...when a new season starts and everything still works! At the risk of jinxing Adventuress, we are happily surprised to report that, after spending ten months at Nave-Pegos yard in Faro, Portugal, the boat is ship shape. We launched on Friday, and here we are on Tuesday, at anchor in Culatra, and ready to go sailing.
So here's a few pics of the re-commissioning:
Note the framed stands and strap downs on the concrete hard standing, which when we first saw them immediately sold us on the Nave-Pegos yard. Also prominent are our three solar panels above the cockpit. One of "Bruce's" men is just finishing up cleaning and polishing the sides, now gleaming, and a couple of hours later we were splashed.
Usually we would stay on the boat for a few days before launch: but with Nancy's new knee it would have been difficult for her to climb up a ladder twelve feet to the boat. So instead we rented an apartment in Faro, which had this view over the town and the Ria Formosa natural estuarine habitat.
Last year we discovered the small fishing village at Culatra: this time around we were not yet provisioned in the galley, so that was an excellent excuse .......
.....to indulge in the local sea harvest. Here we have a plateful of squid and chips, and believe me those squid are just as tasty as they are ugly! But wait! There's more......
.......next day we tried a Portuguese fish stew, and this is towards the bottom of the feast: hence the already empty wine glass.
Some folks just don't know when to quit: here's Nancy having a fancy dessert, a truffito", with a glass of Liquor Beirao over ice, and an espresso. OK, well, the photo was staged a bit: the glass and espresso belong to John.
And what would our first blog posting of the year be without a pic of the dinghy skipper and Adventuress astern? Note that this was just two days after launch and the decks are clear, the sails are up, the dodger and bimini installed and about twenty checks and tasks completed below decks.
And so we start our 2019 adventure afloat, and we are truly blessed.
Love and very best wishes,
John and Nancy
