Lady Drake Diary 4-7-2006 to 8-7-2006

Lady Drake
Peter Drake
Mon 10 Jul 2006 15:27

4-7-2007

 

On this day we set sail from Faro to a place called Chipiona in South West Spain, the trip was about 70 miles and we had some good downwind sailing conditions.

 

Leaving Faro:

 

A fishing boat on the way out of Faro:

 

One of the many markers marking the channel from Faro to the sea:

 

Leaving the entrance at Cabo de sta Maria this is the way to/from Faro and also Olhao (our original destination):

 

Arriving at Chipiona:

 

5-7-2006

 

On this day we spent a relaxing time on the boat and wondered into town to sample the local Tapas.

 

6-7-2006

 

We explored Chipiona on this day and found what a wonderful place it was.  The people hear were so friendly and there were great Tapas bars and beaches, the town is also renown for it’s great Mukadet wine. Another great point was that there were hardly any English voices around and the phrase book was required.

 

On the previous evening we met an English guy in the marina restaurant who was from somewhere near Portsmouth,  he sailed his boat into Chipiona four years ago, met a Spanish woman and has been there ever since.

 

The boats in Chipiona Marina

 

The Chipiona sign on the street:

 

A fountain by the marina:

 

Chipiona Beach:

 

Tereza on the rocks.  We were not sure if these man made walls were old foundations or where used for breeding oysters:

 

A very useful foot wash.  They could do with these on the UK beaches.

 

Chipiona Cathedral:

 

Chipiona lighthouse:

 

 

An impressive view of the lighthouse:

 

An olive tree:

 

In the evening we went to a place called Bodega el Castillo and sampled some of there fine Muskadet, it has a similar taste to port.  We bought three bottles for the boat.

 

7-7-2006

 

Another very relaxing day in Chipiona, I went to the local fish market and bought fresh fish.  For lunch I cooked tuna and it was delicious.

 

8-7-2006

 

Time to move on we left Chipiona with the intention to make it to a place called Barbate as this is a good place to wait for the correct winds to go to Gibralter. 

 

Bye Bye Chipiona:

 

Me at the Helm:

 

Unfortunately we managed to get a line from a lobster pot around our propeller and had to sail into a sheltered anchorage at a place called Puerto Sherry.  The wind was about force 6 when we arrived so we had to be careful sailing into the anchorage without an engine.  After several diving attempts we managed to get the line free.  It was a great place to anchor with many water sports activities going on around.

 

Bay watch girl ‘Tereza’ making the first attempt to free the line (knife in hand):

 

Tied on so she cannot escape and swim to the beach:

 

At the end of the day,  it takes a man to do these things:

 

Success at last:

 

The rope from the propeller:

 

After we had successfully removed the rope and with the engine again we motored about 100 metres into Puerto Sherry marina.  We found that the marina office was closed so spent the night moored to the waiting pontoon.  Puerto Sherry was a dated marina village, it had a very nice marina office/lighthouse and also some quaint cafes where both myself and Tereza had dinner and drinks for 16 Euros.

 

Puerto Sherry Marina Office:

 

The view from the Marina office:

 

Apparently Puerto Sherry is so called because Sherry is produced near there, unfortunately we did not stay long enough to find where this was as there did not seem to be much else there.