Mooring around Algarve / Gib

nortada said:
Marina de Lagos ...it is not called Port Velcro for nothing
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Also known as little England:) We decided against it after half hour lecture by some old geezer wearing his gate pass on a neck chain, telling us about all the organised events and suggesting that my wife could run Portuguese language classes - that went down like a lead balloon.
 
GrahamM376 said:
Also known as little England:) We decided against it after half hour lecture by some old geezer wearing his gate pass on a neck chain, telling us about all the organised events and suggesting that my wife could run Portuguese language classes - that went down like a lead balloon.
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Horses for courses.

Agree there was a large number of Brits but over the last few years the balance has changed.

True to say, the Brits tend to organise most things and other nationalities join in but this seems to be a common trend in many places.
 
jordanbasset said:
I seem to remember Lagos used to have a berthing deal where it was quite a competitive rate for 9 months and people left to go sailing for the 3 peak summer months. Is that still the case?
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6 months winter costs are considerable cheaper in most (all?) algarve marinas. Portimao does better deals than lagos.
Pity Olhao is always full, would be a nice spot to spend the winter.
 
jordanbasset said:
I seem to remember Lagos used to have a berthing deal where it was quite a competitive rate for 9 months and people left to go sailing for the 3 peak summer months. Is that still the case?
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Yes, we met a yachtie mid-summer (somewhere near Porto) cruising north to Galicia from Lagos. He told us that he does something similar every year because of his 9 month berthing deal.

Seemed to suit him and, once we had experienced the heat of summer on the Algarve, sailing up to the rias for a few months made much more sense.

Garold
 
jordanbasset said:
I seem to remember Lagos used to have a berthing deal where it was quite a competitive rate for 9 months and people left to go sailing for the 3 peak summer months. Is that still the case?
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Yes.

Unlike others who do 6 month deals, Lagos does a 6 & 9 month deal. Six months runs any time from the beginning of October.

Given it's recent surge in popularity, they have been unable to accept vessels of certain sizes so rather than just pitching up, booking could be a good ides.

If I planned to leave the vessel unattended for any length of time, I would consider Albufeira or Lagos as safe but in certain sea conditions Portimao can get large surges/waves, which totaled the fuel pontoon a few years back.
 
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nortada said:
Horses for courses.

Agree there was a large number of Brits but over the last few years the balance has changed.

True to say, the Brits tend to organise most things and other nationalities join in but this seems to be a common trend in many places.
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We found in large winter liveaboard Marinas, the American are there on the top of the list for organise followed by the Dutch and the then the British.
Marinas like Largos, Gib and cartagena because it's on the newcomers route from the UK it does seem more Brits are organise , it changes the more east you go .
The only other place is lefkes where onec again there are large number of brits
 
We've looked at all the Algarve options, including anchoring at Culatra (too exposed to wind) or the Guadiana (bit remote) and are now "wintering" in Albufeira. Wintering in quotes because given the weather so far we might as well have kept sailing. Albufeira is very well sheltered except for the large yacht pontoons (45 ft+), they can get some swell bouncing them up and down. It was the cheapest of the Algarve marinas (6 month = £1700 for 40ft with the 15% RYA/CA discount). 2m draft no problem. It's a bit quiet here, but we don't mind that. Couple liveaboards and many part-time boaters around and the horrid flood of summer tourists has ebbed away to a thin trickle. There's a small boatyard and you get a 10 day deal with your 6 month contract, but not suitable for wintering on the hard due to lack of space.

Provisioning is no problem, but marine supplies/parts are a bit tricky to come by. Luckily the very friendly office staff doesn't mind all our shipments! :) Faro airport is £15 for two via Greenbus shuttle and winter rental car rates are rather affordable too.

For Summer, Culatra is a great place to anchor (water taxis coming through the anchorage though, but nice and swimmable) and Portimao too (fishing boat swell and lots of tourist boats, also probably gets very crowded). Up the Guadiana it'll get too damn hot and you can't swim because it's full of giant jellyfish. As someone said, cruising up the Rias for Summer is a great idea.

Didn't see many swinging moorings around, except at Tavira (no idea who owns them - mostly they were occupied) and only private ones up the Guadiana.
 
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jordanbasset said:
I seem to remember Lagos used to have a berthing deal where it was quite a competitive rate for 9 months and people left to go sailing for the 3 peak summer months. Is that still the case?
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Garold said:
Yes, we met a yachtie mid-summer (somewhere near Porto) cruising north to Galicia from Lagos. He told us that he does something similar every year because of his 9 month berthing deal.

Seemed to suit him and, once we had experienced the heat of summer on the Algarve, sailing up to the rias for a few months made much more sense.

Garold
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nortada said:
Yes.

Unlike others who do 6 month deals, Lagos does a 6 & 9 month deal. Six months runs any time from the beginning of October.

Given it's recent surge in popularity, they have been unable to accept vessels of certain sizes so rather than just pitching up, booking could be a good ides.

If I planned to leave the vessel unattended for any length of time, I would consider Albufeira or Lagos as safe but in certain sea conditions Portimao can get large surges/waves, which totaled the fuel pontoon a few years back.
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Can understand it's appeal and also glad Alzheimers hadn't kicked in:D
 
“and only private ones up the Guadiana”

Dick Monk runs a few seemingly well maintained and VERY reasonably priced swinging moorings at Laranjeiras - think you’d need to book well in advance for winter though.
 
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