A message from Ferragudo

Goodbye dinner in Albufeira - Steff, Peter, Mick, Me & Anita

An Albufairy

Men behaving badly

Anita & Steff 

Blue Tack repair and offending Fuel Tank Gauge

As I write Mick and I are discussing whether I should buy an Ocean Cruising Club Burgee or House Flag. The difference being the shape  - triangular or rectangular. The etiquette governing which should be flown by whom, where (on the boat) and in what circumstances, is very eseoteric. After much research and debate we opted for a House Flag. I will have to ask Stephen and Vincent to bring it with them when they fly out to join us in the Azores.

We motored all the short passage from Albufeira to Ferragudo yesterday in an effort to reduce the pressure in the fuel tank. The Blue Tack repair held and our plan now is to attempt a more permenent repair with liquid metal or similar when we reach Legos.

All at sea!

We had a very late dinner last night and as a consequence did not emerge until 1030 this morning! After an even later late breakfast and general faffing around we started back on the jobs list (to which we are still adding). Mick had to re-position the VHF because it was fouling the chart table lid when opening it and I secured the headlining  in the Forpeak that had come detached from its fastestings. After lunch I tackled the throttle/gear lever mechanism that was misbehaving - neutral was difficult to find and the throttle eased back on its own volition, requiring a handle to be dangled from it to provide the necessary weight. This job required emptying the stern locker of loads of stuff that needed sorting out and tidying up and so kept me busy until gone 8 p.m.. Mick took the Chart table multi 12 volt socket apart and reassembled it. It was playing up.

VHF with backup set

Despite the leisurely not to say slothful start to the day, complaints were received from  the crew about not having the opportunity to see much daylight or much of Portugal! It may therefore prove necessary to provide some time off from our labours in order to forestall mutinous behaviour!

Goodbye to Albufeira

 After days of working our way slowly through our jobs list, today we decided we had done enough to potter down the coast to Ferragudo/Portimao. Our destination is the former, an anchorage off the latter.

Last night we had a delightful good bye dinner with Peter, Steff and Anita and at lunch time today were joined by them and Kevin and Veronica who had returned from a short outing to Culatra.

After a last minute shop and lunch and bear with the above, the guys kindly helped us extricate Bonny from her berth and we motored around to the fuel dock. After a few minutes I lifted the Galley sole to check the fuel gauge. It was reading just over half full. Then suddenly I was almost hit in the face by a fine jet of diesel gushing out of the top of the fuel tank. I stuck my finger over it and shouted "stop"!

The tank was full - over full and there was a pinprick hole in the top of it through which the diesel was escaping. It took some time to communicate my predicament to Mick on deck and my finger was beginning to hurt from the pressure of the fuel.

Ideally we needed to get fuel out of the tank to reduce the pressure and so I Mick tried siphoning it out from the filler inlet but he couldn't get much out because of the height he needed to suck up and turns in the filler tube.

Fortunately we had bought two roles of kitchen towel recently and after much debate we decided to continue to soak up the escaping fuel with they. Finally after an hour or so the jet slowed to a slight trickle.

Peter suggested - half jokingly I think - "blue tack". Quite by chance we had some. Someone had used some to hold a piece of wood panelling in place! I extracted some and much Mick applied it to the leak. Amazingly it worked!

We decided to press on with our plan to go to Ferragudo and either there or in Legos, will try to affect a more permanent repair. We'll need to get hold of some epoxy glue/liquid metal and thoroughly clean the area..

We should be in our anchorage in an hour and a half or so!

Some pictures will follow. The phone App won't let me post any!

Day Three in Albufeira

Me on the Foredeck.

Just returned from Sundowners with Peter, Steff and Anita. Today was the first day of temperatures that were not uncomfortably hot; indeed our drinks were finished in somewhat of a hurry in order to get back into the warmth of the boat. 

Night time in Albufeira

Of course, compared with UK temperatures we have been very spoilt - the high today being 28° and it was 2200 before shirt sleaves were no longer suitable attire.

Mick on the Foredeck

The last three days have been spent working slowly through the jobs required to prepare Bonny for her forthcoming ocean passage to the Azores. 

