Blog 1: Lagos to Gibraltar

We returned to Lagos in the Algarve at the end of April 2016, after a six-month winter cruise of the Canary Islands. 

Sailing back from the Canaries – April 2016

During May we decommissioned Island Drifter and had her lifted out into a prime position on the hard in Sopromar’s excellent boatyard (we were located near to the new showers and toilets and overlooked the dunes, old town and fishing port).

Island Drifter, on the hard in Sopromar's Boatyard

Like the itinerant gypsies we have become, we spent the summer and autumn of 2016 in the UK, based variously in our beach chalet at Calshot, house in Harrogate, Mike’s brother Bruce's and Jill's home in Suffolk, or visiting/housesitting for family and friends.   

Will, our younger son, cooking us all prawns at Calshot

During this period, we effected a fairly major renovation of our beach chalet, which we have now owned for 20 years, and a partial refurbishment of the house in Harrogate. 

New shower in beach chalet

  

What else?  Highlights include:

~          Will at last (at his tenth attempt) won the ‘Dibden Open’ – a golf competition he runs at Calshot, dedicated to the memory of Matt Elliott, a friend of the participants in the competition, who died in a climbing accident in Skye in 2009.

Will holds aloft the coveted Matt Elliott Cup

~          Mike and our friend Ian Ross circumnavigated the Isle of Wight in a Wayfarer dinghy in a very respectable time of 12 hours.

Mike helming while circumnavigating the IOW

~          Our granddaughter Emmy stayed with us at the beach chalet for the first time on her own. She was clearly inspired and now has her own yacht in a Kensington playground!

Emmy's first yacht – a dry run

We returned to Portugal in October and stayed for six weeks to service, repair and improve Island Drifter, while enjoying the winter sun and socialising. Once again we rented Ian and Sue's 'beach house' in the old town.  Our most difficult task proved to be getting the furling gear for the genoa sail repaired and serviced. Fortunately, Steve Grover, who with his wife Helen built Island Drifter, was able to advise what to do when we came up against problems taking the gear apart.

Furling gear in process of being taken apart,  serviced and repaired

Helen checking and cleaning the rigging of the  Saharan dust that had accumulated on it

While of absolutely no interest whatsoever to non-sailors, we also resolved three long-standing issues on our boat: 

~          We bought a range of gas fitments that now enable us to refill our gas cylinders from LPG pumps at petrol filling stations anywhere in Europe (at less than half the UK price of exchanging a bottle).

~          We purchased and installed a more sophisticated fresh water filter (a Seagull IV) which makes our tank water at last perfect to drink (before it always had a slight taint of resin to it).

~          We’d assumed that we would need to replace the compass which was almost unreadable.  One hour’s work on it with 2000 grade wet and dry sandpaper, followed by a coat of protective varnish, brought the compass back to new. Unbelievable!

Gas connectors which should enable us to refill our cylinders with LPG in a normal garage – at half the UK price – throughout Europe

We returned from Portugal for the winter.   Our highlights in this period were all family and socially related.

~          Both Christmas and New Year were spent with all the family in London at Will and Lesley’s (Christmas) and in Suffolk for the New Year (while Mike's brother and sister-in-law Bruce and Jill were in Malawi).

Emmy and her Christmas scooter

Henry, our older son, carving a large joint of beef for New Year’s Day lunch

  

~          We also enjoyed hosting a Burns Night Supper (the second in six years) in Suffolk with friends from locally and afar.  A range of whiskies were sampled during the evening…

Table laid for Burns Night Supper

At the beginning of March we flew back to Portugal and spent the month in Ian and Sue's 'beach house' while we recommissioned Island Drifter ready for launch and our next cruise – this time into the Mediterranean. 

Helen coating the bottom of the keel with black quick-drying antifouling just before launch (once the bottom was accessible)

We’ve delivered boats to/from the Med on a number of occasions but have never cruised there in our own boat.   The exact extent of our cruise will evolve over time since we are not pushing ourselves to achieve particular objectives. 

Island Drifter being launched against a background of the old fishing port and town of Lagos

We decided to take our time, at least initially, cruising along the Algarve and visiting some of the places we had passed by before that have always interested us. This approach also had the advantage of providing us with a useful sea trial for both ourselves and the boat.   Indeed, partway through we took the opportunity to return to Lagos in order to sort out, with the help of the boatyard, some teething problems we had following the launch.

Chart of our route from Lagos to Gibraltar

Initially we made our way to Alvor lagoon where we anchored for a few days – all of six miles from Lagos!  We were always intrigued by what we’d heard and read about it – but had never been there.  Alvor has a justifiable reputation for its shallows shifting from their charted positions in the approach to the inner anchorage close to the town. Indeed, we briefly ran aground on one sandbank when entering! To be honest, we’d have been disappointed had we not!

Aerial view of Ría de Alvor – major sandbanks clearly visible

Anchored in Alvor lagoon close to the north shore while testing out our new sun awning

Mike simply couldn’t leave Alvor without sampling the local clams, which are considered to be a delicacy.  He tested and thoroughly enjoyed them while Helen enjoyed a steak.

