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Sunday 27th
– August 10th
Temperature
: 30 – 35C
Boys, Bill
and Joyce settled well on the boat. They brought us lots of post and other
things we have been struggling to find in Portuguese shops.
We have a
really friendly pontoon. Some English and Portuguese liveaboards. Couple
of them have booked in for a year. James is getting obsessed about fishing
as one of the boats fishes to feed its cat. Callum is enjoying card games
and inevitably Allan is forced to set up a couple of PC games when they
get bored of their Gameboys. They manage to trash their room every night
but at least they sleep to a reasonable time because they are so active
during the day and up late.
Callum
decides to spend his birthday money on a mobile phone so Allan ordered him
a t68i over the web. James has some money too, so he decides to buy a
fishing rod. We didn’t think he has the patience for it but by the end of
the trip he caught a fish which was gutted and fed to next doors cat.
We did a
couple of day trips, to empty the holding tanks, to Portimao. Nice
sheltered anchorage. Met a couple of ARC boats in there, they had moved
from Lagos because of the cost. We explored the sea caves and built sand
castles on the beach. Couldn’t get the BBQ working as some bits are
missing, which was a big disappointment as Allan had carried it all the
way back from Seattle.
Highlight of
the fortnight was a trip to the water park. Boys went on everything,
including the Black Hole and Kamikaze slides. Even Bev went on the
Kamikaze but her cozzie got suck near the top and eventually she came down
with one hand on the side of the slide, presumably to slow her down
J.
Bill went on all of the slides too. Top place for a day out.
We found a
great Indian restaurant in town and had decent meal in a Chinese and
couple of trips to Pizza hut.
Did a day
trip Albefuira on the train. No-one told us the train station is miles
from the actual town. Nice, but crowded, beach and quite British-
touristy. That meant we got quite a cheap kid friendly meal though. Glad
we are not staying here for the whole fortnight.
Joyce and
Bill made the long bus trek to
Lisbon
but had a good time there. They also went to Villamoura on another day.
Allan made
his first trip up the mast, on this occasion to fit a radar reflector he
had ordered from the UK.. Bev and Bill pulling on the ropes. It took hours
to drill the holes and rivet on the brackets, particularly as he couldn’t
get the right tool for stainless steel rivets. He won’t be in a hurry to
go back up there again!
Showers,
facilities and town of
Lagos are great but it’s
very expensive and hot compared with other places we’ve been, but its easy
to see why so many British yotties stay here for an extended period.
13th
July
The big
forest fires we had been reading about have cast a black shadow over the
whole coast line. You can really smell the burning wood. Apparently a
state of emergency has been called. We moved the boat up to Alvor where we
plan to beach it and change the saildrive oil.
While we are
waiting we noticed that the bay is filling up with other boats. The reason
was that the whole skyline was ablaze and people had come to watch the
fires. The smoke was choking though and the whole boat got covered in a
thick layer of ash and charcoal.
We beach the
boat late afternoon and wait for the tide to go out. It seems to take
forever. Then Allan noticed that the back of the boat was sinking in more
than the front, threatening to bury the rudders and props in the sand. He
spent a manic couple of hours digging under the front of the boat with an
oar to try to balance out the boat. It seemed to help but we were worried
that we might have bent the rudder stocks.
In the dark
and covered in sand Allan emptied the sail drives into some 5 litres
bottles. The cheap rechargeable torch gave up in no time and we resolved
to consign it to the bin. It seemed almost impossible to keep sand out of
the gearboxes and this stressed Allan out more that the rudders, last
thing we needed is a gearbox seizure with a five day sail to Madeira
ahead. Refilling the gearboxs was also a trial but by 2am we had managed
to refloat and anchor in deeper water again. By 4am the tide turned and at
last Allan was able to sleep.
14th
July
It took
several hours to clean the boat down from all the ash using buckets of
salt water and cleaning cloths. We are both really tired as we set off on
the 500 mile trip to Madeira but at least the weather forecast is good.
We motored
out just after lunch. A slight oil slick behind the boat did nothing to
calm our fears about the gearboxes.
15th July
Damned
forecast. Northerly force 7 going on 8 with 4m waves. The boat is crashing
like crazy and we have full reefs in the sails. Bev feeling sick and not
sleeping.
Saturday 16th
July
Winded died
down, relatively speaking, but waves still pretty big.
Making good
speed but feels more like an endurance test than sailing. Not had much hot
food, boat is a tip and personal hygiene is out the window. Bev really
suffering from sea sickness but still managing to do her evening watches.
No crisps to help.
Sunday 17th
July
Arrived
Madeira in the Marina Quinta Do Lordes. We had selected this new marina as
apparently the main harbour at Funchal is always full. Do Lordes is at the
extreme south east of the island and is very new. We get a great spot on
the visitors pontoon, but then only a dozen or so of the 250 berths are
occupied. The water is beautifully clear you can see right down to the
bottom of the berths, 6 or 7 metres below. The facilities are a bit
primitive though, the marina office and restaurant are hardly ever open
and there are two small and very basic portacabins for toilet and showers.
The toilets are the stand up variety so we will probably be making use of
those on the boat.
Monday 18th
July
Temperature
25C
Great to
meet up with Ray Dutton and his wife Ed on their new Rassy 43. We first
met Ray on an SSB course about a year ago down at Universal Marina in the
Hamble.
Francesca
arrived late in the afternoon for a week’s holiday with us. She brought
Bev a stack of hair conditioner which was badly needed. Francesca is
looking forward to some sunbathing and relaxation.
