Vilamoura is a wonderful port full of restaurants and great shops and not forgetting the great golf courses they have. Which Bob can attest too. The Marina is modern and has great facilities. Our friends Mike & Sandra (who have a beautiful Sunseeker motor yacht here, “Luvverly Jubbly”) put us in touch with Quim (their skipper) and also their marine engineers so we decided to service the engine and generator, change the oils, change anodes and do a few fiddly adjustments here.

While work was being done and John was trying to source our special screwdriver we spent the next few days at their Villa.
What a hoot the first night!  I woke up thinking who’s on watch and leapt up to make sure the boat was in good hands!
We had 12 days of great fun. Renewing our long-time friendship was so easy. Being  whisked away at 30 knots for beach lunches, cave visits and evening cruises with dinner reservation on their luxurious boat was tough but hey, someone has to do it!

Canada showed how to BBQ. Sandra went shopping for Digby Scallops and stopped short of looking for prairie oysters – even the BlueJays, Labatts Blue and Mapleleafs got a look in!
John and Bob managed to destroy the jet-ski.
Operation “We-can” required a beach landing in commando style.
John and Mike even got reacquainted with waterskiing after an absence of 5 or 6 years.

Thanks for such a wonderful time. 

We had to say a sad goodbye to Bob who was returning to Canada. Thanks Cathy we know you missed each other.   His help was invaluable and made the long sails across the Bay of Biscay and the west coast of Spain and Portugal very enjoyable.

Mike & Sandra were now also going home but we will meet again next October when we come back to Vilamoura enroute to the Canaries in 2013.