Between sandbanks and natural reserves

Regina
Espen Aalstad
Fri 5 Oct 2007 23:25
37:00.2N 7:49.12W
At anchor just outside Faro and just inside the long sand islands hugging the coast. We spend two nights and could have stayed a week....only a few sailboats and the birds. Wonderful to be out of the big marinas - and weekend means no school also for us. Our only neighbour the first night is a deserted boat ; we speculate in his fate, especially when we also find a deserted dinghy on the beach.The white sand island Ihla de Barreta is a natural reserve only accessible by ferry; its popular beach now only with a handfull of people. We find the most incredible shells and collect as souvenir and for decoration. Faro is only accessible by dinghy: we skip it not feeling like commercial today.
 
Olhao can be reached up a dredged (NARROW) channel for fresh food. Turns out marina is very private and we are stuck behind security gates...
Erna explores the big local fish market and we have a tasty black fish for lunch once out by another sand island.
This low waterland and a natural reserve changes with the tide: the sandbanks comes up or disappear. Beaches gets 3 meter longer at low tide and the sand bubbles with air and "crawls" with small sea creatures. Local fishermen (and wives) come at low tide to suck up schrimp for bait. Magnus and Einar picks "eremitt kreps" in the evening. On the beach, the sailors meet up at what we thought as a homeless place. Turns out it is a BBQ and meeting place pulled together of whatever the sea has washed ashore.
In the morning, we discover how the the high tide creeps up inside the island creating a small stream. The incredible sand and dunes makes us remember the desert of Oman...Surely we will also remember this place.
 
Einar trying to sell his new shell collection
 
Explorers. Behind is a small sand island just these houses.
 
The Atlantic ocean is "controled" also here with a Norwegian invention: special stones.
 
The Atlantic ocean is "controled" also here with Norwegian invention: special stones.
 
The "desert" stream created in high tide