Tuesday 19th
Wine of the
Moment : Madeira Sercial (between 5 and 10 euros for a 5 year vintage)
Beer : Coral
5.3%
Go into
Funchal on the bus to pick up the hire car. It’s an hour and a half on the
bus and about the same to walk to the Europcar office. Booking is a
shambles, 6 hours after our pickup they give us an upgraded car but they
have lumbered us with a few extra charges – I just know it will be hassle
when we return it too.
Madeira is a
beautiful place, surprisingly colder than the Algarve and even a few dark
clouds around. Funchal has a great colonial charm. Very much looking
forward to exploring the place.
Wednesday 20th
Took a trip
up to Santana to see the famous A shaped house. Allan is learning to cope
with the twisty road and crazy local drivers, Bev and Francesca are
thankful they are not on the insurance to drive. The thatched A shape
houses are fascinating, even more so because some of the literally shed
size houses are still occupied. It’s cheap at this end of the island too.
Two coffees and a soft drink in a café was just over 2 euros.
On the way
back stopped at Pico Alto a famous viewpoint, but it was above the clouds
and we could not see anything. Lot cooler at Altitude too. Six hours of
driving and we hardly got round one quarter of the island.
Bumped into
Warren and Judy, two experienced American sailors, from La Contenta, last
saw them in Lagos, they stopped in Puerto Santo on the way down.
Thursday 21st
Day trip to
Funchal. Traffic was light and easy to park. It’s a public holiday in
Funchal and everything is closed – doh !
In fact
looking at shop opening hours everything seemed to be closed just about
all of the time. Had a great three course meal at a restaurant at Funchal
Marina for just 6 euro 50 – amazing !
Friday –
Sunday 24rd
Chilling,
sunbathing and drinking. Turns our Francesca is a bit of a card shark.
Just as well we haven’t been playing for money. Various excursions to the
shops finds them always to be closed.
We have a
couple of drinks in a restaurant on the front. Its in the shape of a
dinghy alongside a yacht called Vagrant that used to belong to the
Beatles. Cool idea.
Monday 25th
Its
Francescas last day so we resolve to pack in as much as we can. We take a
trip up Funchal in the morning and get the cable car up to Monte. We
stopped at the first hotel behind the cable car terminal for lunch and had
a pleasant but expensive lunch. Next stop was the famous Madiera tobaggans
where two guys push and steer you down the hill on a wooden sledge. All
good fun for 10 euros a head but after the 2km ride there was still a long
walk down to town.
We managed
to get into the famous Blandys Maderia wine lodge for a quick tasting
session. For 40 euros you can taste vintages back to 1908 and in other
shops in town I saw bottles from the 1870’s. We went for the free samples
of 3,5 and 10 years sweet, medium and dry and decided that the dry 5 year
stuff at 10 euros was the best buy. To really savour it though you need to
drink it alongside some of the heavy ginger cake that they make, so we
picked up half a dozen cakes as well.
Francesca
departs, Bev is topped up on gossip and has enjoyed a weeks worth of
romantic comedy movies.
Tuesday
Took the car
back. A nightmare as predicted. Had an hour long argument with the lacky
behind the desk. They wanted to charge us over 100 euros more than we had
agreed. “Eventually” they found the rate they should have been using and
accepted that I had indeed already paid the deposit. I wouldn’t be
surprised to find they have stuffed some other charges on my card behind
my back to be spiteful.
Wednesday 27th
Early start
at 07:00 for Tenerife in the company of La Contenta. No wind right from
the start so consigned to motoring. Under power we only run one engine to
save fuel and wear, which gives us about 5-6 knots. La Contenta powered
away at 7kts so by later that day we had lost sight of them. Quite rolly
so Bev feeling a little queezy despite sea sickness tablets and first
outing for the seasickness travel bands that colleagues at work had so
kindly provided us with.
Thursday 28th
Tried
sailing for a few hours but winds light and in unfavourable direction.
Seemed to take forever to get clear of the Salvage Islands. Eventually
throw in the towel and decide to motor but is clear we won’t make it in
for tonight so slow down for a daylight landfall Friday.
Friday 29th
As usual
winds picks up just when you don’t need it. Lots of traffic into Santa
Cruz but we make it into the marina unscathed.
It’s a bit
of a commercial harbour and facilities are a bit grim despite the fact
that they have been “building” it for over 5 years. We need a rest though
so this is likely to be home for a while.
Saturday 30th
Temperature
35C
Bev has
never been to the Canaries and its more that 10 years since Allan’s been
to Tenerife. He doesn’t remember much of Santa Cruz because he spent most
time down in the cheesy tourist haunt of Play De Las Americas. No doubt we
will need to go back to reminisce at some point
J
Town seems
nice enough, all the essentials – McDonalds and literally hundreds of
consumer electronics shops selling duty free watches, radios and
camcorders. Sure to have some fun here.
Haircut
number two by Bev. Nice job but a little short at the back, will
persevere.
Bev flew
back to London for a few days. Allan has committed to tidy up the boat, do
some maintenance and not eat any McDonalds. Success has only been
partially realised thus far.
As Bevs not
here Allan gets to watch Spaghetti westerns on DVD tonight. Fistfull of
Dollars I think..
Sunday 31st
August
Very quiet
on the boat without Bev but did sleep well. Beer for breakfast, lunch and
dinner, no just kidding….
Decided to
spend a few hours updating the website. Takes a lot longer than you
imagine…
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