January 30, 2007 Lagos,

We have spent the last two weeks here and plan to sail to Vilamoura tomorrow. It is just thirty miles east of us and is also on the Algarve. The weather here for the first week was warm and clear with highs in the low twenties. Nice for shorts and sandals and walks on the beach. This last week we have had showers and a north wind which has caused us to put on sweaters and heat on the boat as a couple of nights it has gone down to three or four degrees. We do not like cold weather and looking at the forecast we are hopeful for a return of warmer days.

I have no idea what we do all the time but there never is enough hours in the day to do all that we wanted to do. We have walked all over (many many miles) along the beaches and on the cliffs that are a hundred feet high. The walks along all of the Portuguese shore are common ground or park lands with trails right to the edge of the drop offs. We see these crazy Portuguese fisherman with long rods climbing down the cliffs and casting their lines out from 50 to 100 feet above the ocean. It is very dangerous and as we read one fell off at Sagres and died. Fishing is a tough sport over here! There are no fences or barriers on these walks and if we were in Canada the parks people would go nuts.

We cannot get wifi on the boat so most evenings (morning for you on the west coast) we go up to South Bar for a drink and internet service. This area is full of British and Irish so the bar is busy. We met a couple from England (Charles and Angie) who live here part time and play a lot of golf. They invited us to play which we did. It was Marians first time on an eighteen hole course and she managed very well. I even remembered on occasion how to play a shot or two. We had a great day and enjoyed their company. They had owned hotels and restaurants and some of their stories reminded us of Basil and Sybil in the Faulty Towers TV show.

We have been travelling on the same route as another boat that we were beside in Cascais. They are a Swiss couple (Jean-Claude and Marlene) who arrived in the next slip to us last week. We have enjoyed their company and spent the last three days driving around the countryside. There are many orange groves in this area with little stands selling the oranges. We stopped at one and were treated to many oranges that Carlos, the owner (74 years old) kept pealing for us to eat. We left with four and a half kilos at .50 euro a kilo and now have fresh juice in the morning. We drove up in the hills to Monchique which gives you a panoramic view of most all the south coast of Portugal. We had a great lunch then drove to the west to Cabo do Sao Vicente and Sagres. The road was a winding mountain road that had sheer drops to the bottom of the valleys with no guard rails at all. This has helped me to learn left and right in French as Marlene calls this out to me when I miss my turns! The hills are all terraced which was done by the Moors 1000 to 1500 years ago. The next day we drove to Faro which is a pretty town but has no marina. It does have storks that build huge nests on top of roofs and towers, these birds used to nest in Morocco but now come here. On the third day we went shopping with stops at the three main marinas along the coast. This is why we are going to Vilamoura as it looks the best to us. There are four golf courses connected with the marina so maybe we will get another game in?

Our plans right now are to go up the Guadalquivir River to Seville in a couple of weeks and probably stay there for a week then down to Cadiz and Gibraltar. Our plans always are open to change so past that we really don’t know. We are always meeting people who give us new ideas and places to go.

