(No.12)
Catou
Paul and Sylvie Tucker
Mon 2 Aug 2010 23:15
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Sunday 1st Aug (Sagres Bay -
Alvor) During the night , though we were sheltered from
the prevailing N-NW'ly winds (which were continually strong) a swell
developed from the SE. We rolled and rolled in the night, so as soon
as we were up, we decided to weigh anchor and set sail to
the east. It was only 14 miles to our final destination (of
Lagos) for this first leg, so we had lots of time. After a couple of
hours, we dropped anchor in a small bay, and had lunch and swimming. The
sea was lovely, and a welcome relief from the hot sun. Later in the
afternoon, we weighed anchor again, and instead of going into Lagos, we decided
to continue for a couple of miles and into a small river called Alvor
river. We arrived late afternoon, and dropped anchor for the night inside
the entrance. The pilot book said that we could go up-river to the village of
Alvor, but it looked a bit dicey with shifting sandbanks and changing shape of
the channel, so we elected to stay down at the river mouth.
Monday 2nd August (Alvor -
Lagos) Our last day We weighed anchor at about 9.30am
and within 5 minutes had run aground in the river mouth on a bank that we
couldn't see. We were stuck! Unable to float off, using the
dinghy we had to drag the anchor out into deeper water. Later we went out
to sound the depth around 'Catou' . We had only just caught the bank,
and the deeper water was tantalizingly close at about 5 metres from our
bow, but we would have to wait for high water. Having secured
'Catou', and with little else we could do, we went ashore for lunch
and explored the village of Alvor. Then we came back, and after another
1/2 hour, we were afloat, off the sandbank and carefully working our way
out of the river and into the bay, where we set sail for the final 2 miles to
Lagos.
We are leaving 'Catou' here in Lagos for 7 weeks, while
we return to England on Wednesday to catch up with work - and no doubt pay
a few domestic bills!
We return to Lagos on 20th September for the 2nd
leg of the journey. We propose to sail 'Catou' down to the
Canary islands via Madeira over a 3 week period. We will then be
leaving her in Las Palmas for a month from 10th October until we return in
November for the preparation for the final (and 3rd) leg across the
Atlantic.
This is therefore the last of the blogs until after 20th
Sept.
To anyone who is still awake, thanks for reading it, and
hope that it has been enjoyable.
Best wishes Paul & Sylvie
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