Quinta Do Lorde Marina and First Photos
Sulana's Voyage
Alan and Sue Brook
Wed 8 Sep 2010 20:55
Quinta Do Lorde Marina, Madeira.
Well here we are at last in Madeira proper, and “Sulana” is now looking smart and polished once more, after stalwart work by Richard and Fiona all through the heat if the morning. Cooked arms and toasted faces, with Aftersun being sought, are now the evening order.
We did not quite make it into Funchal, after all. There is a full harbour, no room for a yacht of our size alongside at even the best of times and, now we discover, there is also a regatta fleet due in from the Canaries any minute!
Quinta is very pleasant, though, and they have made us very welcome indeed, however, it lacks shops of any kind and is just a marina. So, whilst the yacht was being cleaned, we others took a hire car and made a big hit on the Pingo Luce Supermarket in Machico, after failing to hunt down what we needed in the local fruit and veg. shops in the seaside villages close by.
Preparing “Sulana” for the return of Sue and her brother and sister-in-law, Bruce and Shirley, in a few days time is our big priority for now. We don’t want them arriving to find anything less than perfect.
For now, however, the main purpose of this note and update is to fill in our blog site with some photos that have not yet made it onto the website, owing to operator ignorance (!) so here goes :–
PS. Never done this before, so apologies for roughness of approach, but it WILL get better!
First load up your trolleys! 6 more like this went on board even on the last day..
Nick and the Girls say Goodbye from Oyster. A poignant moment indeed, after 34 years.........
Will we fit beneath the Itchen River Bridge at top of Springs? Hard to believe and trust in local advice!
The Needles approach, as we depart the Solent and UK mainland, for how long?
Weather is a bit brisk, with a good Northerly blowing us towards the South and Jersey.
Jersey invites us to return to the Durrell Zoo. A must for all that can be great about a zoo.
Who’s that in my cage?
There’s a limit to how much of this Alan can take.........
But then, what do the girls care? Am I bothered?
Certainly young Skippy here is not fussed.
Nor is pretty Sleepy Head.....
My my! Whatever has the world-famous AyeAye found in there to pick out with its extended finger??
To be sure, God has made some marvelously strange creatures, hasn’t He?
Departing Jersey the forecast on Windguru seems perfect, so the team are happy, but Sue has reservations...
Maybe she knows there’s something scary out there... Not sure what it is yet, as we depart St Helier.
No – it’s not the Roches Douvres, passed on the port hand side en route to Ushant.
Maybe too many for this entry, so more to follow!