Isla Culatra and Olhao, Near Faro, Portugal

Beautiful Jacaranda trees in Faro

THURSDAY 15 MAY 2008

It was a beautiful, peaceful morning apart from the fishing boats going past and the planes flying into Faro airport. We canoed to Olhao and saw fisherman standing in the lagoon fishing for cockles. As we pulled the dinghy ashore, Verna and Anna turned up in their dinghy. They are moored further away in another part of the lagoon. We had a coffee with them and then went to explore the town where there is an excellent fruit and veg market and a fish market in the mornings. 

We found the parish church, Nossa Senhora do Rosario, which apparently has a good view of the town, but it was locked up. We found the museum, and saw a man unlocking the door, but he told us it was closed for two weeks. The only thing left to do was to have a long lunch! The wind had got up in the afternoon so the journey back to the boat wasn’t quite so pleasant. Roger spent the rest of the afternoon making mosquito nets for the hatches. In the evening, Tom arrived on ‘First Lady’ and anchored near us.

SATURDAY 17 MAY 2008

It poured with rain nearly all day yesterday, so we stayed on the boat. Today was much better with blue skies and no wind, so we canoed to Isla Culatra to see if there was a ferry to Faro. Tom came ashore in his dinghy and said he and Rosa would give us a lift to Faro in ‘First Lady’. He wanted to use his bike, so Rosa stayed with us in Faro. We had a coffee and then found Igreja do Carmo, where there is the Capela dos Ossos which has walls lined with skulls and large bones taken from the friar’s cemetery. It was locked, and when we asked someone he said it had closed about 10 minutes before and didn’t think it would be open in the afternoon. 

There was a beautiful plaza surrounded by purple Jacaranda trees in flower. We had lunch and then wandered around the picturesque walled Vila Adentro. We sailed First Lady along the channel back to the anchorage. Carol and John on Taio had arrived and were anchored next to us. There was a strong cool wind and Roger had to row Tom’s dinghy ashore to collect our canoe and we then canoed back to our boat.