Lounging laguidly in lovely Lagos(well we will be once the 90 jobs are done)
andromeda of plymouth
Susan and Andrew Wilson
Fri 2 Oct 2009 17:56
After 2,472.7 miles of water under Andromeda’s keel we have arrived in our
winter berth in Lagos Marina (Berth F33 if you want to know the absolute
detail). July 4th seems such a long time ago and so much has happened it
would be difficult to remember it all without the boat logs, the blogs
we’ve posted and Susan’s diary. We will continue to post to the blog over
the next six months, but it will be more infrequently.
The anchorage in Portimao continued to fill over the days we were there as
boats prepared to come into Lagos, Villamoura or Portimao, all three
popular places to leave boats over the winter. We got the flubber out and
had a pootle around on a couple of days, it leaks so feet get quite wet
but that didn’t stop us from having a ride down to Ferrugudo (opposite
Portimao marina) then racing the rain clouds back to Andromeda before
heaving it back on board again. There were about 24 or so boats of all
sizes and types when we left including another ketch with 2 cats on board,
you could just see their tails waving about as they wandered on deck.
The last 7.9 miles from the anchorage to Lagos were full of expectation
and excitement – this is after all a home from home for the next six
months or so and we eagerly took in as much as we could on our approach
to the Marina. We have access to the internet now(Susan is cheering a
great deal) so will start to research the options for travel back to the
UK, as well as some other places. We have a list of some 90 items we need
to fix, repair, replace, source, do, etc..... as we write, which will keep
us occupied for quite some time to come. We are also regularly talking to
our friends Ian and Glenda on Lucy Alice as they prepare for their round
the world trip.
This marina is probably the best we’ve come across so far ( we have been
grading them but keep adding categories) – the welcome was very friendly
and informative and all the necessary facilities, including access to the
town are all close by. We have been assigned a great berth for us with
loads of room astern for us to get out backwards without being too much of
a danger to other boats!! The town is bustling with lots of shops,
restaurants, market stalls etc. and narrow alleys leading all over the
place. The marina supports a local website called www.lagosnavigators.com
which is full of useful local information, so we’ve registered to take
advantage of various discounts and offers. Susan is very happy that there
is a nice red post box on site so she can keep the postcards flowing to
Alice and Isaac, and we know where the main post office is for the stamps!
If anyone would like to drop us a snail mail line instead of email the
address is:-
s/v Andromeda of Plymouth
c/o Marina de Lagos
Edificio Da Adminstracao
Sito da Ponte
8600 – 780 Lagos
Portugal
Many congratulations to Phil and Ruth on their engagement (in Chicago) –
we hope they will be really happy together and we raised a glass of
champagne to them when we celebrated our arrival here (Susan is such a
light weight- after a shower she had to lie down and she only had two
glasses but it was lunch time I guess).
So here we are and it feels quite strange but there are many things to
explore. We have spotted one of our boat friends already and will see if
anyone else is around. The beach and the sea will be calling us tomorrow
and hopefully for a while yet as the weather is still lovely, however even
here in paradise there are the jobs to do.
And as we have mentioned before if anyone would like to come and spend
some time with us here let us know, we would be delighted to see you.
More if you can stand it in due course plus piccies.
Andrew and Susan
s/v Andromeda