1st April 2009 – a few photos
A few photos starting with 2 from Vila Real when Papa Natal switched on the Christmas lights in the town square, next we have one of the weather when we arrived back in Scotland (the drive up to Inversnaid looking towards the Arrochar hills), the Inversnaid school Christmas Dinner, 2 of the weather we left behind in January. Then the weather back in Vila Real, Katie’s birthday, 4 of the Carnaval at Quarteira (near Vilamoura); strong winds at Albufeira, Stacy and baby Alicia, the gypsy site near the marina at Albufeira, BB and friends at Albufeira. Then Grace taking a picture of Carolyn taking a picture of Grace…. , a visit from Darren & Vicki, 2 of strong winds at Lagos, one from when Carolyn went on a walk with a group of people from the marina at Lagos. The last one is of the birthday boy (Richard).
27th March 2009. Lagos.
We were in Albufeira since Wednesday 25th Feb, the weather was not very good and there had been quite few days of rain but now things look like they are improving. Original plan was to stay there a week and then move on to Portimao but the wind had moved round to the west by the Wednesday so we paid up to Sunday the 8th of March and ended up staying another week after that before we headed to Lagos. It’s OK in Albufeira – but a bit of a hike to the shops. But when we were there we did see Stacy & baby Alicia and Lee, and Amie; they were all fine but it had been a quiet winter for them – the last summer season had slowed down early and this year’s season is slow in starting.
Now that the days are a bit brighter and warmer we feel a bit more inclined to get a couple more jobs done – polishing the topsides and making a permanent bracket for the ‘Tiller-Pilot’ to operate the wind steering rudder.
The mosquitoes are not as much of a nuisance in Albufeira as they were in Vila Real – but that will be because there are not the same ‘wetlands’ or salt-marshes nearby. So we’re not getting much chance to use the electric tennis racket that we brought back from UK – we have tried it out and it does the job. Just really stuns them – then you have to finish them off and feed them to the fish…. Very eco friendly – no nasty sprays and all that ozone destruction. Here in Lagos there are virtually no mozzies – yet!
We moved to Lagos on Sunday 15th and life just now is generally quiet; just getting on with the day-to-day business of shopping, cooking, washing, etc, interspersed with some walking, socialising and a few more jobs. Quite a few Scottish boats here ‘Reeve’ (with Tony & Joyce) heading back to Ardfern and ‘Little Else’ (with Liz & Ju) from Ardfern and here for a few months, there are others but I can’t remember them all just now. There is the usual high percentage of ‘over-wintering’ boats in the remainder of the marina population who are preparing to start there travels again and head off in which ever direction of the compass takes their fancy… The tourist season hasn’t really started yet ( I don’t think) because some places still appear to be quiet and the touts for the tour boats and trips are not really active.
We are still planning to look for a weather window near or after the middle of next month and move up to either Sines or (more probably) Cascais.
Now that the days are a bit brighter and warmer we feel a bit more inclined to get a couple more jobs done – polishing the topsides and making a permanent bracket for the ‘Tiller-Pilot’ to operate the wind steering rudder.
The mosquitoes are not as much of a nuisance in Albufeira as they were in Vila Real – but that will be because there are not the same ‘wetlands’ or salt-marshes nearby. So we’re not getting much chance to use the electric tennis racket that we brought back from UK – we have tried it out and it does the job. Just really stuns them – then you have to finish them off and feed them to the fish…. Very eco friendly – no nasty sprays and all that ozone destruction. Here in Lagos there are virtually no mozzies – yet!
We moved to Lagos on Sunday 15th and life just now is generally quiet; just getting on with the day-to-day business of shopping, cooking, washing, etc, interspersed with some walking, socialising and a few more jobs. Quite a few Scottish boats here ‘Reeve’ (with Tony & Joyce) heading back to Ardfern and ‘Little Else’ (with Liz & Ju) from Ardfern and here for a few months, there are others but I can’t remember them all just now. There is the usual high percentage of ‘over-wintering’ boats in the remainder of the marina population who are preparing to start there travels again and head off in which ever direction of the compass takes their fancy… The tourist season hasn’t really started yet ( I don’t think) because some places still appear to be quiet and the touts for the tour boats and trips are not really active.
