They call this the velcro-strip here with good reason. We had a look at some of the other ports on the Algarve, and have spoken to many other live-aboards. The consensus is that Lagos is the best place to winter, close to bus and train stations and supermarkets, chandlery shops etc, so we have signed up to stay until February. It is now 14-18 degrees during the day, and it rains about every 3-4 days, but drys up very quickly after the deluges. The first rains of the winter cleared out the forests further up the mountains. The debris started to fill the marina, which is to the side of the river, as it got caught amongst the outer boats, causing huge rafts which threatened to snap the mooring lines. The ingenious marina staff drove a small boat around with a riot shield on the front, pulling the rafts off the boats using a small anchor and then pushing the rafts downriver out to sea.
We have a Christmas meal booked in our favourite restaurant with 2 other couples from the marina, and look forward to the Portuguese festivities over New Year.
On dry days we continue to extract and plug all the leaky screws on the teak deck (about 1000 of them) and remove and reset the windows so that we will (hopefully) have dry lockers next year. See the technical bit for how we did it! (Matador – Decks)
We hired a car while we had visitors last week, which enabled us to visit the mountains and the coast – all of which is very beautiful. There are plenty of opportunities for winter walks, cycles, and kayaking for which the mild autumnal weather is just perfect.
We finally have (slow) wifi access on board in the marina, so life has improved considerably – how did we ever do without it! Hopefully you will find it much easier to get in touch with us for the time being.
We met a German couple here a few weeks ago, who have cruised the Med for 6 months of the year for 6 years. They showed us lots of photos of places and gave us tips about where to anchor to avoid the expensive marina costs of the Western Med. Greece and Turkey are our intended destination as soon as weather allows in the Med, although the Balearics look really fantastic too. It seems that we were right to try and visit the Eastern Med before going further afield, as they showed us that it is possible to stay safely, sometimes even for free all year in some places in Greece and Turkey – it will certainly be a big help as our budget is really taking a hit in the Algarve, and the Western Med will be even worse with marinas costing more than a hotel room - 100 euros per night
Merry Christmas
A few more weeks along and we have been researching our plans for next year - our plans are not fixed in stone as we want to stay able to react to suggestions and information on route but as a general idea we intend to get on the move as soon as the spring weather allows - coast hopping down to the Med via Gibraltar. Then a fairly quick trip along the Spanish coast where the marinas are a fortune and quite full all year but jack up the rates in their high season which starts in some marinas as early as April or May.
From there it will be out to the Balearic Islands where hopefully we can anchor most of the time. From there to Corsica and Sardinia and then possibly some of the Italian islands and on to Sicily . From there we get a bit vague and it will depend on the progress and weather we go on up to Croatia or head south to Malta and possibly Tunisia. We had hoped to get to Greece or even Turkey but looking at the distances and the speed we have started travelling at we’ll be surprised if they don’t have to wait for 2008 and 9 . We now can’t see ourselves getting out of the Med for about 2 to 3 years, there is just so much to see.
Our Christmas day was a marathon meal at ‘Fernandos’ of 6 courses which took 5 hours to consume along with a few bottles of wine. The food was fantastic and only the third serving of roast pork and turkey along with another big dish of veggies defeated us. A doggie bag saw that the cats that live out in little houses near the harbour wall had Christmas as well.
They were very appreciative – despite looking extremely well-fed.
After a walk to the beach and to feed the cats we met more friends in the bar on the marina and socialised till 4am. Boxing Day was to be a cruise to the next port for rum punch on the quay but a brisk wind from the very direction and a lumpy swell put an end to the cruise. We, like many others had spent a day preparing the boat to go to sea. It seems that we all start poking things in places that are fine in harbour but when you decide to go sailing you have to find all the things that will undoubtedly dislodge from their homes and projectile around the boat and either break or hide where you will never find them again.
So after all the preparation it was down to the next pontoon and out with the Rum Punch and a jolly nice afternoon was had none the less.
