The Western Algarve

 The Western Algarve 

It was dark as we rounded Cap St Vincent, the lighthouse on the SW corner of Portugal, but we could just make out the shape of the land.


SAGRES

We crept into the bay and anchored about quarter of a mile off the beach. Our radar showed only one other vessel 300m away. It is a sandy bottom here with good holding so despite a slight swell we slept like babies.

BALEEIRA

This colourful fishing village is only 3 miles around the headland from Sagres. It is more protected from the Atlantic swell, but harder to get into in the dark because of rocks, fishing pots and mooring buoys. After waking mid morning in Sagres and having breakfast on deck in the sunshine we moved. Again it is good holding in sand. It is easy to land the dinghy here and there is a great supermarket at the top of the hill so we decided to spend a second day here as well. Although it looks like it will be a sleepy little town it surprises you with its many bars and restaurants.

LAGOS

After a second night in Baleeira we headed further along the coast to Lagos, being careful to avoid the fish farms. Lagos marina is nearly always full, but there is a huge bay to anchor in. On the way into the bay we passed close to the cliffs to look at the caves hidden under the lighthouse. There were quite a few kayaks paddling amongst them, think you can just make them out at the left of the picture.

We are anchored just a short distance off the beach and can hear the music coming from the shore. Seems like the locals think we stopped in a good place to be a race mark!




There is no wind so we’re having a chilled Sunday afternoon on board and tomorrow we will head to Vilamoura.

See more about this trip and others https://velvetlady.wordpress.com/ 


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