We are still planning to look for a weather window near or after the middle of next month and move up to either Sines or (more probably) Cascais.
24th Feb 2009 - Long-awaited Update
22nd Feb 2009
OK – here we go again – first sail of the year and a start at heading back home. After being in VRSA since mid November last year it’s time to be moving; we had spent Christmas and New Year back home in Scotland and were back in Portugal on the 21st Jan and stayed with Fran & Richard in Castro Marim (5km up the road) for the first 3 weeks back. So we didn’t have to get straight back into ‘boat mode’; which was great. After moving back onto the boat we did a few jobs and had to change back to the ways that suit doing the various day-to-day things that are specific to living on the boat.
We left VRSA at 7:15am and arrived in Vilamoura at 3:30ish so that wasn’t bad – I was surprised that the paddle-wheel log (tells the speed through the water) actually worked – it normally gets a growth of weed or barnacles and stops working if the boat has been stationary for a couple of weeks or more. But we did have a moment of concern when the engine overheated – when I checked it out we found that the saltwater was leaking into the freshwater side of the engine cooling at the ‘Bowman’ heat-exchanger. The result was overheating and also the filler-cap (same as on the car radiator) was venting all the extra water into the bilge. “Pump ‘til you lose suction, Ballast Pump!!...” The good news was that it wasn’t a burst pipe in the heat-exchanger – just the ‘Jubilee’ clips on the end connectors - 45 minutes and the engine was back in action.
23rd – walked to Quarteira, about 3km away and will do the same tomorrow to see the Carnaval parade.
Internet and WiFi are not easy to get here either so we have to go to ‘O’Neils’ and suffer the beer / wine and comfy seats while we check the weather forecasts and e-mail.
All being well we will move to Albufeira on Wednesday but it’s only about 7 miles.
OK – here we go again – first sail of the year and a start at heading back home. After being in VRSA since mid November last year it’s time to be moving; we had spent Christmas and New Year back home in Scotland and were back in Portugal on the 21st Jan and stayed with Fran & Richard in Castro Marim (5km up the road) for the first 3 weeks back. So we didn’t have to get straight back into ‘boat mode’; which was great. After moving back onto the boat we did a few jobs and had to change back to the ways that suit doing the various day-to-day things that are specific to living on the boat.
We left VRSA at 7:15am and arrived in Vilamoura at 3:30ish so that wasn’t bad – I was surprised that the paddle-wheel log (tells the speed through the water) actually worked – it normally gets a growth of weed or barnacles and stops working if the boat has been stationary for a couple of weeks or more. But we did have a moment of concern when the engine overheated – when I checked it out we found that the saltwater was leaking into the freshwater side of the engine cooling at the ‘Bowman’ heat-exchanger. The result was overheating and also the filler-cap (same as on the car radiator) was venting all the extra water into the bilge. “Pump ‘til you lose suction, Ballast Pump!!...” The good news was that it wasn’t a burst pipe in the heat-exchanger – just the ‘Jubilee’ clips on the end connectors - 45 minutes and the engine was back in action.
23rd – walked to Quarteira, about 3km away and will do the same tomorrow to see the Carnaval parade.
Internet and WiFi are not easy to get here either so we have to go to ‘O’Neils’ and suffer the beer / wine and comfy seats while we check the weather forecasts and e-mail.
All being well we will move to Albufeira on Wednesday but it’s only about 7 miles.
12th Nov 2008
Now parked up in Vila Real de Santo Antonio (Portugal) until about February / March next year, we came along from Isla Cristina on Monday 10th. More later....
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