Along the Algarve

After our detour to Gibraltar, we have spent the last three weeks slowly making our way along the south coasts of Spain and Portugal (the Algarve). We have moved on days when the wind dropped, and enjoyed wherever we were in between times.

We spent several days at Sancti Petri. We had anchored overnight there before but never set foot ashore. It turned out to be a lovely remote beach paradise, with enough swell for bodyboarding, and huge areas of sand dunes to explore. All shared with just a handful of people! 

pristine beach at Sancti Petri

towing Katie and Reuben on bodyboards

Boat windows all covered to protect from sun damage

A little venture around the ‘town’ opposite revealed very little going on – there were some fantastic sea murals painted on the walls but nothing else apart from an ice cream stand and a couple of quiet bars. No hotels, or even a little shop. Strange, considering the marina and river were full of boats and there was a thriving kayak centre right on the beach. Maybe the place comes alive in the height of summer? 

shell murals at Sancti Petri

Whale mural at Sancti Petri

In any case, we enjoyed a few days there, playing on the beach, and exploring upstream in our dinghy – where we got bombarded by small jumping fish, which left slime all over us! Our friends Miki and Karl from ‘Fai Tira’ caught up with us here, and we all enjoyed a beach bonfire together, before parting ways. They are bound for the Mediterranean.

Karl and Reuben collecting firewood

trying to light the fire with a magnifying glass!

Beach BBQ!

Next stop was Cadiz. It was calm enough to nose into a tiny bay off one of the town beaches, where we anchored among a frightening array of drying rocks, flanked by parts of the impressive Castillo,

‘We’re fine here,’ was the Captain’s verdict, and sure enough, the boat sat pretty as a picture while we rowed ashore for a late-afternoon visit to the packed beach. Back on board later, a tourist boat crammed with people edged past us and gave us a thumbs up. Obviously not many visiting yachts stop in this spot! However, we enjoyed a peaceful night among the rocks and headed out before dawn to a dazzling display of phosphorescence in the water (according to Dave, who was the only one awake!)

Cadiz waterfront

Ros Ailither anchored off Cadiz beach

We stopped off at the entrance to the Guadiana to stock up on groceries. It took all our willpower not to head upriver and see the folks in Sanlucar, but we thought we might never leave, so we reisted and carried on to Culatra. In spite of light, almost non-existent winds, this was the rolliest trip by far, and I felt thoroughly seasick by the time we entered the breakwater. The swell, although small, had a short 6-second period, which was obviously perfect for setting our boat on a horrible side-to-side roll. We were pleased to see it wasn’t just us – our friend Roy passed on ‘Sea Warrior’ and we could see that his boat had a similar motion. I was very pleased to drop anchor in the calm waters of the lagoon inside.

choppy waters at the entrance to Culatra

sunset at Culatra

Culatra is a lovely open anchorage, where you are usually rewarded with a stunning sunset every night. This visit, we also experienced a terrific lightning storm. There was very little rain but the sky was full of ominous, black clouds, and one boom of thunder was so loud, we were convinced something in Olhau (the town opposite) had got struck.

boardwalk over the dunes, Culatra

braving the waves 

not sure about braving the waves!

We spent a couple of days off the island of Culatra, and walked across the boardwalk to the splendid beach there. We had only visited in off-season before, and wondered how the residents survived with just one tiny shop and a couple of bars. This time, in May, everything was in full operation, and the quiet streets had turned into a tourist venue. There were several ice cream stalls, souvenir shops and a juice bar; a bakery and a whole host of eating places - one even with a display of fresh fish on ice. All this on a tiny island made of sand! On our way back to the dinghy, we were greeted by the sight of a stork pacing the sand right in front of us.

stork among the fishing boats, Culatra

We nipped across to Olhau for a night, where we had a couple of beers with Will from Turf basin. Before leaving the next morning, we bought ourselves some clams for tea in the wonderful old fish market.

Olhau church

Stork's nests on church roof, Olhau

Dave and Will sip beer on our own treasure island

 Thankfully, the trip to Portimao was much stiller, and we crept close to the coast to look at the spectacular caves under the cliffs. There is a roaring trade all along the Algarve for small boats taking holiday-makers out to see the caves – and in some cases go inside them. We waited for a calm day and took a little trip along the coast in our dinghy. It was quite nerve-racking, as the swell looks bigger and the water looks shallower the closer you get to the caves. Dave kept a calm head and managed to steer us safely inside some of the bigger caves, and even through a couple of low ‘arches’ through the rock. The power of the sea is pretty awesome to carve such sculptures out of rock!

caves reaching almost to the top of the 200' cliffs

collapsed hole in the roof of a cave

through an archway to an open cave

We spent over a week at Portimao and, although school continued in the mornings, we had the afternoons to go ashore and explore. The anchorage was surrounded by several different beaches, with more to choose from outside the harbour. The main long beach was perfect for swimming and, one night, a beach barbecue with another couple on a yacht.

