Enjoying the Algarve

Sailing down the Atlantic coast

sailing dinghies and anchored ships off Cascais

Stone pavement art at Sines

leaving Sines at dawn

We skipped down the rest of the west coast of Portugal fairly quickly. From Peniche, we did short day hops to Cascais, Sesimbra and Sines, only going ashore at Sines itself. Then we had a long day to do the last stretch of coastline, finishing with a memorable trip around Cabo San Vicente accompanied by a pod of dolphins. They stayed with us for around 40 minutes, playing under our bows and  turning on their sides to look up at us. One even swam completely upside down so we could see its white underneath. A lovely way to arrive in the Algarve!

Cabo San Vicente

Dolphins playing under our bows

Our first anchorage was off Belixe beach, which was rather rolly to say the least. It was made bearable only by Dave’s rocker-stopper, and even then we were surprised by the ridiculous motion of the boat as we went ashore in the dinghy. It was worth it though, to anchor in beautiful solitude off a stunning beach!

Next stop was Alvor, a tidal lagoon with a narrow, winding channel to the town. On our last attempt (2 years ago) we immediately went aground on entering – the buoys are in the wrong place – and then spent an hour kedging ourselves off. We were a bit more cautious this time around and anchored just inside the entrance. We recce-ed the channel in the dinghy first, and then decided to stay put after all: we had already visited the town and it was actually more scenic where we were anchored. The kids had great fun the next day donning their wetsuits and snorkelling around the sandbanks. The sand was so deep in places our feet sank in over our ankles

Deep sea divers at Alvor!

The sand was so deep even the birds footprints sank in

We then went to Portimao, where there is a big protected anchorage off a long sandy beach. Perfect for swimming, kayaking and beach walks, with a great view of the sun setting on our boat behind. The beach leads past an converted castle-type villa to a little fishing village, where fresh fish is cooked outside restaurants on braziers.

Looking down on the beach at Portimao

Sun setting behind our boat at Portimao

The town of Portimao itself is a bit ramshackle. Most of the shops have moved out from the centre to new shopping malls, which we discovered when we tried to do a bit of Christmas shopping! However, there were a couple of little shopping streets left, and it was warm enough for us to sit and have lunch outside.

Ramshackle Portimao

dining outside

dining outside

Reuben loved this place, especially the old brick towers with storks’ nests on top. We must have spotted at least twenty of them, with one if not both parents in the nest. Apparently, these towers are left over from old sardine-canning factories. The factories themselves are now gone but they are not allowed to knock the towers down if birds are nesting on them.

Storks' nest on an old tower

We had only intended to stop for a few days but met up with a French couple on a boat and also a French family with three children – the first ‘boat children’ so far! We ended up spending ten days there and it felt like a little holiday. No more checking weather forecasts and lashing stuff down for sea. We simply had a lovely time exploring and spent several afternoons and evenings in the company of the ‘Frenchies’.

Like us, the French family were doing ‘school’ on board, but were tied to a very strict schedule. I am broadly trying to follow the National Curriculum but basically we can pick and choose each day whether to do maths, English, science… or anything else! The French system insists that children follow their set workbooks (purchased at great expense). They have eight modules a year, each of which have to be sent back online for evaluation. So if the children fall behind because of being at sea, they have a lot of catching up to do. The elder girl (a year older than Katie) was doing five hours of school per day. That doesn’t leave a lot of time for exploring! 

Katie with new friend Tiannael

Bonfire on the beach

Sunset at Portimao

This coast of the Algarve is notable for its incredible crumbling cliffs and caves. We get a fantastic view of it from the boat as we follow the coast along close to shore. You can see clearly how the cliffs are formed from layers and layers of sediment – some pale yellow, some more orange, and some grey in colour. When you get close up, you can see that the rocks are packed with sea shells, so the 200-foot tall cliffs were obviously at the bottom of the sea at some point!

Rocks full of shells

Caves in the cliffs

Crumbling cliffs

The wind, rain and sea have all been taking their toll and huge sea caves have formed underneath the cliffs. They are big enough for trip boats to take people inside. Some of them have collapsed already, leaving sea stacks and beautiful sandy beaches. We found one secluded beach that you could only access by climbing down a rope, but I’m going to let Katie describe that for you!