Next day we had some rain. Not much but it was a bit blowy and overcast. It’s the first clouds we have seen in nearly 3 weeks so we can’t really complain. The sun in the completely blue sky has kept the day temperature around 14 to 17 degrees , T-shirt and shorts most of the day and as the sun goes down the temperature falls very quickly and has actually given a frost on the pontoons a couple of times. We haven’t seen the frost as it is gone by 9.00am and we are never up in time to see that. The marina is a friendly place and we have met lots of interesting people here. Several are buying ruins in the country and rebuilding them as this is the place they choose to settle. They keep telling us that we will be back one day. We can’t say if they are wrong but there is a lot to see first and we can’t believe that this will be the only place that has what you would want to have if you are settling, although it certainly does offer a lot. The mountains are quite spectacular, the beaches beautiful and the climate pretty good. Although the seaside towns are dedicated to the hundreds of tourists and ex pats real Portugal can be found very easily. The standard of living is high and although there is poverty you don’t see it much at all.
Spot the fishermen......?
Most of all the people are polite and friendly; they genuinely want to help whenever they can. A couple of days ago Steph was pushing her bike back with the shopping carefully balanced all over the place and a 20ish year old girl walking the opposite direction stopped and asked if she needed help to carry her shopping back. You wouldn’t get that in the UK if you had dropped it all over the ground.
They have their rules and regulations but the Algarvian people seem not to be so hung up about the rules and they just generally sort of follow them. There are some notable exceptions such as if you renovate an old dwelling you must allow the archaeologists in to dig about for relics. This can take as long as they like (they decide) and you pay them for their time. One couple decided enough was enough after two dog skeletons were all they had to show for 2 months digging and 2,000 euros wage bill. They will now be able to start their building work just as soon as they have finished washing and cleaning the bones and passing them back the authorities.
You can get on the spot fines for traffic infringements if caught but you will have to find the correct policeman from one of the 5 or 6 different forces to decide you have done wrong. You will rarely see one after dark unless you know where their office is and they are generally not out looking for work.
Despite the marina being quite expensive, the cost of eating and living is relatively low. You can eat a basic meal accompanied by a drink from about 5.5 euros and a good meal out including wine won’t set you back any more than 15 euros each. Wine is cheaper than beer, as low as about 50 cents a litre although we prefer to pay about 1 euro a litre as we are a bit fussy. Meat in the butcher is very high quality and if you want mince it’s made for you immediately straight from the beef steak in the counter, no extras from the floor, just pure good beef through the mincer and into a bag. There is a wide variety of fish but very little shellfish available which we have been surprised about. The local method for fish is simply to cover it in salt and throw it on the charcoal grill. On still evenings you can see the smoke rising above the town from all the charcoal fires outside the houses in the little back streets. The smell of sardines grilling permeates the air. One couple we know sat down to a delightful meal in a small garden restaurant area on the side of the road. They asked what there was to eat and the little lady pointed to the sardines - no English spoken here. A bit limited, they thought, but the sardines looked good, so they accepted and ate well with a second helping provided with wine. On coming to the end of their meal they offered some money which was accepted with a kind of bewilderment. It then gradually dawned on them that this wasn’t a restaurant at all but a private garden and they had just eaten the family supper. Another example of how the Portuguese people can’t do enough to help you.
We are looking forward to the spring where the already breathtaking scenery will come into flower and it will start to warm up. We also are looking forward to the New Year fireworks on the harbour and a few days later the Dakar rally passes through the next town with a night stage locally. That is the Paris Dakar rally only this year it starts from Lisbon. That should be quite exciting.
Happy New Year !!!
Well, the fireworks were a disappointment, but we could see the fireworks for the next 2 towns in the distance which were spectacular – you win some and lose some.
The glowing champagne flutes are still going strong (a wedding present from Sue) and had another outing to see in the New Year – they glow a weird radioactive-looking blue when liquid is in the glass. Sort of off-putting, but wonderfully tacky!
Back in one of the local English bars a riotous evening was had by all, mostly by the owners of the bar.
The bar staff had to break up a fight between the owner and a (now ex-) member of staff. Later the owner was so pickled that he went outside into the cold air and fell over cutting his top lip wide open. While he was being attended to and waiting for the Bombeiros (firemen with first-aid training in ambulances) his wife toddled out into the night air to see how he was and also fell over bloodying her nose.
It’s the first time we’ve known a bar-manager to consider banning his employers from the bar for drunken behaviour.
