“37:11.65N 7:24.78W”

1,500 Miles since leaving Sandwich

Two hops down the road and we are on the border - 29 October 2022

First things first a freezer update. Yay it’s working!!!! I have also finished varnishing the new chopping block lid and stuck it in place. Brian from B and B carpentry (lovely man) did an excellent job of cutting it down lengthways and routing a couple of finger grips in each end. He also gave us some tips on things to see locally and was a very friendly chap, the bill by the way came to the princely sum of €10 and he didn’t even take the offered beer/cup of tea what a bargain!

Our new freezer lid courtesy of Brian at B and B

We ended up staying an extra night at Vilamoura as we needed to keep on the wifi in a failed attempt to get ourselves booked into Morocco. Honestly, it’s a crazy way to run a business. Having failed to get any replies from Rabat or Agidir we activated Normas phone and started calling the 5 numbers that we had found on the internet. 20 calls to each number throughout the day allowing them to time out each time and not once was a phone picked up. We sent another barrage of emails and again to date have not had a single reply. This left us in a bit of a quandary, were we willing to take the risk of a 36 hour crossing and then to chance someone answering our VHF call when we were off the entrance and also chance that they had a berth available. If not, then we would have a 240 mile trip down the Moroccan coast to Agadir, again without a confirmed berth awaiting us. I didn’t fancy that at all plus it annoyed me that they don’t answer their phones which doesn’t bode well for a good stay. We considered going into Ceuto the Spanish enclave in Morocco opposite Gibraltar and did get a positive response from them. This would have given us a base on the Moroccan side to travel from but at €45 per night it was an expensive option. The other downside of that would be that my Schengen clock would keep ticking down all of the time that I was in Ceuto. All in all we were in a bit of a quandary and were considering sailing straight south to Lanzarote. I tried a couple of marinas in Lanzarote and one in Tenerife and they were both fully booked up until after the ARC left around the 20^th November, this was getting ridiculous now.

With our extended stay in Vilamoura over we set sail for an anchorage on the river near Tavira and to have a proper think about the next steps. Vilamoura was a very well-run marina which seemed to favour the motorboat community more than yachts. That said they were very helpful and cheap at this time of year. Our berth cost us €24.97 per day including taxes as we are now on the winter rates, the same patch of water would cost €75 at peak season which would be a bit ouchy. With full tanks and a working freezer we set out for what was to be a roller coaster 34 mile motor up to Tavira and a tricky river entrance over the bar. Along the way we encountered numerous fishing nets, three large fish farms, fog, and a rather ill looking swordfish that was still moving but upside down on the surface, I didn’t rate his chances. All in all, it was a busy few hour as we chugged along in a force 1 breeze, on the nose of course.

Very sad swordfish not long for this world I think

We made it into the river an hour before high tide powering over a patch of white water and were soon anchored up behind a Belgian yacht amongst the birdlife of this nature reserve.  For the first time this trip I had to lay two anchors as the tidal stream in the river is fierce and of course switched by 180 degrees every six hours or so. Firstly, I dropped the starboard main anchor and let the tide drag us backwards as we laid out 70 meters of chain in 3 meters depth. Then we waited for the ride to turn and as the boat swung dropped the second bow anchor and laid out 35 meters of chain back the other way. As I dropped that anchor by hand Norma working the windlass pulled in 30 meters of chain from the first anchor. If you squint a bit, you should be able to picture the end result, we now had 30 odd meters of chain stretching each way up and down stream with us hanging in the middle and not moving much at all when the tide turned next. The other advantage was that the anchor would not get pulled out and have to reset on the turning tide. Bit complicated but it worked well, and we didn’t budge at all. The Belgian yacht that was in front of us moved at least 30 meters after two tide changes as I assume his single anchor tripped and reset each time.

Our anchorage in the nature reserve at Tavira

The anchorage is only accessible at half tide meaning we had a very late start after a peaceful night’s sleep. Checking the tide times, I calculated that we couldn’t leave until 1430 so we decided to get the dinghy pumped up and go to Tavira for an adventure.

After blowing up the dinghy we jumped aboard for the half mile motor to the ferry dock. This wasn’t a smooth trip as although the outboard stated second pull it kept stuttering and dying when I put it in gear. Luckily the tide was pushing us in the right direction anyway, but it took three failures before I realised that I had the choke in the wrong position and I was flooding the engine, oops. We rounded the ferry terminal and pulled the dinghy up a small beach padlocking it to a convenient ring in the wall. Once ashore we began the 2 Km walk along the causeway through a series of saltpans (I think) before we reached the town itself and could get a cool drink. Along the way the birdlife was incredible, we even saw flocks of flamingos and a pair of Storks who were getting very amorous with each other. Do humans deliver stork babies? Only seems fare considering all of the work they put in for us.

Flamingoes on the salt pans

We were also passed going the other way by a tourist road train packed with people heading for the ferry terminal. I say ferry terminal but to put it in persepective it is a very small ferry that takes people across the river estuary to the beach on the seaward side. Tavira is a very well kept town with lovely architecture and very friendly people. We enjoyed a couple of hours wandering around, had lunch and then went in search of the tourist train to give us a lift back along the causeway. That plan didn’t work very well as the train took a two hour lunch break starting 10 minutes before we found the pick up point. Not to be detered we walked back which to be honest was rather pleasant on a worm day. 

Tavira town - very pretty place.

By the time we got back to the dinghy the tide had come in far enough to be just touching the outboard leaving us an easy relaunch and away. This time with the choke in the right position and the tide in our favour again we zoomed back to Spectra in no time at all.

Getting the anchor in was a reversal of the previous night’s performance. Norma worked the windlass firstly dropping chain while I hand pulled the second anchor in and then when that was on deck pulling the main anchor in when it was time to go. At this point I must say dropping a 35Kg CQR and 30 meters of chain is a damn sight easier than pulling the same back up again by hand. By the time I had the CQR secured I was hot, sweaty, and covered in mud. I had a quick hose down before checking the depth, we had reached my calculated mark which was 2.5 meters below the keel that would give us clearance at the bar on the river mouth. Real RYA navigation stuff in this place. It all went well and even though I did have a moment when we shot out of the river mouth over the standing wave the depth never dropped below 1.5 meters below the keel, all was safe and well in the end.

Our next port was Villa Real De Santo Antonio which took almost as long to write as to actually get there. Again, we were heading for a tidal gate as the book recommended arriving at slack water because of a fierce current in the river and the marina entrance only being 20 meters wide. Again, we had no wind and the engine chugged along for three hour hop along the coast. Completely noneventful day we arrived just as it was getting dark to be met by the dock worker frantically pointing towards our allotted space. This was at 1800, by 1820 we were secured alongside and ready to book in. No chance the office staff and day workers finish at 1800 hence the frantic pointing and they had all run for the hills. The security man offered to let us in and out of the gate if we wanted to go ashore but to be honest we were tired and after a few drinks on the aft deck and a few calls to family and friends we called it a night. 

It is now the next morning, Norma has been to the office and paid our dues and we are ready to go and explore Villa Real De Santo Antonio. The Spanish border runs up the middle of the river here and I assume that it has an interesting history, we shall find out.

Villa Real De Santo Antonio in the morning light

We also still need to sort out the Morocco thing as time is ticking but we have a plan which was hatched as we motored along the coast. More on that later.......................