Faro to Ayamonte

It was hard to leave Portimao but we needed to continue our journey east. We spent a couple of nights in the marina to give us time to catch up with laundry, clean the boat, fill up the water tanks and go shopping to stock up on provisions.

Scarlet in Portimao marina

The marina has a hotel complex which gave us free access to a very nice swimming pool, so once all the jobs were done, we relaxed for an hour or so, and in the evening we mingled with the tourits in Praia da Rocha just a short walk away.






The next day we left early and motor sailed towards Faro as there was no wind. We soon settled into our usual routine, which mainly involves making mugs of tea, looking at the changing coastline and keeping eyes peeled for lobster pots.

There is an anchorage just through the main entrance, which has strong cross currents other than at slack tide, and decided to join a few other yachts at anchor in about 6 metres of water. After dinner, we tuned in the television and caught the back end of a news bulletin, which showed a large 'bush' fire, but we did not catch the location.

The next day we waited for the half flood tide and ventured around the corner to Ponte Cais. This is a very popular anchorage, and we counted over 40 boats peacefully on the hook. Well, peacefully up to a point. The locals appear to travel in high powered ribs, carving their way through the moored boats, causing a lot of wash and noise.

At anchor in Pontecais

We had, to some extent, become used to the wash of passing boats in Portimao, so we tolerated it and by the afternoon most activity had dwindled to nothing. It was in the afternoon that Lynne noticed we appeared to be a lot further away than we had been from a Norwiegian yacht when we first anchored. Unusually, we had not put the anchor alarm on, but if we had done, it would have confirmed what was plain to see. We had dragged considerably and not even noticed it! Fortunately,
we were at the back of all the other boats, or we would surely have bumped into one. We set about raising the anchor with the remote control and it became evident that not only had we anchored in a huge amount of weed, but also some long since discarded fishing gear. Unable to free the anchor off and dispose of the gear on land, we had no choice other than to break out the new knife/saw and hack it off. Once free, we put the experience down to bad luck. But, after another two attempts to re anchor in different places with the same result, we gave up and headed back to our original spot from the night before. 

As evening approached, we noticed a change in the colour of the sky and the sun was now very hazy.

Eerie sky

Lynne broke out the Cobb barbecue and proceeded to cook an amazing roast chicken dinner with all the trimmings, well, the ones we like anyway.

Masterchef!

Cobb chicken

Roast chicken with trimmings, yummy!

Reports on the television had confirmed some extensive bush fire eminating from Tavira, just along the coast. But, the wind must have changed direction, as a huge cloud of ash was heading our way. After dinner we closed the hatches and settled down for the night having checked that the anchor alarm was switched on. At first light the next day, we noticed the whole boat had taken on a smokey aroma and our first thoughts were to check we had put out the barbie. But, seeing flames leaping from the hills in the distance meant the bush blaze was still out of control and spreading.

Ash cloud, time to go

A layer of ash was by now all over the boat and visibility was much reduced. It was also difficult to breathe.  The sun was struggling to burn through the haze. We decided the best course of action was to leave and, after checking the charts and popping some waypoints in the plotter, we headed out to sea. Lynne took the first two hour watch and the sky, even out at sea, was laden with ash, making visibility very poor.



We continued in the direction of the Guadiana River with the intention of making for Ayamonte marina. It was only as we approached the river that the skies began to clear, but the ash cloud must have stretched for over 20 miles.
As our leaving had been in haste, we would arrive too early to catch the right tide to get us safely in the river, so we found a spot to anchor for a couple of hours and have a bite to eat. One of the highlights of our trip down the coast was the occasional visit from a flying fish. We spotted about four of these remarkable creatures. They pop out of the water and glide for what looked to be about 20 metres!


Our pilot book has been an invaluable source of information, and it described the pilotage to get through the entrance in some detail. Apart from running aground on sandbars, another hazard was a submerged wall, so with the chartplotter set to full detail and a series of waypoints to mark hazards, we made our approach. As it happened, it was straightforward enough and weather conditions were just about ideal.

