Isla Culatra, Portugal

Walk on Isla Culatra

MONDAY 19 MAY 2008

Although the mornings are calm early on, the wind soon pipes up and the forecast yesterday was for 5 – 6, so we stayed on the boat. Carol and John called by, and were going to come over for the afternoon but by then the wind was blowing a strong 6-7.


John and Carol were going to move their boat near Verna and Anna as it is a little more sheltered there, so we decided to do the same. After lunch, we went ashore with Carol and John to explore Isla Culatra, which is beautiful and unspoilt at the moment. However, some of the dunes are being dug to lay a water pipe and there are rumours of building a hotel there. 

We walked to the village where there are lovely little houses, a couple of shops, a school and a couple of bars. After a beer, we visited the bay where a lot of catamarans have run up on the beach and formed a permanent community which has been there since about the 1970s. It must be a hard life, as they have to carry everything over the sand, including water.


The wind was quite strong again and it was rather scary canoeing back. We stopped at Carol & John’s boat for a coffee and brandy and waited for the wind to die down in the evening before canoeing back to Susannah.

The permanent community of boats