Wednesday 6^th February – Ilha da Culatra

36:59.917N 7:50.640W

We were up early, to bright sunshine, for another run along the coast.  The forecast was due to be around 10 knots close hauled so it should have been a nice sail.  When we went out however, the wind quickly rose to 20 knots on the nose with swell to match.  We tacked into it for an hour but, with the leeway, we were making little progress.  We decided to cut our losses, given the distance we needed to cover and a tidal window for arrival, and return to the anchorage at Ilha da Culatra – we were back in record time with the wind behind us !

We found our original spot and set the anchor.  The sun continued all day and the wind eased later in the afternoon and we got on with some jobs.  We may be here a while now given the forecast for the next few days.

When we went ashore yesterday, we saw posters on the marine life saying that there are sea bass in the area.  Well, we have seen some sea bass in the water around the boat and so I got out my rods this afternoon (both sea rod and fly rod) and have them set up ready.  Tomorrow I hope to get out in the dinghy and do some serious fishing (I’m not sorry we are staying here at all!)

Later we had a drink watching a fabulous sunset over the water before coming down below to cook dinner.  We have watched a DVD this evening.