Astraia Heads South

I seem to have ‘fallen by the wayside’ as far as blogging is concerned in the last couple of years! I think it’s partly because the temperature is often just too hot to want to stay inside staring at a computer screen, and partly that the internet connection is sometimes slow or not available at all if we’re out at sea. Anyway, my apologies and I’m going to start again now. I also have a couple of unfinished episodes from last year that I will try and finish off and post later. We arrived back in Lagos, Portugal, at the end of April and moved Astraia a few miles down the coast to Portimão boatyard to do some maintenance and get her bottom painted! Here is Astraia waiting for us in Lagos Marina This is looking back at the town of Lagos as we leave We anchored overnight in Alvor, one of our favourite spots, then headed to Portimão Boatyard where Astraia was lifted out of the water. Here’s Astraia in the boatyard at Portimão. We spent a couple of weeks getting her ready for the season and...

I'm afraid I've been very remiss this year with the blog - a lot of other things seem to have been going on and also it has often been so hot that the idea of sitting at a computer voluntarily (if no-one is paying me to do it!) does not appeal! Well, that's my excuse anyway. So this is just a quick blog to catch up with where we are now! August 2022 At the end of last year, we planned to sail back from Sao Miguel in the Azores to Lagos on mainland Portugal for the winter. However, that was not to be...!  Our last view of Ponta Delgada on Sao Miguel island The first day or so was flat calm so we could motor and life on board was very easy.  We saw 3 pods of dolphins and a whale (in the distance) and spectacular stars in the clear night sky.  Here's one pod of dolphins... ...and  another pod swimming around and under the boat - so close! The ocean is 4000 metres deep and there is surprisingly little sea traffic - we saw hardly a ship and it is an awesome feeling to be ...