New Year’s Day was much calmer - after a late start we cycled to Porto do Mos – about 8km west of Lagos and out of the easterly breeze. We sat on the beach with all the tourists and sun-bathed – thinking of Old Blighty and the gales and the cancelled New Year fireworks and thought ourselves extremely fortunate!!
The glorious weather continues into 2007……….
The Lisbon-Dakar Rally passes through nearby Portimao before crossing to Africa for the tough stuff – some look like they might not get that far...
Stuart’s birthday – another excuse to eat out ..... with friends from Charluce, Marlin, Two Easy, Roamer and Noble Warrior. ...
And to work off the excesses we now have our own beach volleyball club twice a week:
The beautiful beaches of the west coast on one of our regular walks:
 |
| Winter storms bring trees downriver |
On dry days we continue to extract and plug all the leaky screws on the teak deck (about 1000 of them) and remove and reset the windows so that we will (hopefully) have dry lockers next year. See the technical bit for how we did it! (Matador – Decks)
We hired a car while we had visitors last week, which enabled us to visit the mountains and the coast – all of which is very beautiful. There are plenty of opportunities for winter walks, cycles, and kayaking for which the mild autumnal weather is just perfect.
 |
The tourists.......Steph’s mum and her friend Allison visit from Suffolk |
We met a German couple here a few weeks ago, who have cruised the Med for 6 months of the year for 6 years. They showed us lots of photos of places and gave us tips about where to anchor to avoid the expensive marina costs of the Western Med. Greece and Turkey are our intended destination as soon as weather allows in the Med, although the Balearics look really fantastic too. It seems that we were right to try and visit the Eastern Med before going further afield, as they showed us that it is possible to stay safely, sometimes even for free all year in some places in Greece and Turkey – it will certainly be a big help as our budget is really taking a hit in the Algarve, and the Western Med will be even worse with marinas costing more than a hotel room - 100 euros per night
Merry Christmas
A few more weeks along and we have been researching our plans for next year - our plans are not fixed in stone as we want to stay able to react to suggestions and information on route but as a general idea we intend to get on the move as soon as the spring weather allows - coast hopping down to the Med via Gibraltar. Then a fairly quick trip along the Spanish coast where the marinas are a fortune and quite full all year but jack up the rates in their high season which starts in some marinas as early as April or May.
From there it will be out to the Balearic Islands where hopefully we can anchor most of the time. From there to Corsica and Sardinia and then possibly some of the Italian islands and on to Sicily . From there we get a bit vague and it will depend on the progress and weather we go on up to Croatia or head south to Malta and possibly Tunisia. We had hoped to get to Greece or even Turkey but looking at the distances and the speed we have started travelling at we’ll be surprised if they don’t have to wait for 2008 and 9 . We now can’t see ourselves getting out of the Med for about 2 to 3 years, there is just so much to see.
Our Christmas day was a marathon meal at ‘Fernandos’ of 6 courses which took 5 hours to consume along with a few bottles of wine. The food was fantastic and only the third serving of roast pork and turkey along with another big dish of veggies defeated us. A doggie bag saw that the cats that live out in little houses near the harbour wall had Christmas as well.
They were very appreciative – despite looking extremely well-fed.
 |
| Christmas dinner with friends from ‘Roamer’ and ‘Marlin’ |
So after all the preparation it was down to the next pontoon and out with the Rum Punch and a jolly nice afternoon was had none the less.
Next day we had some rain. Not much but it was a bit blowy and overcast. It’s the first clouds we have seen in nearly 3 weeks so we can’t really complain. The sun in the completely blue sky has kept the day temperature around 14 to 17 degrees , T-shirt and shorts most of the day and as the sun goes down the temperature falls very quickly and has actually given a frost on the pontoons a couple of times. We haven’t seen the frost as it is gone by 9.00am and we are never up in time to see that. The marina is a friendly place and we have met lots of interesting people here. Several are buying ruins in the country and rebuilding them as this is the place they choose to settle. They keep telling us that we will be back one day. We can’t say if they are wrong but there is a lot to see first and we can’t believe that this will be the only place that has what you would want to have if you are settling, although it certainly does offer a lot. The mountains are quite spectacular, the beaches beautiful and the climate pretty good. Although the seaside towns are dedicated to the hundreds of tourists and ex pats real Portugal can be found very easily. The standard of living is high and although there is poverty you don’t see it much at all.
 |
| Barragem de Bravura |
Spot the fishermen......?