Enjoying lunch at the Morgadinho fish restaurant on Alvor’s quay

While at Alvor, we walked the coastal paths in both directions – back to Lagos and onward to Portimao, our next port of call.  We also enjoyed the company for lunch of our friends Sue and Ian (our landlords in Lagos) and mutual friend Angela.

A farewell drink on Alvor quay following lunch on board. Anchorage in background

We moved on from Alvor and anchored next behind the eastern breakwater in the Arade estuary in which Portimao town is situated on the west bank. 

Our excellent anchorage behind Portimao’s eastern breakwater

The town itself is high rise and undistinguished. The tourist resort of Praia de Rocha to its south has a magnificent beach and is said to have a ‘lively atmosphere’.  We gave it a miss…

Portimao’s brightly coloured marina buildings, which actually mirror the hues of the local sandstone cliffs, with the town and Praia de Rocha in the background (as seen from our anchorage)

The area’s undisputed gem, however, is the small village of Ferraguda further upriver on the east bank of the estuary.  The picturesque old quarter clings to the very steep hill behind the quay and is comprised of cobbled streets, many steep steps and small colourful houses.

Ferraguda’s small quay and fishing harbour

Picturesque street in Ferraguda

Our next passage was to Albufeira, a relatively new marina which we had not visited before, were interested in seeing and which was half the price of the other more established marinas.   It was an uneventful passage there apart from when we became entangled with one of the many fish pot buoys dotted along the coast. Fortunately we were able to extricate ourselves relatively easily – not usually the case! 

Aerial view of Albufeira Marina, courtesy of Marina Management

The 460-berth marina had been dug out from wasteland and then connected to a small fishing bay that has now been enclosed by large breakwaters. Due at least in part to its position in a natural amphitheatre, the marina complex forms its own little enclosed world, subtly emphasised by its quirky architecture and the unusual colours of the surrounding buildings.

Some of the attractive candy-coloured apartments surrounding the marina

Our progress along the Portuguese coast was unfortunately curtailed by a major easterly gale that emanated in the Gibraltar Straits and encompassed the whole of the Algarve. The entrance to Albufeira harbour was formally declared closed, along with several other ports.

Bad weather resulted in Albufeira entrance being declared closed

In Albufeira we were visited by our good friends ‘Captain’ Peter and his partner Bernadete.  Peter is the local ‘weather guru’.  We’ve been friends with Peter since meeting him on our first Atlantic Circuit in 1999. They had come over to a hotel from Lagos for the night prior to Peter’s weekly weather forecast on Owen Gee’s Sunday show on Kiss FM the following morning, after which they were due to have lunch with Owen and Bonnie Tyler who was appearing as a star guest on the show. 

‘Captain’ Peter and Bernadete on board for supper

Having been delayed by the weather for a week in Albufeira, we decided to revise our original cruising plan and go directly to Gibraltar.  

Once the 3-day easterly gale had begun to abate, we left Albufeira at 3 a.m. on Monday 23rd April in order to take advantage of a favourable 2-day weather window forecast for our 200-mile passage to Gibraltar and to ensure that we caught a favourable tidal gate off Cape Trafalgar.  

After an initial 150-mile double-overnight passage across the Bay of Cadiz, we caught the start (11 a.m.) of the favourable tidal gate off Trafalgar spot-on for the final 40 miles through the Gib Straits.   With a favourable tide, current and wind we averaged 8 knots an hour for this final stage.  A great day’s sail in hot sun under a cloudless sky.

Tarifa’s famous lighthouse with the most southerly city in Europe behind

We’d already decided to give the three crowded, expensive and luxury marinas in Gibraltar a miss. Instead we pulled into the ‘new’ (2010) Alcaidesa Marina at La Línea, located in Spain immediately north of Gibraltar airport’s runway. 

Aerial photo of Alcaidesa Marina in the foreground, courtesy of Marina Management

Alcaidesa Marina had the attraction for us of being nearly a third the price of its Gibraltar competitors (at £12/night) and yet we were still located close enough to Gib to be able to fill up there with cheap diesel (55p/litre) and easily shop in town.  As a pedestrian, there appeared to be no major restrictions on movement of personnel or goods either way across the border.

Spirits are duty free in Gibraltar! (Prices shown are per litre.) We cannot deny that Island Drifter is now sitting closer to the Plimsoll Line…

Having been forewarned, we are not surprised that we are having to sit out another easterly gale before we can move on into the Med.  We have used part of the time to climb The Rock and walk around Gibraltar, concentrating on those parts we’ve not been to before.  We couldn’t leave, however, without the mandatory visit to one of the Barbary Apes’ dens on the Rock. (Actually, they are not apes; they are tailless monkeys that originate from Morocco.)

Barbary Ape overlooking Gibraltar harbour

Hopefully, we’ll be able to continue our cruise on Sunday, when the present gale is expected to have ceased and a favourable westerly wind is forecast.