Monday 26^th July

Decisions about whether or not to leave for Cadiz today depended on the wind direction and sea conditions.  Since we were both quite keen to stay chilling out here it didn’t matter too much that after checking and listening to forecasts, Wednesday seemed the best day to leave.  Late in the morning we went over to Culatra to buy more bread and peaches and walked along the pier to watch day trippers getting on and off the Faro/Olhao/Culatra ferry.  Back at the boat Paul took the dinghy to check out a place where other boats were anchored about a mile further along the coast and when he returned, he said it was a much more peaceful spot.  It only took 10 minutes to get there and the anchoring procedure went smoothly. It was very hot and the long stretch of sand opposite us looked very inviting so we went across in the dinghy to walk along the sand and to go for a cooling swim.  The water was so clear we could see lots of little fish, tiny white crabs and living shells that had made tracks in the sand – perfect for swimming because it was calm with no strong currents or big waves. The beach was almost deserted and because this area is totally traffic free it was also very peaceful.  We spent the evening planning the route to Cadiz and reading about it in guidebooks while listening to local radio. The channel I like plays a lot of obscure 80s tracks which Paul scoffs at but it’s better than the ‘eurotrash’ channels which also have many irritating adverts.