A good weather window lasting a couple of days opened up to sail further South, rounding the Cape and to proceed in the direction of Gibraltar. We limited our trips to day sailing and overnight anchoring due to the many fish traps along the route. Since we didn’t go ashore to explore, this post is limited to photo’s of the stopovers.
The first stop at anchor was in Sines on the Atlantic coast.
On Feb 1st, 2020 we rounded Cabo de Sao Vicente, the SW corner of Portugal. From now on our heading would be Eastwards.
The second night we spent at anchor in Portimao along the coast of the Algarve, the Portuguese “riviera”.
Rugged coastline with steep cliffs. Alfanzina lighthouse to the right.
Entering the huge marina resort “Vilamoura” near the border with Spain.
The quay was dotted with Hotels, restaurants and holiday apartments. One of the attractive parts of cruising is that you can have the solitude of a quite anchorage or the excitement of the crowds in a resort style marina and take your “house” with you.
Getting spoiled in one of the many restaurants.
Next day we were off to Spain. We would like to have spend more time in Portugal with its friendly and hospitable people, but as explained earlier, we have to be out of Europe by March 05, 2020 which is one month from now.
A rather unexpected problem will make it a challenge to meet that date. See upcoming posts.