Early on Wednesday, June 12th, (after a long sleep) we cleared into customs and immigration. As we were preparing to leave, another boat came in behind us. Watch the line handler tie up their lines – pretty amazing. I need to practice!!!
We moved to the “visitor’s dock” at Port Lagos between Attitude (in front) and Ohana (behind) and got to work on our post-passage boat chores, – cleaning, laundry, etc. The boat was extremely salty after taking lots of spray during the passage but luckily the downpour from the previous night and took care of the outside which saved us time and water!
After a quick walk around Lagos to see some of the beautiful beaches and scenic vistas, Rachael and Jeff headed off to Lisbon on Thursday and we met up with them in Lisbon on Saturday for dinner. They were great crew members and made the whole trip so much more enjoyable, and easie, for us. Hopefully they enjoyed the experience and willing to consider another trip in the future!
Knowing that the major attractions would be crowded, we were up early Sat. morning for a tour of the Castelo de Sao Jorge which dates back to the 2nd Century BC!!….
We decided to take the bus to Lisbon – 4 hours ($40 Euro pp) – on Friday (6/21). It was clean and comfortable and a great way to see more of the country. We loved Lisbon – wonderful tree lined streets, dotted with cafes and restaurants, not to mention the air-conditioned hotel room and a long, hot hotel shower!
It’s located on the highest hilltop in the city which give it obvious strategic advantages. Thus it’s occupants changed many times starting with Phoenicians, then the Romans, Muslims, and ultimately to the Count of Barcelos, João Afonso Telo ~ 1380. But much of the historical structure still stands and the museum showcases 6th Century BC artifacts. Amazing!
It just so happened that Portugal was playing Turkey that evening in the Euro 2024 cup, so after a siesta (I love this custom), we headed back downtown to the City Centre to watch the game.
Given that we had already walked quite a bit, and it was still quite warm outside, we decided to use the Uber scooters. What a great way to travel!!
We passed through the Rua Augusta Arch, but unfortunately didn’t have time to tour inside.
The Time Out Market is a fabulous food court, with big screen TVS and community seating and lots of choices. You order your food from one of the establishments on the outer perimeter and drink from the inner perimeter. It was the perfect place to watch the soccer/footy match! Portugal won 3-0!
On Sunday (6/16), we headed back to Lagos on Sunday to re-provision for the next leg to Cadiz as well as the Prize Giving dinner. The picture shows us seated with captain and crew from Ohana (Grant and Lea, Warren and Ciara) Queso Grande 2, (Sherri and Lance) Anthony and I, Hear’s to Us (Rich and Kim), and Island Wanderer (Alan and Beryl). Note – Although we came in 10+ hours ahead of all others, on corrected time (deductions for motoring and faster boat – sort of like a golf handicap), we came in 2nd to Lance and Sherri on Queso Grande 2. Congrats to them!
The next morning (6/17), we headed South towards Cadiz and met up with Queso Grande 2 for a Hop on, Hope off Bus tour. What a beautiful city!
Since we were only staying 36 hours, we could only see the city “highlights” including ruins from an Ancient Roman Amphitheater, and the Cadiz Cathedral. Magnificent architecture.
From Cadiz we worked our way south, with a stop in Barbete and then on to Gibraltar (Alcadaisa Marina in La Linea, Spain) the next day (6/30). Orcas were still a major concern all along the Portugal coast and into the Med, so we tried to stay in under 20 M of water (as advised), but had to go into deeper water occasionally to avoid fishing nets.
The map shows our route and cardinal marks (triangles) indicating the fishing zone and whether we must pass east/west/north/south of the mark. We also had some fireworks (petardos), just in case, but we never saw any Orcas and thankfully didn’t have to use them.
We had come into Gibraltar from the other direction in 2021, but the “Rock of Gibraltar” is just as impressive this time…
Unfortunately, we couldn’t stay long because the wind forecast was really good to sail to Cartegena, Spain the next day (7/1). However, we spent a week here in 2021 and visited many of the major attractions such as the restaurant at the top of the Rock and underground tunnels from WWII…. so much history.
After a short bus ride over to Gibraltar – to provision in a proper English shop – we cast off the lines at 7:00 am for the ~36 hour sail to Cartegena. Orcas were still a concern for the 1st half, and we had lots of “traffic” as well!
The wind held up for about 10 hours and then abruptly died…. We went from 15+ Knots from behind to 5 Knot headwinds in 5 minutes – Anthony said he had never seen anything like that before!
At least we had sailed fast for the first bit to ensure we arrived before dark on Tuesday. We motor-sailed the rest of the way and came in around 5:30 pm.
The last step was to get fuel before settling into our berth. It was a tight squeeze, made more difficult by winds and the kids water sports camp just in front of us…. Once we finished refueling, we alerted the counselors we intended to move, so they “corralled” the kids… We were pulling out and just about to make the turn when the rowing team came out from around the “corner” paddling right in front of us….
It was pandemonium for a few seconds, with a few choice words… “Sh!t… Anthony… reverse, reverse….” Luckily, we had our headsets on, so weren’t yelling this for all to hear. All was well in the end, but it was chaos for a few minutes…
We eventually settled in our berth and started on the list of chores for Moxie’s “nap” until we return in early September!