Alvor

Thursdays Child
Robin & Joanna Minchin
Tue 25 Nov 2014 22:15
37:07.823N
008:36.077W

Anchored in Alvor

Our hot frog-march up the beach yesterday to view Alvor at low water was worthwhile as entering the estuary today we needed all the confidence we could muster. However, shifting sandbanks still meant we touched the bottom; a fisherman watched us onto the sand, then once we were aground he waved and motioned where the channel was, smiling from ear to ear. We didn't say it would have been helpful if he'd motioned to us beforehand, we just smiled and thanked him!

A beautiful peaceful spot, 3 miles from the Marina de Lagos, yet a world away. Quite a busy morning getting sorted for 5-6 days at anchor which we believe will include a big blow on Friday so we laid two anchors in the only deep spot at the top of the navigable estuary. Entering at half tide, with flood under us, meant sandbanks were clear on both sides, by sunset the place had filled with water, the wind had died away and we were sitting calmly in the middle of the bay.

The only sounds now are fishermen speeding past us in both directions, fortunately Bol's excellent anchor light shows us clearly. A beautiful starry night when we did the star gazing we'd hoped to do on our passage south last week; we managed to view most of the things we had hoped to, only Granny Bunty's Orion constellation was beyond the horizon.







JPEG image

JPEG image

JPEG image

JPEG image

JPEG image