Chaos in the Cockpit

Of course, despite carting three heavy bags of boaty spares and tools from home to boat there were numerous items that we did not have that were required, so one of my first jobs was a trip to the Hardware store in town. I was able to find about 50% of the stuff required and so we're faced with the dilemma of what jobs to complete with the limited and often not quite right  bits. We hit on the solution today. We'll put in to Lagos en route to the Azores. Lagos apparently has the biggest Boat Chandlery in Portugal so we should be able to find everything we need there. There's also a supermarket very close to the marina so we'll provision for the passage  to the Azores there as well.

First Dinner cooked on board - Chicken Pesto!

We're paid up here until the 15th - the last day of the low season prices. After that the prices treble! So the plan is to stay until then and then head West towards Lagos and - weather permitting - put in to the Anchorage at Portomaio for a few days (which is free) and continue working through our jobs. Then once we run out of the bits we need to finish off, we'll go to Lagos to buy essential chandlery and provisions and complete the essential jobs as quickly as possible before heading off.

New VHF installed

The focus so far has been on securing various bits of equipment and furniture so that in the event of rough weather we don't end up with heavy things like anchors, tables and gas cylinders flying around the boat. Oh and we, (that is Mick) installed the new VHF radio and Epirb (Emergency Position Indicating Radio Beacon).

New EPIRB

Tomorrow we'll have a change in the morning  - Peter and Steff are taking us to the local Iceland store where we can buy essential British groceries (imported from Ireland 🤣).

Three down!

Landed in Albufeira last night and got to the boat around 2330. All seemed well on board. Faffed about and eventually hit the sack around 0200.

Emerged from our bunks around 0900. More faffing and then unpacking. Peter and Anita dropped by to say hi at midday. Anita is the lovely lady who modified Bonny's forepeak upholstery and made Lee Cloths. A late breakfast ashore followed during which we reviewed the jobs list.

Returned to the boat, stowed gear and personal affects; then reviewed the designer requirements for the various jobs and compiled shopping list. 

Showered and went ashore to meet up with Peter, Steff, Anita for drinks and nosh. A very enjoyable evening.

Returned to the boat around 2130 to complete shopping list and test the Spa brand Tonic!

Two down!

Got my PCR test result. Negative.

Now need EasyJet to NOT cancel our flight to Faro on Tuesday.

Time to go...!

One down

 Ursula's Covid PCR was Negative! 

Countdown - 5 days to lift off

 On Wednesday 2/6/21 I started writing this post with the words...

"As each day ticks off I'm getting more confident that we will be able to fly out to Faro next Tuesday. The prospect of having to stump up for marina fees for the coming year is not a comfortable one! So far I've not heard back from the marina regarding the repairs they promised to make - I hope they do get them done by the time we get out there. The immediate challenge..."

Then I got interrupted and didn't finish it.

Then on Thursday 3/6/21, the UK Government announced that Portugal was being taken off the Green list!

Whilst that's an absolute pain for many people it doesn't prevent us from flying out on Tuesday.

However, this morning my daughter announced she's lost her sense of taste! We've seen a lot of her over the last few days and she was around on Wednesday. She has a cold and we're all hoping it's just that. However she'll get tested this evening just in case. I've had both jabs but that doesn't mean I can't get the wretched thing. I get my PCR/Fit to fly test on Sunday and will just have to wait until then to be certain.

Apart from that my immediate challenge is packing. Quite apart from the usual holiday packing I've got to work out how much boaty stuff I can also fit it to my two hold bags. The problem with taking over a 'new' boat in a foriegn port is that the previous owner has quite understandably taken all his tools and related gear with him. I’ve therefore got to anticipate what I’m most likely to need and cram that into my bags. Of course I can buy stuff out there but money is getting tight and so I want to keep expenditure to a minimum!

This is what I’m faced with at the time of writing…

Oh and since starting this post I have heard from one of my pals in Albufeira that the Marina staff have completed the repairs and all looks OK. That at least is good news. Strangely enough, however, I have not heard from the Marina directly.

The countdown continues!