often discuss. After all, the gift shops all seem to sell the same trinkets, the restaurants tout and even display in little curbside coolers the same fresh fish, and the bars, well, one generally knows what they have to offer... However, I must admit that there is a little more of a difference in the bars, when one looks closely. Tom and I are now more prone to patronize an English or Irish pub, given the language and the fact that they show Rugby and football on TV! Yes, believe it or not, I can actually take more than a passing interest in these sports now—especially Rugby which is fast moving and the players tough. Interestingly, there is a large British population in the Algarve, and these bars are owned for the most part by ex patriots. After 3 nights in Alvor, we weighed anchor and retraced our steps through the channel on a rising tide at 0700. Not so lucky, this time, as the sun was not high enough to see the sand bars that protrude like fingers from various points in the channel. Chase "touched bottom" (a turn of phrase that I love, having picked it up from one of Chase's summer charterers who used it after he sheared 10 pounds of lead and the stainless keel plate from her bottom) 3 times. None violently, since we were motoring at 3 knots and the bottom was sand, but it's still never a pleasant feeling. Eastward we went, thinking that we would spend a night in Portamaio, the next town on our way, but on investigating, it looked hot and boring. So, we made the wiser choice of taking advantage of a freshening southerly (rare here, as it's usually the Nortada, or northerly Portuguese tradewinds that blow during the summer), and beam-reaching at 6 knots with the shore close aboard. A great sailing day, and a great day for viewing the extraordinary sections of Portuguese coastline that contains mile after mile of limestone grottoes and secluded (often unreachable) beaches. Since the shore is quite bold, it was possible to sail almost into these caves... very tempting to drop the hook and explore, but with a southerly breeze and a lee shore, there was no way. Arrived in Villamoura at 1500 on Sunday, August 24. This is a hard place to describe to anyone who hasn't seen it.... it's not really a town, just a huge (1100 boats) marina, around which are built condos, timeshares, an inestimable number of shops and restaurants, and 4 golf courses. It's not really a town—it's a resort oasis without, I'm afraid, much soul. Still, the facilities are good, and the people friendly. Our marina mates to starboard are British live-aboards who own two restaurants in town, and are extremely friendly and helpful. We plan to visit their "shops" today, as they were closed on Sunday. From here, I will pick up a rental car and go to Madrid to pick up Katie. Our plan is to spend 12 days hiking in the Picos de Europa (a mountain range in northwest Spain), with a couple of days in Madrid and Barcelona. Tom will be taking Chase east to the border with Portugal and Spain, at a town called Villa Real. I'll join him there for a trip up and down the Guadiana River, and then we'll cross into Spain. Log entries will begin again on September 9. |
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