From the other side of the 'pond'


So we are in Lagos, on the Algarve, Portugal. It seems almost unbelievable. We arrived 2 days ago, and are just beginning to feel less overwhelmed by the sheer numbers of people. We have come into a marina which has really nice facilities and it feels good to be still. Most of the way from Horta to here was fairly rigorous sailing, particularly the last couple of days. Usually we sail quite conservatively when the wind pipes up in the 20 - 30 range, but we were very keen to get here and the last day we sailed at sustained speeds of around 7 knots, and though at the time it felt like we were hurtling along a little out of control we are very glad we did it.

We arrived early afternoon and couldn't believe our eyes as we encountered so much hustle and bustle; a typical holiday resort. We are no longer seeing ocean going boats, but coastal cruisers. Coming into the inlet which leads to the marina we were dodging all types of boats, very few of whom observed any type of 'rule of the road'. We kept laughing all the time as we just couldn't believe our eyes.

(I'll complete this post later, have to go and say goodbye to our French/Canadian friends on Exiles. They sailed from Bermuda approximately the same time as us and we maintined ham radio contact with them most of the way across the Atlantic. Exiles is a very stout 28' sailboat which goes alot faster than we do.)

Comments

Unknown said…
Dear Nancy and Tony,
Congratulations! Sheila and I have been following your journey, sometimes with envy and sometimes just glad we were home and not on board with you.
Great to hear you are in Europe, for the most part you have had good sailing, you are safe and Moondancer is in one piece. SHe is a good boat and proved it on your Atlantic passage.
Best wishes on the continuation of you adventure. We are sure you will have a great time and if you ever return to Port of Sidney Marina you can share your stories. We'll supply the wine.

Terry & Sheila Harding
Sanguine, Tartan 4100, hull #96
Port of Sidney Marina
August 7, 2009 at 11:41 AM
Anne said…
Hi

So glad you are there and safe. Now both of you are close to Gib you will get to Malta very soon!

All are well here and will see you on skype.

Anne and Dick
"Full & By"
August 7, 2009 at 7:28 PM
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