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Supplamental LOG ENTRYWriten by Tom Nangle DATE: September 10, 2003 Well, with Peter headed off to pick up Katy, the time had definitely come to leave Vilamoura. After taking a day to provision and recover from a slight 'intestinal disorder', I departed vilamoura on Friday, August 29. We had heard quite a lot about a place called Ilha de Culatra in our journies, the word being that it was an unspoiled little fishing village on a sparsely inhabited island with no cars, phones etc. It sounded like just the ticket after braving the round the clock madness of Vilamoura and Lagos. Ilha de Culatra is a sandy spit about 4 miles long, one of several that make up a sort of outer bank along this coast which provides good protection inside and beautiful sand beaches on the ocean side. It was only a 12 mile sail to the very shallow entrance, then another couple of miles up through some sandbars which were well marked. There was a nice anchorage just off the village and I was able to set anchor within 100 yards of the beach. I dont think there is a point on the island that's more than ten feet above sea level (that includes the fishermen's shacks and cottages, which i would have a difficult time standing up in), so you can see about everything at a glance. Once ashore, I packed across the dunes for the ocean side to check out the beaches. Miles of beautiful white sand beach, with hardly a soul on it! I felt a little greedy claiming a half mile or so for myself! Upon my return,the tide was too high to comfortably wade out for the dinghy—the only sensible recourse was to backtrack 50 yards to the cafe near the ferry wharf and have a cold beer while Icontemplated my options. A couple of young boys about 8 or 9 had rescued 4 Sagres beer bottles and planted them upside down in the sand to create a makeshift soccer field. They were having a grand time hurling themselves through the air in efforts to make impossible saves. I was just thinking that they could have had the World Cup in front of me, and it wouldnt have been any more entertaining, when suddenly a voice asked (in English, which I hadnt heard for a few days), "Are you from Maine?" It was John and Linda Noon from Amesbury, Mass. who had just arrived on the Crocker 36 that he had built himself. He insisted on buying me another beer while we chatted (at .70 a pop who was I to argue?) Well, our conversation turned back to home and that we had both been in Boothbay, Maine at about the same time. He had been with the Coast Guard and told about the annual parties they held on Ram Island. I told him of a time that Charlie Woodworth and I arrived there becalmed during one of the parties,.... to my amazement he remembered the boat model and color and talking with us! That was probably about 17 years ago...........so trite as it may sound, i guess it really is a small world! I managed to parlay this into a great meal aboard with them that evening and though they left first thing next morning, I knew that I had made some good friends. Next day I was off on the ferry to Olhao, a fishing village on the mainland, where I could pick up a train to Faro and talk to the Servicos Etrangerios about the fact that we might need to have a visa extension since we are approaching 90 days in Portugal and the EU. After finding the well disguised office, I had a lengthy discussion with a very nice lady and ended up with a 90 day extension. Since that time we've spoken with many very nice people, but none seem to have either the knowledge and/or ability to tell us what we really need.......eventually we hope to get it sorted out, but only time will tell how. The good part of this adventure was meeting up with a British couple who had been anchored a short distance from me. Charles and Janet are probably in their early seventies (my apologies to them wherever they are should I be mistaken). They've been living aboard for 21 years on their Oyster 37 'Trophy Girl'........a boat that had its maiden voyage in the Fastnet '79 and suffered the fate of many others, having been rolled and abandoned. She was salvaged and repaired and this remarkable couple purchased her and have been cruising ever since. They knew the area well and pointed me to all my eventual destinations, saving me a great deal of time and walking. Additional Culatra photos here and here. I'd been in Culatra for six days and it was time to move on, so raised anchor on 9/5 and headed east to Rio Guadiana, which is the river separating Portugal and Spain here in the south. I arrived a little earlier than the recommended half flood before entering, and found that one set of nav buoys on the chart were nowhere to be found. Once through the entrance however, the channel deepened in the passage upriver between the two border towns of Vila Real de San Antonio, Portugal and Ayamonte, Spain. Anchoring on the Spanish side, I found myself right next to Jean and Keith, old friends from UK that we met in Sines. They asked me to come over once situated and have a cup of coffee with them. This didnt sound like the Jean and Keith that we had come to know, but i went nonetheless. Thankfully, coffee was only one of the items on the beverage cart.......one that went untouched I'm afraid............yet another nice meal on board with them that evening. The excitement started the next morning. At midnight the river was flat calm, but around 2am the wind started to pipe up. By morning it was blowing 25-30 knots, and this with an opposing tidal current of about 5 knots, made for nasty conditions. I had just set the Danforth and was trying to get a strain on it, when the rode from the CQR severed. Apparently the boat had sailed over it and caught around the keel, sawing it off. With the chop continuing to develop, heading for the nearby marina in Vila Real seemed like the best bet. Having the GPS coordinates of the location, I had high hopes of going back with a grappling hook and retrieving our gear, but after repeated attempts we were successful only at hooking on to a cable in the vicinity repeatedly. Next time there will be a pickup buoy on the anchor. |
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