Wednesday 26^th August

We’ve been debating whether to winter the boat here in Ayamonte or go back to Albufeira.  Staying here means we’re closer to our destination for next year and we all like it but it might prove more expensive.  Paul said he’d do some sums and decide later.  This morning we got the ferry across the water to Portugal which is a 15 minute journey but a 1 hour time difference. We arrived at 12 but it was 11 in Portugal – I wondered if anyone commuted between the countries and whether they ever got confused by it.  We saw lots of huge orange-coloured jellyfish in the water on the way across: they move so gracefully in the water but I’d hate to see one while swimming.  Isaac calls them the seven tentacles of doom, having been stung badly by one once while in Greece. We looked around the town of Villa Real de San Antonio for a couple of hours.  It’s known for its many shops and there were certainly plenty of them – most of them were selling towels!  The streets were long and straight and didn’t have the same charm and character as Ayamonte so I’m glad we chose that marina.  After browsing some of the shops and stopping at a pavement café for a sandwich and a drink we returned to Spain and added an hour to the time.

A lazy afternoon on the boat spent reading writing, playing cards and browsing the internet.  Paul went to the office to enquire about prices for the winter months and after working things out on an excel spreadsheet he decided to leave it here.  This means we’ll be doing no more sailing this holiday and will spend the rest of our time here, which pleased us all because there’s something for all of us here and nice places to visit that aren’t too far away.  Isaac was bored this evening before we were due to go for dinner so I passed Alone on a WideWide Sea to him and suggested he read a few pages to see if he liked it and he didn’t put it down all evening – even through dinner.  The restaurant we chose is right outside the Señora de las Angustias church, and there was a mass going on when we arrived so we went up the steps to have a look inside. All the churches we’ve seen have been richly decorated and this one was no exception – it was well attended and there was a strong smell of incense.  No one wanted to stay for the whole service so we sat at an outside table and ordered our tapas.  These were a real treat: small portions of patatas bravas, garlic mushrooms, potato tortilla, tomato salad and meatballs for us to share.  No trivial pursuit game tonight – an early night because of the early start for our trip to Seville tomorrow.