Guadiana river, the Portuguese Spanish border

We chose Ayamonte marina on the Spanish side of the river, as it has more manoeuvring space than Villa Real de Santo Antonio on the Portugese side, and friends Chris and Frances from Usqubae of Fife had given it a good report. We did radio ahead a few times but got no reply. As this is a Spanish marina and we had arrived early afternoon, we figured it could be siesta time for the staff, so chose a free berth and moored up. Once the office opened we checked in but found we would have to move to a different berth so we waited an hour for the wind to die down (it picked up about the time we arrived!), and popped Scarlet onto her new temporary home. Once connected to the shore power, the first task was to get the hose out and attempt to clean the boat. Several hours later she looked just fine again, so we had a nap and then decided to head off into the nearby town to have a look around.  We got back to Scarlet in time to enjoy the sunset.

View from cockpit looking back at marina entrance

We should just say at this juncture, that the Guadiana river is a very important one, as it is the border for Portugal and Spain. As our marina was in Spain we took down the Potuguese courtesy flag and hoisted the Spanish one, but we noticed some boats that were coming and going, were flying both...very confusing!

The river is navigable for some 40 miles, and is very popular for boaters as it is possible to anchor just about anywhere. It was on our hit list of places to visit en route to Almerimar.

Ayamonte is a delightful place. Both of us felt at home straight away as we explored the medieval town with narrow streets and car free centre. It must have had an effect as we went straight back to the marina and paid for 3 extra nights!

Street cafes, siesta time hence few people.



This was to give us time to explore some more of Ayamonte.  For the first time since we left the UK, the fold up bikes came out and we enjoyed exploring the area.  There is a dedicated cycle path around most of the town, so we didn't have to worry about being mown down by traffic.

Steve with the  'Hogs'

On Monday, we took the ferry over the border to Portugal on the other side of the river, to a town called Villa Real de Santo Antonio.  The pilot book had suggested it was a pleasant place to visit with a large pedestrianised centre, making it easy to get around.  We decided to take the bikes with us so we could explore.  Whilst it was a nice town, for Lynne & I, it just simply didn't have the same charm as Ayamonte.  After a couple of hours walking round, we decided to head back across the river and grab a bite to eat in Ayamonte.

Approaching the main square in Villa Real de Santo Antonio

Along the river front in Villa Real de Santo Antonio

The marina facilities, ie showers and toilets, are in small portacabins next to the office, so we chose to use the shower on board. Our shower room is quite large for a boat and the shower itself is reasonably powerful so we usually use that anyway. There is no WiFi provided by the marina, but a small independant internet cafe will set you up with WiFi access that you can use on the boat for about 6 Euros a day. There is a small supermarket near to the marina office, but a much larger one is only a 15 minute walk away near to the ferry.

The marina staff will give you access cards for the gates (you need to pay a deposit) but the staff advised that we may as well just go to our gate, wave at the camera and they would buzz us in. This worked just fine until the evening we decided to go out for a drink at 10pm on the Sunday. The town was heaving with families finishing off meals, and just about all the restaurants were packed. We stayed out for a couple of hours, soaking up the atmosphere and then decided to call it a night. As we got to our gate we waved at the camera but nothing happened. OK, the marina is manned 24 hours so we knew someone would be around. So, we walked up to the office (which was in darkness), and tried the door, which was locked. We hung around for a while and luckily a security guard came out to find out what we wanted. "Please can you open gate C? We are going back to our boat." "Si" was the reply. "Yes, C" we said. "Si" was the reply once again. As we made our way back to gate C, we heard gate B unlock as we went by. We got to our gate, waved at the camera and stood waving for another few minutes to no avail. Back to the office to explain again that it was gate C we wanted, not B. Afer another exchange of 'C' and 'Si' we trudged back to the gate and went into waving mode. It was about ten minutes later, still stood outside that the guard came along and wanted to know what we were doing. "Trying to get to our boat", was the reply, "can you open the gate?", "Si" said the guard, "C" said Lynne pointing to the large and obvious letter C on the gate. As it happens, he had understood us all along, and his control panel in the office showed the gate was open. But, when he tried it too, it would not budge. The guard shrugged his shoulders, then leapt over the fence and climbed the stairs and released the gate from the inside. Never a dull moment in Ayamonte!

Like Portimao, some places get under the skin in a good way and this one is definitely one of them. But, once again, it is time to move on. We will leave on the half flood tide tomorrow to go up river and find a spot to anchor for the coming week. Then we will head out of the river and continue our journey eastward.

Steve and Lynne x