Slow Boating

Lagos, Portugal

The Algarve is known for its sunshine.  Not this week!  We even had thunderstorms rumbling by yesterday. There’s an enormous Hanse 531 next to us in the yard and we hoped that his (rather larger) mast would take the brunt of any lightning strikes.  Good looking and useful too!

Joy Riding the Grottoes

So now we’re busy at cleaning up chores, doing a few minor repairs and monitoring the last of the bow-thruster installation tasks.  Any wonder we’re still driving a 12 year old Larry Astra….  This said the Cap’n is at the end of upgrades - maintenance only from now on.  Sure.

Amazing what you find. Roman bridge and stonework from an old Roman tower.

On Saturday, the sun came out and those devilish Nortada winds abated – well, for a few hours at least.  The Cap’n and Mate downed tools and went to explore the local farmer’s market (snails, bunnies, guinea pigs not to mention ducks and plenty of chickens).  There’s also plenty of fresh local fruit and vege and someone always seems to be running a fundraising table laden with exotic cakes and slices.  

Lightheaded and in a jovial holiday mood, the Motleys took a Grotto Tour.  It’s just as well!  Bruce would not have been happy dancing in and out of caves, squeezing through tiny cavities in rock formations (with very strange names) and surfing over submerged rocks.  Sometimes, local know-how is essential.  As our local boat captain said, “My head is all the GPS I needed to negotiate these waters”.  Well, we hope that’s what he was saying to us (in Portuguese)!

           

(This is a cat-o-tel set up by a local charity at the back of the Fishermen's Harbour to care for cats that are dumped along the beach area.  They're very friendly cats (not ferals) and were just so happy for a tummy scratch.)