37:06.5000N 8:40.5000W

 

We have arrived at the SW corner of Portugal, in the popular town of Lagos on the Algarve coast. Uptdates to the blog have been sorely lacking, but at least you can follow our progress.

 

This area is a mecca for kiting and surfing, and we signed up for a surfing class. A rather painful experience for this guy who thought he had retained at least a tiny bit of California surfing skills from 35 years ago. But no, just jumping up on my feet proved to require more agility and technique than I could muster, so I had to accept that my surfing days are sadly past. But we had a great time! On board are now Kjersti and Christian, Vibeke, Tobias and I.

 

We have had easy and comfortable days along the Spanish and Portuguese West Coast. Far too little wind so we have gone more under power than we would have liked. But the weather has been perfect, we have enjoyed being ashore, we have been suprised by the nearly total lack of English language skills among the locals (which does not help when we speak hardly a word of their languages!), and we are amazed at the amount of french fries they eat here!  Every restaurant, with every type of food, serves french fries with just about everything. The USA is little league in comparison!

 

The boat is functioning well, we have fun together and everyone is looking forward to our more adventurous next destination: Morocco! The usual way to the Canary Islands is to cross over to Madeira from Portugal, and then head South to the Canary Islands, but I have been recommended to visit Morocco. We do not know what to expect there, and we have heard all kinds of stories about how women must cover themselves, to the high crime rate. We will take our chances and see for ourselves. I am actually really looking forward to this.