16th September. The rainy Wednesday we had been expecting arrived and seemed to reflect our rather dismal mood. We were feeling indecisive about where to head for the next day and how to spend the remaining time before we started to head for the Canaries in the second week of October. In a sense we had almost too much choice on this welcoming coast of fine anchorages and harbours.

 

The day was not unproductive though as the blog was up to date by midday, and so was Scrabble with Sue and we finished watching Shogun in the evening, and it is only natural that moods do not remain constant all the while.

 

17th Sept. All was better, us and the weather. Soon after setting off the gentle wind moved to over 120’ from her bow so Rob and I went to the foredeck to rig the cruising chute which took 25 minutes from my passing it up to Rob from the focsle to when she was pulling us along at over six knots. This continued into the afternoon until the wind increased to over 15 knots and helming became difficult. Mindful not to overstrain anything we reverted to the genoa and gave up a knot or two of speed. We sped past sandy beaches, green woodland, orange sandstone cliffs and the conglomerations of block graph high rises of Vilamoura and Albufeira amongst others. Well marked fish farms over artificial reefs and the usual lobster pots made us keep a good lookout ahead.

 

It had been a beautiful day, cloudless sky, super sailing and as Rob popped the anchor down into a deep pool in the orange ball of the sun slid its entire circumference from bottom to top limbs below the horizon. Within 30 minutes it was dark at just after eight. The dark nights are almost 12 hours long now.