Lagos 37 06.6N 08 40.5W
ALKIRA
Charles & Maggie Bevis
Wed 14 Aug 2013 13:16
A clear blue sky and comfortable temperatures all day, but it was a long passage.
The wind picked up during the afternoon with the wind coming in from the west. As we reached and rounded Cape Vincent, our last southerly leg, we were expecting the wind to fall away, so quite a big surprise to us when once around the Cape, the wind picked up and within minutes we had a force 6-7 and were rocketing along. The place we had chosen to anchor not far from the Cape quickly became a redundant option as the wind had whipped the sea up considerably so we had little choice but to continue along the coast and head for Lagos (pronounced Lagosh). With only about an hour left of daylight, it meant we'd be arriving in the dark.
It was a very fast passage indeed and we found ourselves approaching Lagos a lot sooner than anticipated. The sun had only just set as we approached the corner. Darkness falls at the speed of a stone and by the time we sailed around the corner, it was pitch dark. The wind was still blowing furiously and the best we could manage was to head toward the town and drop anchor close off the town beach, we couldn't see much, so it was a bit of a challenge, a bit like sailing with a blindfold on!
We dropped 30 mtrs of chain in 2.4 mtrs of water below keel to be certain we'd stay put! It was with some relief that we got a good nights sleep and were woken around 7.30 by the swell and nothing else!
At 10 am we sailed into the extremely well organised Lagos marina. We'd been biting our nails a bit as we'd been told it was extremely expensive here but all things considered, were relieved to find this was not the case and even got a 10% discount for being members of the CA (Cruising Association).
Lagos is a busy port and an even busier holiday resort with a lot of new buildings, apartments and villas covering a huge area. Within the marina there are holiday apartments all around and the town itself is much bigger than we had anticipated. The old town is delightful and having once come under Moroccan rule centuries ago, means the old fortress and walls are of that style and very lovely too, built in beautiful honey coloured stone and everywhere framed by palm trees, as is the waterway leading all along the old town and beyond the marina.
A lifting footbridge is operated by the marina office so there's no arriving or escaping by boat without seeing them first as the bridge connects the marina to the town.
The town is busy with holidaymakers from all over Europe, many from the UK and a surprising number of Americans, but many other nationalities are here too.