lovely skies in Portimao

beach aerobics

The ‘middle’ beach was full of round pebbles and stones to collect, most of them embedded with sea shells. Reuben found a small tunnel right through the cliff. The rest of us couldn’t fit through but he managed to squirm his way through, with his tummy dragging in the damp sand! At the other end of the beach, the sea had eroded lots of holes in the stones. Somebody had hung a few of these up with strands of washed-up rope. We added a couple to the collection for luck.

shells embedded in rocks

beach caves

surf beach

The little beach outside the breakwater had surf so was good for bodyboarding and wave-jumping. After a little coaching from Katie, Reuben was soon joining her diving under the incoming waves.

The furthest beach inshore was a beachcomber’s paradise – we found a scarf and a set of new flip-flops on one walk, not to mention a collection of sand beetles to study, and a strange pink creature folded (almost but not quite) into a shell. Later identified as a ‘Cymbium-olla’, a type of (big) sea snail.

Reuben holding the 'Cymbium-olla'

underneath a chimney with a stork's nest on top

We had spent time in Portimao before so knew our way around. The fountains and stork’s nests in the town centre, Lidl at the end of the fish harbour, and Praia da Rocha for its lovely beach and bucket and spade shops.

The only drawback was the rolling! The entrance was quite open to the sea so a bit of sea swell snuck into the harbour, and this, coupled with the fishing boats roaring out at daybreak, led to a perpetual roll at anchor. This is where Dave’s ‘rocker stopper’ came into its own, and we sat smugly on our relatively still boat, watching all the other yachts wobbling around!

Five miles to the west was Alvor. This is a smaller resort on the edge of a large, shallow lagoon, and with not much room to anchor. We initially anchored just inside the entrance, where we knew there was enough water. From here, we could swim and kayak ashore to the sand banks at low tide, and take the dinghy across to the town if we wanted. But after two days, the wind had picked up so much we were struggling to leave the boat. The waves splashed right over the front of the dinghy and got us all swamped.

Alvor, a kitesurfer's paradise

Reuben in the kayak

traditional trip boats sailing in, Alvor

  

On the beach at Praia Meia

Eventually, we decided to risk taking the big boat up to the town, and were surprised to find there was more water there than where we had been anchored! Now sheltered from the wind, we managed to get out every day, and explored all the walks around Alvor – a lovely boardwalk loop takes you across the sand dunes to the main beach, giving great views of all the kite-surfers. 

prepared for an expedition!

farmer at work

wild poppies

rural fields ashore

Further from the town, an inland trail takes you through quiet farmland; and a trail around the saltwater marshes gave us great views of wading birds, where we finally sighted some flamingos! There were about eighteen of them, but strangely only three of them looked pink. The rest were almost black and white, and looked like over-sized avocets, with their heads tucked into their bodies.

one pink flamingo, among black 'n' white ones

birdwatcher's paradise in Alvor

black-winged stilt

egret on the sandbank

Having watched the local fishermen catch razor clams by pouring salt down their holes in the sand, Dave and Reuben dug up some worms on the beach and managed to catch us a fish! Maybe not the biggest catch, but he tasted delicious.

digging for worms

a successful catch! 

For the last two weeks, we have been avidly watching the weather, waiting for a lull in the northerly winds. The ‘Portuguese trades’ apparently blow regularly down the Atlantic coast in summer, starting light in the mornings and increasing all afternoon, often reaching Force 6 by evening. Of course, we hadn’t had these winds to help us when we came down the coast, but were faced with them now, blowing dead against us!

Anchored in Baleeira

Sagres, a surfer's town

drinking Sagres beer in Sagres!

Finally, a weather window looked promising, and we motored to Baleeira, our last stop on the Algarve coast, and a popular spot for dolphin- and whale-watching trips. We had a day to rest and wander around the headland at Sagres.

This is the last headland before Cabo San Vicente, the SW ‘tip of Portugal’, and has stunning views out over clear blue water. We walked around the old fort, and out to the lighthouse, where blow-holes send spray up through the rocks in rough weather. The whole headland is full of wild flowers and sea grasses, all very reminiscent of Cornwall. 

Sagres headland

clear blue seas

lizard in the sun

salt blown flowers, Sagres

Cabo San Vicente in the distance

Henry the Navigator set up a School of Navigation here in the 14^th century, which conglomerated all knowledge of navigation and map-making to date. He was an important influence in keeping Portugal at the forefront of the Great Age of Exploration, encouraging sailors to explore further afield. Portuguese sailors were the first to sail down the west coast of Africa, around the Cape of Good Hope and to India, opening up new trade routes for precious spices.

A fitting place from which to start our journey up the Atlantic coast.

Henry the Navigator looking out at Sagres

budding seafarers