After a lovely week up the river, we set off downstream again, with a new appointment...this time to meet up with Steve and Nic, plus their lovely son, Logan, in Vila Real, on the Portuguese side of the estuary.  There was a palpable sense of sadness as we hauled up the anchor to leave....folk talk about the phenomenon they call the "Guadiano glue" and we found the river quite "tacky" when we left....much longer and we might have become permanently attached, as so many before us have found.

More heart stopping moments as we slid under the suspension bridge, followed by a delightful evening with Steve, Nic and Logan, catching up.  Logan is a new family member who has cemented the unit...they're all formal now, and settled a little distance away from Portimao...in a farmstead. So a good deal has changed since we all met 4 years ago, in the anchorage at Freemans Bay, Antigua. 

Their boat, Crazy Diamond, was anchored about 50 metres away from us at Ferragudo, albeit with no one aboard, so it was an additional bonus to find that, indeed, they still own her, and that they were to be visiting Villa Real last Saturday, just we we planned to pass out beneath the bridge.

Hopefully, we will have time to visit their " little piece of Scotland" in the hills above Portimao before we head out into the Atlantic.  They were apparently very close to the limit of the forest fires we saw in the distance, while we were in Lagos marina.

Little Logan is a lovely lad and a huge credit to his parents. He patiently sat through our conversation all evening, interrupting only occasionally to ask a well considered question or two.  I think he will go far, that boy!

On the following morning, we slipped out of the river entrance and headed out to the east, motor sailing, then proper sailing in the light southerly breeze, round to Mazagon  just over 30 miles away.  Not a lot to report, save the obligation enforced by the Port Authority there, not to anchor, but to tie up in the marina instead.

On Monday, ahead of the expected Levanter in the Straits of Gibraltar, we sailed down to Rota at the western end of the Bay of Cadiz, where we sit now, holed up while the windy stuff blows through.  It's too windy for the ferry across to Cadiz, and we are harbour bunnies, mixing some light household duties with more socialising and exchanging boaty stories with our neighbours.  This morning, it was Chris and Jimmy, plus Stephen on Grey Goose, from Hamble....VHF and ais checks. Last night it was cocktails with Marilyn and Malcolm next door on Reverie....a brand new jeanneau 41.

It's hot here, 33 degrees, and windy...gusting up to about 40 knots....  but there's cold beer in the fridge and lots of company.  If the wind abates we can get round to Cadiz on the ferry tomorrow, and if it doesn't, there's a bus alternative.

Kite surfers are on the beach, so I'll go and check them out this afternoon.  Maybe we will get some photos up on the blog soon as well.