Algarve

Now that I have the blog set up I must try to keep it up to date. David has done a good job so far but now it’s my turn!
Well the sewing machine kept me busy for a few days and we have smart, useful fender covers and the machine has paid for its self.
We were joined in Cascais by Barb and John Glynes who had a rather tedious journey from Vancouver, snow in B.C., wind in London. They had honeymooned in Estoril 38 years ago so it was a good opportunity for them to revisit the area. We went to the Hotel Atlantico and found it closed and due to be demolished! We did get to go inside and they were able to reminisce. Next day a visit to Sintra, a World Heritage site in the hills, that has many old, large, ornate homes with trees and plants from all over the world.
Sunday 14th January 0900 saw us drop the lines and head out to sea again. We wondered if, after 6 weeks, we remembered how to sail but did not have to worry as there was no wind and we motored all the way to Sines. A very tired homing pigeon joined us for a few hours before he headed on his way again. We were there for the night and had a good Portuguese meal in the quaint town.
Up early on the 15th and headed south. We started out powering and then got some wind and managed the sails all right! Several schools of dolphins played along side the boat, they enjoy the bow wake. At 1630 we rounded a very calm Cabo de Sao Vicente(Cape St. Vincent). We cracked a bottle of Champagne to celebrate. The cliffs are a magnificent sight and we thought of all the world explorers that have been in the same waters on their journeys to and from their discoveries of the New World.
The light was beginning to fade so we dropped the anchor in Sagres bay under the ruins of Henry the Navigators school, The hoped for quiet night was not to be as the 2 knots of wind went right angles to the swell and we rolled all night.
Tuesday morning was beautiful so we followed the coast all the way to Lagos past more wonderful cliff formations and pretty little villages. After the village of Luz there are caves and grottos in the cliffs with little tour boats going in and out. By 1500 we were safely tied up to a berth at the newish marina here in Lagos.
Lagos is full of British people who spend their winters here and some who spend all their time here! The climate is wonderfully mild all year long and there are many golf courses. The town has a long esplanade along the water and the old town is enclosed by the old walls. There is a HUGE long beach along the east of town.
Barb and John headed off to a blustery England first thing Wednesday morning and David and I walked the beach after we had washed the boat.
Now we are settled in here and will stay 2 weeks. The weather has been wonderful since we arrived, shorts and T-shirts. We have been invited to play a round of golf by a couple we met in the bar. We awoke this morning to RAIN so the golf had to be cancelled for today! Hopefully tomorrow will be better.

Shopping January4th

Another day of sunshine and temps in the high teens. We went to see the Amel representative today for some extra bits and pieces. Afterwards we went for a hike around the western parts of the city. We do get a lot of exercise walking up and down the hills and Lisbon has many. On this walk we came across a sewing machine shop and we, or should I say Marian is the proud owner of a Husquvarna something or other. She is going to sew up fender covers to stop the fenders squeaking against the hull when we are at the dock. No rest for her. I imagine that the baby clothes will start coming into life very shortly.!! Anything to amuse ourselves. The only problem is there is never enough time in the day to do all we want.

Back to Kilkea for some wine and cheese.

January 1st 07

Happy New Year.

The start of a new year sees us in Cascais, Portugal, having spent Christmas with the children and grandchildren back in Vancouver. The question is how the heck did we get here??

This is the long story of our year of 2006 that has been very eventful.

It all started last new years eve when we made a deal on buying this boat, a 2005 Amel Super Maramu, which was in Ft Lauderdale Fld. At that time we anticipated taking delivery of her in February but due to some legal stuff and Marian getting knocked over and knocked out and then having to have her gall bladder out we did not get onto the boat until mid March. We provisioned the boat in three and a half days with everything from Iridum phones and laptops to bedding, pots and pans etc. Then it was off to Freeport, the Bahamas, for some more legal stuff with the previous owners Dave and Chis who then stayed with us for another two weeks to teach us how to operate the boat systems and also how to sail it!! They were just wonderful and we would not be here now if it were not for them. We ended up saying farewell to them in George Town Great Exuma, had a couple days on our own before Natalie joined us for a week or so. Practiced some more with the sail configuration and went over to Cat Island then back to George Town where our friend Darrell and his friend Doug joined the crew. Natalie left the morning of May 02 and we headed out. Next stop Conception Island for a couple of nights as it is a marine park on the outer bank of the Bahamas.

Now we (the novice sailors) set off to cross the Atlantic!! Well all those years of cruising up and down the BC coast were not wasted and we were not fearful but admit to being anxious. The first leg was to Bermuda which took us seven days with not much wind at all and we used the motor half the time. We could have run any of our power boats on this leg if we had enough fuel! The distance was around nine hundred miles and everything worked as planned with Bermuda coming into view just after sunrise. We enjoyed the islands with their white roofs beautiful gardens and winding streets. We stayed for six days then headed for the Azores some 1900 plus miles away!

