Faro
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Position 37:00.03N 7:56.22W Date Saturday 9 October 2010 This was to be break out day. The alarm clock went off at 06:30 ready
for the off. A check of the Navtex revealed a less than promising weather
forecast but more importantly a high swell and wave warning. Given the nature
of the passage out to the open sea an executive decision was made to go back to
bed and forget about progress. We had heard from Jonas and Anne-Sophie of Amel Super Maramu
“Lady Anilha”, last met in En-route to visit Faro by dinghy we encountered the ARC yacht Oyster
Heritage “Sestina” belonging to Mike and Jean. This will be their
second ARC and they, like us are doing the crossing double handed. They
however are entered in the racing Class! It was great to meet another couple. If you think that you have problems with pigeons then you should see
the Faro bird problem – storks everywhere!
Faro was made more entertaining by the railway bridge over the entrance
to the small marina, it being the only sensible place to leave a dinghy. To
understand the entertainment value of this it is necessary to understand that
the bridge clearance at high water was about 12 inches. We arrived 1 hour
before high water and limbo’d our way in. A walk around the old town ,
famous for the fact that it has Storks nesting on the roofs of the buildings
and lampposts, this and some food shopping easily filled two hours, even if we
had to shelter in a bar from a shower, as one does!
In the photograph the railway bridge
is just above the outboard motor protruding from the boats moored on the left
hand side. Leaving was a different matter as one hour after supposed high water it
would have been a SBS job to get out under the bridge. The solution was to
retire to a second bar with a view of the bridge and wait! Jonas, having had to return to All in all a very pleasant and interesting day. |
