Jackie and Stu’ (of MYMAX fame, the winners of the
2007 Aberystwyth yacht race) arrived for ‘The CAPE Experience’, and the whole
crew went into holiday mode again. We walked on the beach and paddled, went
dinghy sailing, lunched in Lagos, checked out wetsuits, surf boards, floatation
vests and sailing fleeces, did a lot of eating and drinking, and had a brilliant
impromptu karaoke evening singing along to our whole collection of Best of the 80’s CDs. Sore throats AND sore heads for
all of the adults the next day!
Jackie, Stu’, David, Bethany and Bryn waiting
for dinner to arrive.
Stu’ sailing the Walker Bay past Ferrogudo
Castle.
Jackie catching the prawns on film before they
disappeared.
Christmas arrives on
CAPE
With invitations to quite a few Christmas events
lined up, I gave in and let David and the children decorate the boat. As we
don’t have room inside CAPE for a Christmas
tree, we have decorated the mast instead. The fairy lights we had bought with us
had survived, and the decorations were fine once we had wiped off the mould. I
am now under pressure from three sides to have blue flashy lights up the mast,
but have resisted so far…
CAPE’s Christmas
mast.
We walked into Portimão one evening to a Christmas
Fayre that promised ‘40 Christmas stalls, mulled wine and seasonal snacks’. We
never found the Fayre, but we did find compensatory beer, ice cream and
Christmas lights galore.
Christmas lights in Portimão.
A tree of light in a deserted town
square.
We went to the Surf School Christmas Bash (a
Brazilian BBQ), and the Marina Christmas Cocktail party (I knew I should have
brought my cocktail dress and strappy sandals with me...).
CAPE’s water
babies
‘SURF BORED’ [sic] appears high on both Bethany and Bryn’s list
for Father Christmas. After some discussion, however, it was decided that Father
Christmas was unlikely to be able to get one down the mast, so we decided to
spend our Christmas money on a family surf board. We will also be working a bit
harder to help the children with their spelling!
Our new ‘SURF BORED’.
David hummed the theme tune from Hawaii 5-O all the way to the beach. The
children had us warming up on the beach and practicing paddling on a surf board
drawn on the sand before they would let us have a go at the real thing. I have
to say that it IS as hard to get up on that board as you think it might be –
David managed to stand up once for 1 or 2 seconds before falling off again and
again and again, while I managed to get to my knees a couple of times before
being bucked off unceremoniously into the foam… Maybe 44 is a bit old to be
starting out on my career as a surf chick!
X marks the spot
On Saturday morning the children found a pirate
treasure map in a bottle in the Walker Bay – obviously lost by some careless
pirate staggering down the pontoon at the dead of night.
The treasure map in a poison
bottle.
X marks the spot…
Pirate Captain David (ONS JOOL) called a pirate
meeting to plan an expedition to find the treasure. At 1 pm on Sunday, the Jolly Roger was raised on the Walker Bay
and the pirates (Bethany, Bryn, David ONS JOOL and Aline) brandishing swords,
daggers, wooden spoons etc., set off to find the treasure attended by Pirate
Nancy in a safety boat.
The Pirate gang.
Not to be left out, David and I got on our pirate
gear, blacked our teeth (what else do I need my 100% waterproof mascara for
these days?) and set off to attack the pirates. We hassled them a bit and after
they had found the treasure (a casket of jewels and pieces of eight) buried on
Ferrogudo beach, we managed to nick it. David managed to escape to sea with it,
but in the battle, I got left behind and he abandoned me to my fate in the hands
of the pirates. The Maritime Police came to investigate the fuss as David (in
our dinghy) and Nicholas (in his dinghy) circled and splashed the pirates as we
made our way back across the river – fortunately they left (killing themselves
laughing) when Bethany threatened them with her sword. Later that evening
everyone came to CAPE for a pirate feast (of
‘long pig’, hunks of bread and butter, grog and chocolate biscuits) and to divvy
up the treasure.
Captain Lilo – any excuse to dress up! (Yes
Lawrence – that
is your shirt!)
