Portimão
In the evening we left Lagos and sailed to Portimão, eight miles away at the other end of the bay. We had to switch to motor as the 18kt wind disappeared in an instant never to return. We anchored just inside the harbour among quite a number of other boats and had a reasonably quiet night, apart from the frequent wake of passing fishing boats.
The next day, Monday 28th June, Nigel took Dan to the beach and later we went in search of a chandlery and then into town. We found the chandlery on the other side of the river, in a repair yard, but getting to town was a different matter. All the yacht basins had locked gates, Daniel ran ahead on one of them and got locked out, we couldn’t get out because the gate had no press button and in the end Dan was let back inside by a marina official who spoke some very disgruntled Portuguese and wouldn’t let us out of the marina. The sailing club pontoon and the next marina looked the same but we finally landed at the town steps successfully. We got some drinks and Dan had a ride on a train which went around a circular track so was well worth 1 Euro. Actually he went twice, and then on a helicopter, so it was 3 Euros! We found the town centre but resolved to return the next day because the shops had closed. We stopped and played by the fountain in the town with Daniel’s pink powerball – which he kept throwing in the fountain – and then went back to the boat.
Tuesday 29th June we finally got the printer working, hurray! I bought it before we left Guernsey but we have had it comfortably in its box ever since! We have to run the generator in order to use the printer but it seems to work very well. It also scans and copies. I printed out this diary and our expenses for easier review.
At midday we went into town and spent the afternoon wandering around the shops. It was really hot and we had to stay in the shade, apparently it is unusually hot here at the moment due to the levanter wind and the high pressure over North Africa. Even the Portuguese are complaining! We found a fountain which was an archway that you could go through if you were brave enough to find a route in. Someone showed us a switch so that the end of the fountain would stop so we could go in, but Daniel ended up running in and out until he was completely dripping wet – as it was so hot there was no problem drip-drying afterwards! There were very few tourists (or locals) in town, in pleasant contrast to Lagos. I don’t know where all the tourists are, but as the hotels are some distance away from the old town I imagine they have their own set of shops and just don’t bother to go to Portimão itself. The town had some lovely shops and was a lot bigger than Lagos, but from today’s example I don’t know how they make any money. We bought Dan a dancing Jet plane which drives itself all over the floor and plays tunes, Dan was dancing to it in the evening! I bet the batteries won’t last long.
Later we went to the beach to cool off and then Nigel went out in the dinghy fishing. He lost a large fish which could have been Dorado or something similar, but ended up with two mackerel.
I gave Dan a bath in the big bucket in the cockpit, he doesn’t get a bath very often but as he swims nearly every day he seems to do all right.
On Wednesday 30th June we went to the beach then explored the small town of Ferraguda on the opposite shore from Portiṃo. It was baking hot at 36 degrees, however we were warned that from mid July we could get temperatures up to 40 or 45 degrees РI will catch a plane home if that happens as I do not do well with the heat as it is now!