Port Velcro....

When we arrived in Lagos (I think about 4 weeks ago), we heard from about 3 or 4 different people that it was referred to as 'Port Velcro' as people come here and then never leave - seriously we have already met 3 couples here who now own an apartment here and keep their boat in the marina, who were originally enroute to the Med.

We went to Faro with Andrew's son James and had a great time there, we were joined by the Katharine with Kathy & Jim onboard and we all enjoyed a couple of fun nights anchored out in the peaceful waters of Ria Formosa. Andrew's parents, Ed & Sylvia, then arrived in the Algarve and came down to Faro for a family lunch before James flew home. We had one last night, where we shared a few too many gin and tonics with Paul & Babs from Lyra Magma, who are also heading to Madeira....

Dinner aboard 'the Katherine'

Askooby went on a trip of her own - who tied her up??

Beautiful Ria Formosa

Boys speeding around Ria Formosa

Last night with 'the Katherine' crew onboard Askari

The next day we sailed down to Vilamoura where Andrew's parents had checked in to a resort. We went in to this marina with a bit of trepidation as we knew it was a resort marina, surrounded by bars and restaurants; right in the centre of the 'British Algarve'..... We were therefore not surprised to find we were one of only a few yachts in 'SlumSeeker' paradise, however we got a great berth right in the centre away from the hustle and bustle. We actually quite enjoyed it there, the beach is lovely and we found a couple of nice restaurants - a favourite was in the older part of town Quarteira.

Bellamy's in Faro

Lunch at Tico Tico in Quarteria - just fabulous!

We had a flat calm day, perfect for Ed & Sylvia to join us for a motorsail down the coast back to Lagos - bacon sarnies and some close inspection of the beautiful pinnacles along the coast made for a fun day. For a final day with Ed & Sylvia we drove back down to Vilamoura and went out for lunch in the hills. Then it was back to work.

Algarve Coastline is stunning

Ed & Andrew - relax on the trip down to Faro

Andrew fitted the accumulator tank and also ran new wiring but still the water pump wasn't working as we thought it should; then it died - oh my gosh this was not funny any longer as this was our third plus the chinese one we bought in France. There was a lot of bad language onboard Askari before Andrew stormed off to the chandlers to buy another new water pump! This one sounds like a pneumatic drill when you run the tap but it works, so far....

Meanwhile, we had been trying to track down the guys who were going to install the replacement aircon unit. Then they just arrived without notice - brilliant! At least they were here. We were totally impressed with their work and how tidy they were - wrapping up all the areas they were working in with clear plastic and in just half a day all was done and we were back to full aircon onboard - relief as most days it was still 30 plus degrees in Lagos.

The next few days we anxiously watched the weather and provisioned the boat to the max. I spent two days cooking and freezing food for the trip to Madeira, with about 6 trips to the Pingo Doce supermarket. Andrew was servicing everything and checking all the systems. We had the lifelines on, a new gas canister, had stowed all loose items, got out our harnesses and were all set for the following day. The last job was to clean the log when Andrew noticed a crack in the joinery. We quickly made a call to Oyster and sent some pictures - they were amazing and got straight back to us, however they asked if we'd stay so they can make this fix in Lagos where there is good infrastructure - 'Port Velcro' strikes again!

This seemed like a good opportunity to go back to our beloved Spain, so we headed in land for a bit of culture and mountain time.