Sunday 19th April – farewell to Ayamonte

Soundtrack: The main halyard is gently slapping against the mast, and there’s a brief commotion ashore as a handful of kids drag their optimists up the slipway of the sailing school. Otherwise it’s absolutely quiet.
High Point: Getting under way at last – and the sun’s come out! A number of our neighbours assembled on the pontoon to pay us a fond farewell and to wish us good sailing. We shall miss the camaraderie of the other boats berthed here but it’s time to go. We certainly never expected to spend three winters in Ayamonte marina, but now finally we’re off! We’re just going along the coast a little way for a shakedown sail before returning to the river to lift out at Vila Real next week.
Low point: Torrential rain on Friday night, which produced some serious drips in inconvenient places down below. It brings home to us that the poor old boat needs quite a bit of tlc to bring her up to scratch. Whilst she’s been sitting here patiently waiting for us to decide to come and live aboard, she’s been going slowly downhill.

We’re sitting at anchor at Tavira in Portugal. We’ve had a cracking sail to get here this morning. A gentle drift downwind under the yankee to get out of the Guadiana river, followed by a boisterous beam reach in a northerly F5, bringing us to the sheltered lagoon between Tavira island and the mainland by lunchtime. Trip distance is 16 miles. Jason had a go at fishing with the shiny new lures without success – he’s now going to try his hand with the lobster pot.

A low-lying sandy island protects us from the sea. It appears uninhabited, although the dumpy little ferryboat is plying back and forth carrying plenty of passengers. A faded blue fishing boat lies abandoned in the scrub some distance above the bank beside us. From here we can see the white buildings and orange roofs of Tavira a mile or so inland with the torn paper outline of hills beyond. The town boasts a fine Roman bridge which we’ve crossed before on the way to Faro. A concrete pontoon, the lifeboat station and a couple of cafes complete the picture.