We powered out of St Georges hbr set the sails and headed east. The wind was building and after the first day we had winds hitting 40 knots, the boat was just fine cruising along at 9 to 11 knots. I on the other hand had a little stomach problem which lasted about a day then all was fine. We had winds for the rest of the crossing from the south west at an average speed of about 25 knots which gave us some great sailing with three days of over two hundred miles and the rest in the high hundreds. We arrived in Horta in the early morning and just started the engine for the last few hundred meters to get into the anchorage. Only eleven days at sea and we were off to the pub where I tried to choke on a piece of steak except Marian gave me a special hug and I survived and she lost out on the insurance monies. Lucky me!

After about twelve days with the winds being out of the northeast, which is just the direction we needed to go, it switched to the north west so off we went. The first four days were a little rough with winds in the 30 knot range then the next four were flat calm, so calm that if you threw a penny in the water it would have made a big wave. So after eight days and another 1200 miles we arrived in Kinsale Ireland. This is a beautiful little town where our crew left us and after a week we left Kilkea and flew home for three weeks. Now the work began with us having to empty our home of everything!! We kept the good stuff and put a table at the end of the driveway with a sign saying free stuff and after ten or so days of filling it up all was gone, even the table. Now the house was put into the rental agents hands and we have it rented. Minimum one year rental just in case we need or want to go home. So mid July it was back to Ireland and some cruising along the south coast and visiting with some of the relatives.

The beginning of August and the weather was already getting on the cooler side so it was off to France. We arrived, after a 48 hour sail, to Camaret Sur Mer which is just outside Brest. We were not sure, especially me, if we would enjoy France but to our delight we found the people to be most friendly and hospitable. Marian who as a girl spent six months in Belgium had picked up some French and it all came back after a couple of weeks. She loved just babbling away with me not knowing what the heck was being said. Actually after three months on the Brittany coast I could understand most things but still am not able to articulate much. Anyway we ended up in La Rochelle the end of September and as this is where the boat was built we had the Amel people check it all out for us. We had it pulled and the bottom painted along with shaft bearings and bow thruster seals replaced. We were just out of the water for three days in the boat yard which has no security and living aboard when the second night we had a couple of guys visit around 2 am and were trying to break in. We managed to scare them off, probably Marians screaming, and were glad to get back in the water and to Amels dock at the marina. Amel were very good and fixed anything that we asked about and found some that we did not know existed. All at no charge as the boat is still under their warranty. We like them a lot!!

Marian went over to Dublin for a reunion of her nursing class on Ryan Air for one cent each way! With taxes it was only 29 eu the cab fare was more. Henning and Linda Pedersen arrived mid October and stayed with us for a week. We had hoped to sail with them to Spain but the weather did not cooperate so just did a trip over to St Martin on the Isle de Rey which is a beautiful old town where you tie up right in the middle of an old fortress where they used to send all the French convicts to before transporting them to Guyana (devils island).

Marian and I managed to leave a few days later (27th Oct) after some good storms with 70 knot winds and 14 meter seas. Very glad to be tied up to the dock. We had a smooth passage with some fog and light winds and arrived in Villa Garcia just around the corner from Cape Finisterre northern Spain after 72 hours. We stayed for a day then hopped a flight to London and back to Vancouver for the arrival of our grand daughter Elise Victoria who arrived on November the 05th. Both Nevan and Sarah were delighted and even the dog Baily was excited for the home coming of the baby. For us it was back to Spain on the 12th where we slowly moved down the coast of Spain waiting out a bunch of storms. Left Bayona Spain, (where Columbus arrived back to after his discoveries) for Cascais Portugal which is just outside of Lisbon. After two weeks here we again flew to Vancouver for Christmas with all the children. Had a wonderful time seeing them all again and managed to get them hooked up on Skype with the cameras on their computers so now when we call we can see them as well as talk. For those we missed we apologise but we were just there for eleven days. It rained a lot. Back to Portugal on the 30th so spent new years eve hear watching the fire works and enjoying the weather.

This finally brings us, more or less up to date and we plan, (Marian say so), to update this blog often. Next is to figure how to post some pictures on it?

Wishing all of you a very Happy New Year and look forward to hearing from you.

David and Marian