Departure Day
The night was very rolly and little sleep was had. We had agreed to get going by 8.00am so that we could get into Faro for lunch as the girls were flying to Milan later in the day.
It was another typical blue sky day and Albufeira even looked quite charming despite its concrete blocks. Stormbird was surrounded by fish who seemed to enjoy swimming around the boat. If one could reach down one could have easily pulled them on board. Mark put down a line with feathers but the fish were not interested- they certainly were not mackerel.
We were on our way by 8.00am and there was little wind. We switched on the generator and made water as we went along. There was little traffic and we stayed pretty well under the 20 m contours. The wind rose but it was on the nose again so we could not sail and by 12.00noon we were back in our anchorage spot near Faro.
We had a great lunch ashore in the old town and then found a fantastic ice cream shop called Gola. Delicious and home made ice cream flavours such as white chocolate & raspberry, hazelnut, passion fruit, lemongrass, melon, mango etc.-were tasted and gobbled up. We said goodbye unfortunately to Francesca, Isabel and Rosanna who were flying off to hike in the Dolomites. It had been a lovely week having them on Stormbird and so nice to spend precious time with them.
We returned to the boat and decided to go to the anchorage off Olhao- Isle de Culatara. As the wind was from behind this time we just used the genoa and drifted along about 3-4 kts watching the mudflats go by along with enjoying the birdlife. It was as if time had stopped. After about an hour we found a spot at the front of the anchorage and it was a huge anchorage and can take when busy up to a 100 yachts. We had a lovely light supper watching the sun go down and what looked like a star spectacle as all the yachts turned on their anchor lights.
We look forward to visiting Olhao – not touristy and known for its fish life and markets. An early night was had by all to make up for the rocky night before.
If you have any questions, comments, suggestions – do email me on hine.nick9@gmail.com