Day 9
Avventura
Marco Versari
Sun 24 Sep 2023 08:04
37:08.070N 6:50.530W alle 17:40 LT (15:40 UTC) del 20 settembre 2023.
The second stop along the coast was an anchor spot in the Lagoon of Faro/Olhao. Most Marinas and shelters around here are inside riverbeds other small lagoons. Reaching our position for the night seemed almost like a treasure hunt. First of all the tidal currents can reach up to 7 knots which gave us already limited time windows to enter the lagoon. Second, there are several indications on how to approach in order to not touch ground, starting with entering at a specific angle to the breakwater, then piling the light house until two cardinals align, turn in their direction, until two landmarks align, then pile another cardinal to head straight to the anchor place. After this rather fun exercise we enjoyed a beautiful sunset with apperitivo. With dawn the delicious Gnocchi alle vongole prepared by Alessandra, Philipp and Marco C. were the highlight of the day.
The morning after we got a very early start to exit the lagoon in the high tide time window. Since we have quite some miles to cover this week, we didn't mind the early start, hoping to get to the next destination in the late afternoon. Along the coast we follow the indications to avoid the risk to encounter Orcas, which gives us limited space to navigate. The wind angle needs to be just right in order to gain velocity without losing our route. At around noon we got lucky and were happy to put up the Gennaker. The smooth sailing gave us some time to start some preparation for departure, because already soon our journey comes to its end.