Local knowledge

First, I have been advised that the first 2 photos in the last post failed to appear - apologies for the omission. This has now been rectified so you can see the beautiful ship Esmeralda in all her glory, as well as Lagos lighthouse plus palm trees.

Today we depart for Madeira. Crew members Ivor and Jim fly in to join us from Paris and Gatwick respectively. All being well we should have slipped our lines by 15:00 and on our way to Madeira some 480-500 miles southwest of here, about 5 days sailing. Weather forecast is not too encouraging, showing uncharacteristic head winds on days 2 and 3.

However the Skipper and I will be buoyed up by the memory of two memorable meals out with friend John. First one was at the Adega da Marina: garlic prawns, salad, potatoes washed down with local red wine and followed by local brandy 'macieira'. A massive ex wine warehouse, it has been converted to a huge restaurant decorated with football regalia as far as the eye can see. Luckily our guide knew to reserve a tab,e or we would have been queuing for half an hour at least.

Last night John took us to O Lamberto, a small restaurant on a back street, located in the middle of a residential area. Frequented by Portuguese and ex-pats, it gets equally crowded and booking is essential. On Sunday evenings the fish and rice stew (Arroz de Marisco) is a speciality and people come from miles around to eat it. A huge cauldron was set on the table and we dug in for large prawns, small clams, mussels large and small, and crabs broken into large pieces ... a portion for 2 between 3 of us was too much! Followed by the legendary 'molotoff' dessert - a cross between zabaglione and vanilla mousse - it was a meal to be remembered.

But enough of food. Must concentrate on the immediate future now. Next post will be next weekend from Madeira. Ciao for now!