Sorry for the deafening blog silence over the past couple of weeks. We had this blog basically ready to upload and then moved on to somewhere that was a definite internet desert. Anyway, here’s some of the stuff that we’ve been up to.

All quiet on the Algarve

After the wet, rough weather David, Bethany, Bryn and Mike took advantage of the surf and swell to spend 3 whole days having their tans sand blasted off while body boarding and body surfing. Following 2 years of sun damage, Aberystwyth weather and being lashed on deck, this was just too much for Bryn’s poor old body board, and it finally succumbed and also lost its skin. He is considering spending his birthday money on a new one. I took advantage of having a quiet boat and internet access at the marina to catch up on some work.

Introducing our Japanese gentlemen

We have two outboards – an old 2-stroke Yamaha that we inherited, and a newer 4-stroke Suzuki, which we bought when we had our previous boat, ARIADNE. I prefer using the Yamaha because it is light (for transferring from CAPE to dinghy) and I can actually start it. Unfortunately, it hasn’t wanted to start for anyone since we left Neyland, so we have been using the Suzuki. (Now you have to imagine what the next bit looks like.) This means that I have had to pass a really heavy, bulky outboard from the deck of CAPE, over the side – without dropping it or gouging chunks out of the side of the boat with the prop – to David who is balanced in the dinghy 1 metre below me. He then has to manoeuvre the engine into position on the back of the (now wildly rocking) dinghy. This doesn’t do much for my nerves or David’s temper. There is a bit of rope attached to the outboard – apparently I have to hang on to this if either of us drop the outboard, or the dinghy capsizes…I resist the urge to imagine what would happen if the Suzuki did go swimming with me hanging on to it! To add insult to frayed tempers, the Suzuki started playing up recently due to a sticky fuel float switch, which meant that it spat petrol everywhere then kept cutting out. (In reality the float chamber was full of junk and water because David admitted using the fuel can to drain the dirty diesel filter.) We took advantage of the fact that there is an outboard hospital in Portimão to get both outboards serviced. We also dug out our second dinghy (an Avon inflatable) from the bowels of the engine room, to check it over. We have now teamed the Yamaha with the Walker Bay, and the Suzuki with the Avon and both combinations work well.

Tartan shopping trolleys and jigsaws

We tested the Suzuki/Avon combination by going up half-a-mile river in search of a supermarket and getting back in time for sun-downers (a very important time for us boaty people). In actual fact it’s about an hour quicker by dinghy than by car. I was delighted to find a Lidl and Leclerc opposite each other and only 10 minutes walk from the public slip (where we had left the dinghy). This will be our nearest set of supermarkets for basic supplies over the winter. Most boaty people have a really nice shopping trolley with wheels just for this exercise (you know, tartan, with room for a week’s shopping topped with a Yorkshire terrier or Jack Russell). We have a great trolley, but I am on the look out for a tartan bag to complete the ensemble. In Leclerc, David couldn’t resist buying a jigsaw (the toothed variety, not the puzzle) for €8.90 (he has been looking for one for a while). Only time will tell whether it is fit for purpose and whether it knows how to make bookshelves for the boat!

Sharks and seahorses on the CAPE curriculum

Sharks are back on the menu for Bryn and he hasn’t stopped talking about them. He is also getting into Marlin and other big game fish after seeing a video of a local (charter) boat catching some. He would love to catch a big game fish, but would put it back, as there would be too much to eat, he says. Bethany’s imagination has been captured by seahorses, so they are appearing in and on everything she writes and draws. Both of them are reading a lot and we get a running commentary on the latest books.

Bryn reading up on his signal flags to test Daddy later.

Vilamora

With the weather brightening and my work out of the way for another few days, we headed east towards the marina at Vilamoura. Windless, as usual!

On passage to Vilamoura: Captain Lilo rides again – as a cushion for his kids.

The plan was to explore Vilamoura (there are some Roman remains here somewhere between the restaurants and Karaoke bars, so the guidebook says!), hit the beach, and for the boys to catch up on the world cup again, England v Australia and France v New Zealand.

Vilamoura Marina.

David also needed to get a cheap flight to Paris to meet up with Lawrence to watch England play France in the semi-final of the Rugby World Cup. As Vilamoura is only a short hop from the airport at Faro, we assumed (daft really, you’d have thought we’d have learned not to assume anything by now) that as there are loads of cheap flights from the UK to Faro, that it would be possible to get a cheap flight from Faro to another major European city (e.g. Paris)… Nope. Lots of flights from Faro to Liverpool, but nothing to Paris. He could have got a flight from Lisbon to Paris, but that would have been really expensive and meant that we couldn’t afford to eat for the rest of the month. So he investigated getting there by train and bus, as we know that this is possible. However, Portugal is so independent of the rest of Europe that the travel agents here do not hold train and bus times or prices for travel anywhere but Portugal, and could not book him a ticket right through or advise him of the connections. He could have got to the Spanish border, but wouldn't have known the times or prices of the onward journey. He even investigated flying EasyJet back to Liverpool to get a flight from Liverpool to Paris! The internet wasn't much help, as everything was in Portuguese, Spanish or French, and as helpful as the British Rail/Arriva/Virgin scenario. So, to cut a long story short, he sent the tickets back to the UK to Lawrence. David was really upset, but has now got over it, and he, Mike and Bryn watched the game in a bar here. At least Wales had not got to the semi-final – I think that would have been too much to bear!

There isn’t much room for yachts in Vilamoura Marina – this is serious gin-palace and game-fishing-boat territory!