Alvor  30^th Sept – 1^st Oct

Just a few miles up the coast we anchored inside the breakwaters in a quiet sandy estuary. We enjoyed a couple of warm,sunny days,swimming off the boat and a BBQ on the beach with Kalessin and Kephri. We ate fresh mackerel,chestnuts and the last of the British sausages! The kids enjoyed roasting marshmallows and the adults a pleasant bottle of Havana rum,kindly supplied by Kephri.This transpired to be the last occasion that the 3 boats were together having sailed in company since Bayona we parted and went our separate ways. Kephri to Madeira,Kalessin to Lagos to overwinter and us planning our last 200  miles east to Gibraltar.

Portimao 2^nd-4^th October

A shiny,new marina with great facilities including lots of washing machines – very exciting! Feeling much more shiny ourselves we enjoyed a day on the beach and a visit to Ferrugado where we ate fresh fish BBQ’d on the quay side ,delicious as the pilotguide promised.

Ohlao 5^th October

We had a great sail to this anchorage 33nm but paid the price of entering the breakwater at the height of an ebbing tide with some very turbulent water rushing passed us. Once in we anchored and settled down to school. A restless,windy night and strong currents but the anchor held and we were relieved to be on our way in the morning.

Ayamonte (Spain again) 6^th October

Started sailing but the wind died away as the morning progressed.We had some excitement when we spotted a large Leatherback Turtle but as we approached we sadly discovered it was dead. The marina is quiet and the atmosphere very different from the clean efficiency of the Algarve marinas .However once ashore we enjoy the park which the Spanish provide consistently well wherever we have been on the coast.