We left Lagos on Wednesday about 1pm and decided to anchor in the bay for the afternoon and enjoy a couple of hours on the beach before we set sail for the exhausting journey of 7 miles to Portimao!

Portimao is a vibrant marina & is set amongst a  hotel and apartments painted in hues from yellow to sandstone - quite attractive.   The marina is surrounded by lovely beaches and is framed by two historical forts - Santa Catarina and Sao Joao.   On the sea front side of the marina are numerous bars and restaurants and lovely beach.   We spent a very pleasant evening in a great fusion restaurant - we were enticed inside by the interesting menu and the added bonus of live  jazz band playing that evening.   The food was great, the band were fantastic,  especially the very talented bass player!   

The next day we set off to explore the 'old town' and get in some more supplies.  Not a lot to see at the old town but a pleasant sea front and promenade.  Whilst on the pontoons back at the marina we got chatting to a couple, Theresa and Keith,  who were sitting on their motor boat.  They, by coincidence, were also from Surrey - and it turned out were members of the same golf club at Clandon that Nigel had been a member of for many a year!

One of the reasons we went to Portimao was that we had been expecting delivery of a new lopo light from Denmark.  This was promised by Friday.  However, nothing arrived on Friday - so after a brief chat with the Denmark office they confessed due to illness it hadn't actually left……. no worries just send it onto our next destination.       We decided to leave the marina and take up an anchorage in the bay.

On Saturday as we were finishing breakfast upon on deck, a rubber dub came along side to say hello.   It was an American family who were intrigued by our boat's name as the woman explained her middle name was 'Demeter'   (Greek mythology) The goddess of the fertility of the Earth and harvests, protector of marriage and social order; daughter of Cronos andRhea, mother to Persephone!     The Americans were from Seattle and had decided to sell up their home and take 5 or 6 years out sailing the world (home tutoring their kids).   They also told us that the other reason they stopped by was to let us know they were travelling in company with another yacht who was also taking part in the ARC (we had been flying our ARC flag at each marina and anchorage so as to meet other participants).       After they left we were planning to go ashore and visit another small town, Ferragudo.    Before we did this we zipped over to try and make contact with the other ARC boat  - no one was aboard.    We started to head back towards the shore when a couple on another boat hailed us.    They turned out to be a couple from Plymouth, Debbie and Martin, who had recently bought their classic wooden yacht - a one off design, a wooden sloop built in 1956.  They were enroute to the Canaries where they were going to spend the winter.  Lots of discussion about what pieces of equipment they should be buying next so we arranged to meet up later on board Persephone for drinks so Martin could inspect our solar panels etc.   

In the meantime, we visited Ferraguado.  This small town is a mixture of old and new - plenty of modern villas and apartments,  some quite stylish and some not so!    We found the old part of town and had a nice lunch (piri piri chicken for Nigel and sardines for Karen).      After a short time on the beach we met up with Debbie and Martin and had a very pleasant evening swopping tales of our travels.  We swopped emails etc and no doubt will meet up with them again further along the coast.   Whilst adding their details to our address book, Debbie noticed the boat card for Ruffian (the boat we had met in Nazare with engine trouble) and Debbie explained how they had met Iain and Fiona in Falmouth just as Ruffian set off for Spain  and had spent a bit of time with them.   Once again, demonstrating what a 'small world' it is when it comes to sailing.

We plan to leave tomorrow and go approximately 25 miles east to Vilamoura and hopefully catch up with our package!