Well it is just as well we had decided to only spend one night in Sines (pronounced Sinch) because apart from a good beach area and a good marina there is nothing else attractive in the whole town. There is a large petrochemical plant which churns out black smoke in a line over the horizon as far as the eye can see. There is a lot of signature graffiti on walls and buildings. The houses and cafes along the cobbled streets of the old town are interesting but with no signs of love and care. Luckily we only needed milk and bread as the supermarket produce was terrible and the fruit shop no better. There are a lot of very expensive new apartments around the old town and the local government has built an excellent library. It is fascinating for us to see this type of place as well as the more beautiful cities.
We set off at 6.30 am, heading for Portimao on the south coast. It is a magnificent sunny day and of course there is the horrible Atlantic roll and we are motoring, although both the mainsail and the headsail have been tried at different times.
2.00 pm:
We are rounding Cabo Sao Vincente (Cape St Vincent), the most south-western point in Europe and the lighthouse complex is huge, with the lamp in the lighthouse being the most powerful in Europe. It is a beautiful warm afternoon and we are pleased to turn the corner, hopefully having the roll behind us now rather than diagonally across the boat.
3.00 pm:
Yippee! We have no more rolling. The sea is as flat as a tack and we have no breeze- it is very hot. What a change! For the first time on the trip I feel like swimming. We are motoring along the coast of the Algarve, passing towns spreading out from wide sandy beaches. They must get wind at times because the hilltops have any wind farms, just as we have seen all along the coastline of France, Spain and Portugal, often perched just above a town. Obviously the people in Europe do not have the same worries as our Liberal government in Victoria and they are providing power for a lot of activities.
5.30 pm:
We are at Portimao and have obviously reached the upmarket area of Portugal. This is by far the flashest place we have been so far and it looks like a good spot for some R & R. As usual, the procedure for checking in at the marina is taking ages - I feel very sorry for Greg need edging to deal with showing all of our ship's papers, everyone's passports, etc every time we arrive somewhere and the authority at the marina has to document all of the details, which usually takes about a half hour. We commented yesterday that this sort of rigmarole does not take place when one travels by land.