Jenny and David sailing the Walker Bay across to Ferrogudo.

In Ferrogudo, we all snorkelled, David and Mick went off with the spear guns, the children and I built a sandcastle, and Jenny had a quiet half an hour sketching. We rounded off the afternoon with a beer in the ‘Yacht Club’ beach bar before Mick and Jenny sailed back to the marina, in the wake (literally) of the Dutch women’s Olympic dinghy sailing team who are training here for the Bejing Olympics.

The Canute Construction Company in action on Ferrogudo beach. Note the driftwood-reinforced wave wall and turret detail.

Tuna for tea

On the Thursday we took CAPE out big game fishing. David had been on a fact-finding mission about where we needed to go, at what speed, with what line out and trailing what lure. We had all of the gear (Bryn’s lure, we were assured, was perfect), all of the info, but with recent fishing activities only landing plastic bags and seaweed, I had quietly stashed away a few tins of tuna – just in case.

In the event, David caught a huge, beautiful, iridescent blue and black striped fish, which on consulting our Spanish fish identification chart Especies de Galicia turned out to be a bonito – a relative of the tuna. Only 5 minutes later, Mike caught a tuna!

David catches the first game fish of the whole trip – a bonito.

5 minutes later, Mick catches the second – a tuna!

For you game fishy types out there, we were 6 miles south of Portimão, on the 50 metre line, trawling a 4-inch, sparkly orange plastic squid at a speed of 5.5 knots with 100 metres of line out – and it was a couple of days into the new moon. We dispatched the bonito with a winch handle and the tuna with some nasty cheap whisky on the gills – the whisky appeared to be less traumatic for the fish.

Bethany and Bryn showing off the catch of the day.

Mick and David performed a post-mortem on the pontoon, dissecting out the main organs so that the kids could learn some fish anatomy. The tuna had managed a last supper and had a complete 6-inch sardine in its stomach!

We had fresh tuna and bonito marinated in lemon juice and garlic, and seared in a hot pan for supper. There were enough steaks for about 12 people, so we were able to give some away as well as keep a bit for tuna mayo butties the next day. Tinned tuna is never going to live up to that!

These Crocs were made for walking…

We walked a lot. Mick and Jenny walked to Ferrogudo, saw a tile artist at work and had the local speciality – grilled sardines – for lunch. We walked miles exploring bits of Portimão that we had never found before, hunting cicadas on the way. We walked miles along the beach, and we had an official Nature Walk (at the request of Bethany and Bryn), when we learned about nitrogen-fixing legumes – plants that are able to grow in the sand where other plants can’t, and agaves, the source of tequila (among a host of other uses). Our nature walk ended with lunch overlooking the harbour at Alvor.

The far end of Praia da Rocha beach, looking east towards Portimão.

Just to prove that Neolithic man didn’t just make arrow heads, axes and chase Raquel Welsh look-a-likes, we found a fossilized submarine along the coast.

A minature Grand Canyon landscape, carved out of the sandstone by rain.

Nature walks make you hungry – lunch overlooking the harbour at Alvor.

Mick and Jenny sporting his ‘n’ her posh new Crocs.