Anchored in Portimao

For the last two weeks we have spent a very enjoyable time at anchor just inside the entrance to Portimao.
This was the first time that either of us had spent so long 'on the hook' and it took a little getting used to. At first our biggest fear was waking up in the night to find Scarlet had drifted onto other boats or the nearby rocks. We took a 3 point fix and switched on the alarm facility on our chart plotter. As it turned out, the holding was excellent and we always had at least 4 metres under the keel.

Part of the anchorage at Portimao



Anchorage as seen from behind the marina

















The anchorage was very busy with more than twenty other yachts at any one time. Despite the fabulous surrounding, two issues perhaps just took the edge off a little. The first was the swell from the passing fishing boats and the other was at weekends, when the local clubs/bars in Praia da Rocha opposite would play music at full volume until 4am in the morning.

Scarlet at anchor

Other than this, everything was fine and we used our tender just about every day to visit the nearby beach at Ferragudo. The main beach was full of holiday makers which was fine but having the inflatable boat meant we could access a lovely beach that you could only walk to at low tide.

Robinson Crusoe?

This gave Lynne a chance to use the outboard motor and get used to 'beaching' the tender. Of course when the tide goes right out it means it is a bit of a struggle to get the thing back in the water!

Did you lock the boat up Steve?

One day we decided to pay a visit to Portimao town and parked the tender outside the nearby marina office. Our pilot book says that for a small fee they will look after it for you but that small fee turned out to be a staggering 20 euros!! Unsure of anywhere else we could leave it securely we paid up and set off for town.

Compared to the cosmopolitan resort town of nearby Praia da Rocha, Portimao felt much less touristy and we noticed that in August there would be a sardine festival!

Portimao town

Portimao looking back from the waterfront

Of course all the sightseeeing was thirsty work so the hunt began to find a place to eat. Being on a cruising budget means you have to watch the pennies so eating out is not something we do very often.  However, we spotted a deal that was too good to refuse, an 'all you can eat buffet' for 7 euros each. The food was really good and we both agreed that the chicken was some of the best we had ever had.

Grill Brazil, great food, great value

One of the things about being at anchor is it helps to be as self sufficient as possible. This was the first real test for our solar panels. The panels we have can be angled througouht the day, providing you are not getting a suntan on the nearby beach of course. Just about every day they gernerated enough power to run the fridge and allowed us to use the inverter to watch telly or charge up the mobiles and of course, run our anchor light at night.

We had a lovely suprise one afternoon when we were joined at anchor by friends from the Rally on Moonstream and we had a lovely evening meal together. The next day we planned to have a bar-b-cue on the beach but in the afternoon the wind had whipped up a sandstorm on the beach so we decided to hold it on the boat instead. Lynne put our new Cobb barbie to good use.

Chicken, yummy!

After two weeks at anchor we started to run low on fresh water. We reckon that each of the two tanks would last about a week and this includes showering on board. Clothes needed washing and we had almost run out of cornflakes so we headed over to the nearby marina and booked in for two nights. The price is high (it is high season), but we did get a 5% discount for having RYA membership. For anyone thinking about buying a yacht, size is everything when it comes to mooring fees, stay below 12m and you would be amazed how much you can save. Scarlet is 12.93m but we often have to pay the same price as you would for a 15m boat.

Marina de Portimao

Tomorrow we will leave early to go to Faro and anchor for a while but for now it's off to the local supermarket for cornflakes.

Steve and Lynne x