They have their rules and regulations but the Algarvian people seem not to be so hung up about the rules and they just generally sort of follow them. There are some notable exceptions such as if you renovate an old dwelling you must allow the archaeologists in to dig about for relics. This can take as long as they like (they decide) and you pay them for their time. One couple decided enough was enough after two dog skeletons were all they had to show for 2 months digging and 2,000 euros wage bill. They will now be able to start their building work just as soon as they have finished washing and cleaning the bones and passing them back the authorities.
You can get on the spot fines for traffic infringements if caught but you will have to find the correct policeman from one of the 5 or 6 different forces to decide you have done wrong. You will rarely see one after dark unless you know where their office is and they are generally not out looking for work.
Despite the marina being quite expensive, the cost of eating and living is relatively low. You can eat a basic meal accompanied by a drink from about 5.5 euros and a good meal out including wine won’t set you back any more than 15 euros each. Wine is cheaper than beer, as low as about 50 cents a litre although we prefer to pay about 1 euro a litre as we are a bit fussy. Meat in the butcher is very high quality and if you want mince it’s made for you immediately straight from the beef steak in the counter, no extras from the floor, just pure good beef through the mincer and into a bag. There is a wide variety of fish but very little shellfish available which we have been surprised about. The local method for fish is simply to cover it in salt and throw it on the charcoal grill. On still evenings you can see the smoke rising above the town from all the charcoal fires outside the houses in the little back streets. The smell of sardines grilling permeates the air. One couple we know sat down to a delightful meal in a small garden restaurant area on the side of the road. They asked what there was to eat and the little lady pointed to the sardines - no English spoken here. A bit limited, they thought, but the sardines looked good, so they accepted and ate well with a second helping provided with wine. On coming to the end of their meal they offered some money which was accepted with a kind of bewilderment. It then gradually dawned on them that this wasn’t a restaurant at all but a private garden and they had just eaten the family supper. Another example of how the Portuguese people can’t do enough to help you.
We are looking forward to the spring where the already breathtaking scenery will come into flower and it will start to warm up. We also are looking forward to the New Year fireworks on the harbour and a few days later the Dakar rally passes through the next town with a night stage locally. That is the Paris Dakar rally only this year it starts from Lisbon. That should be quite exciting.
Happy New Year !!!
Well, the fireworks were a disappointment, but we could see the fireworks for the next 2 towns in the distance which were spectacular – you win some and lose some.
The glowing champagne flutes are still going strong (a wedding present from Sue) and had another outing to see in the New Year – they glow a weird radioactive-looking blue when liquid is in the glass. Sort of off-putting, but wonderfully tacky!
Back in one of the local English bars a riotous evening was had by all, mostly by the owners of the bar.
The bar staff had to break up a fight between the owner and a (now ex-) member of staff. Later the owner was so pickled that he went outside into the cold air and fell over cutting his top lip wide open. While he was being attended to and waiting for the Bombeiros (firemen with first-aid training in ambulances) his wife toddled out into the night air to see how he was and also fell over bloodying her nose.
It’s the first time we’ve known a bar-manager to consider banning his employers from the bar for drunken behaviour.
New Year’s Day was much calmer - after a late start we cycled to Porto do Mos – about 8km west of Lagos and out of the easterly breeze. We sat on the beach with all the tourists and sun-bathed – thinking of Old Blighty and the gales and the cancelled New Year fireworks and thought ourselves extremely fortunate!!
The glorious weather continues into 2007……….
 |
| Flamingos at nearby Alvor ..... they are white because they do not eat shrimps here... |
The Lisbon-Dakar Rally passes through nearby Portimao before crossing to Africa for the tough stuff – some look like they might not get that far...
Stuart’s birthday – another excuse to eat out ..... with friends from Charluce, Marlin, Two Easy, Roamer and Noble Warrior. ...
And to work off the excesses we now have our own beach volleyball club twice a week:
The beautiful beaches of the west coast on one of our regular walks:
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