Parque Nacional de Ria Formosa

tiles on school wall

                                          

We set out to sea from Portimao, and headed the twenty-odd miles towards Faro. The coastline was spectacular, with huge sea caves carved out from the sandy rockfaces. We kept close in to get a better look at them all.

                                                                     

The forecast was for light winds but halfway there, we had a Force 4-5 on the nose. We hoisted sails and tacked for a while, just to give our visitors a taste of real sailing – I think Dave just likes to shout orders at the crew (Samantha)!

All hands on deck - Heave!

                                                         

After lunch, we gave up and motored the remainder of the way, and arrived at the Cabo de Santa Maria lighthouse around 4pm. This same entrance leads to both Faro and neighbouring Olhau, passing through the ‘Parque Natural de Ria Formosa’ - a large Nature Reserve with tidal lagoons and winding expanses of water surrounded by sandbanks, a perfect habitat for birds and other wildlife.

We dropped anchor off the outermost island, the Ilha de Culatra, and rowed in to explore. The whole island is about 3 miles long by half a mile across and completely made of sand. There are no roads or cars, just concrete ‘paths’ crossing the sand. We found a little village comprising mostly one-storey block houses, and all built on the sand. People had been very inventive with their ‘gardens’, using various articles to decorate the area around their houses.

                                         

Land ahoy!

Local fishing boat

Fishing provides the main income here and there are numerous fishing boats hauled up on the beach and an alarming amount of debris scattered around. Twenty years ago, it would have been a simple fishing village, but now a ferry brings visitors out to the island, and a row of bars and restaurants has sprung up to cater for them (and visiting yachties). On our row back to Ros Ailither, we were treated to a stunning sunset.

I had to put it in Clare!

Katie rowing home

Ros Ailither at sunset

        

The following day, we crossed the lagoon and followed the waterway in to the town of Olhau. We anchored just off the town in the middle of what appeared to be a highway for local fishing boats, judging by the way they roared past us at speed, day and night! Olhau is a small town, just ten miles from Faro. Its claim to fame is that a group of fishermen sailed a boat from here to Brazil in the early 1800’s to inform the Royal Family, who had fled there, that the French invaders had been overthrown. For this act of bravery, the town was honoured, and a replica of the boat, ‘Bom Sucesso’ sits at the town dock.

                 

It is not a big tourist venue, and along with some lovely old architecture, there are some ‘gritty’ parts of town. The church is very prominent at the centre of the town, and apparently has incredible views from the belltower, but we couldn’t find a way to get up without disturbing the peace inside. There is an unusual section at the back of the church. Three barred off archways let you see into a tiled room with a statue of a Saint, with lit candles and what looks like wax or plastic body parts hanging up. Apparently she is Nossa Senhora de Aflitos (Patron Saint of Injuries), and these are votive offerings.

Olhau church

Votive offerings to Nossa Senhora de Aflitos

                     

We were lucky enough to arrive in time for the weekly Saturday market, right on the Quay. One whole hall was dedicated to a fish market, another for meat, and a huge range of vegetable stalls appeared outside, despite the drizzle. We couldn’t identify all the fish, but we admired the wonderful displays and managed to buy a selection of fresh anchovies, ‘carapau’ (horse mackerel), and a dark grey fish called ‘xaputa’, which we were none the wiser to translate as ‘scabbard’. Anyway it tasted very good fried up in flour as recommended. …..

Fish market, Olhau

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Vegetable market

                                                                                    

We returned to the Ilha Culatra for Clare & Samantha’s last day. We walked quarter of a mile across the sand dunes on a purpose-made walkway. This takes you over the tidal rivers which encroach on the island every tide. We emerged on a long white sandy beach, that ran the whole length of the island. There was a fair onshore breeze, so a good swell was crashing in. The girls had a great time jumping over, under and through the waves, and Dave and Reuben got busy digging a deep, deep sandcastle!

Walkway over the sand dunes

           

   

Wave jumping!

                

Stunning beach, Ilha de Culatra

                                       

We were glad to have taken a picnic as the little beach bar remained closed, despite somebody arriving to unlock the door… We stayed and played all day, watched the daytrippers arrive and then leave again, and rounded the day off nicely with a beer at the harbourside bar before heading back to Olhau for the night.

Harbourside beach bar

Clare and Samantha had to fly out the next morning. I was quite impressed that my basic Portuguese managed to produce a taxi at 8am as requested to a very Portuguese non-English speaking driver. After waving our visitors off, we returned to the island anchorage for another couple of days.

                           

This time, we anchored further along the island towards its tip. An Irish man at the bar, a frequent visitor here, had told us that there were seahorses to be seen in the eel grass a bit further along the island. He said his children picked them up and the seahorses wrapped themselves round their fingers.

We were very taken with this idea, so early the next morning, at low tide, we set off with snorkels to seek out seahorses. We found eel grass. We saw a stork. We saw a bike on a pole (reminiscent of the one at Darts). We saw men bent over ashore digging for clams. We saw lots of little fishing boats out around the lagoon. We even asked one of them if he knew where the seahorses were. His name was Miguel, he was very friendly and showed the children a squid he had caught but he either didn’t understand my Portuguese for seahorse (cavalo de mar?) or didn’t know where they were. After two successive morning searches we had to admit defeat. No seahorses for us.

Stork in lagoon

Bike on pole, with clam diggers behind

Instead we visited the beach, and planned a campfire that evening with our friends from ‘Spirit’. Wood is hard to come by on an island made of sand so we walked along the shore searching for driftwood. We wandered inland, where more inland gullies criss-crossed the dunes. It was a magical place for the children, with warm shallow water to run through, and several deep patches to lay in. 

Sand dunes and inland gullie

Bringing back firewood

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We crossed as far as the Atlantic coast again, and returned with arms full of treasure (wood!). That evening, after a refreshing swim, we gathered around the campfire watching the sun go down and toasting marshmallows with our friends. We discovered that the scrub-like bushes growing in the dunes burn brilliantly – for about 60 seconds! Fortunately we had four willing helpers to gather more

Our next stop was Tavira, another eleven miles along the coast, and still part of the Nature Reserve. We only stayed one night, as it was a tight anchorage with lots of tide flowing through. We didn’t visit the town (which is reached by a road train over salt fields), but we rowed ashore to the riverside beach, where the children swam and were half delighted and horrified to find a sea cucumber! I walked across the narrow island to the Atlantic coast, where this end of the island has been turned into a successful resort. Sunloungers were laid out along the white sandy beach, a couple of bars served holidaymakers, and apparently chameleons abound, though I didn’t spot any of those either!

Sea cucumber

Giant chameleon, Tavira beach

                            

                                                                       

We left Tavira on the ebb tide and arrived at the river Guadiana on the Spanish border in plenty of time to anchor, string up the hammock and watch the sunset. More about this river later (we are still there!) but for now suffice it to say that Halloween fever gripped the Ros Ailither as we motored the 25 miles upriver to Alcutim, and the boat was soon decorated for a little Halloween party with our friends.