Terror on the high seas

Well, the title is a little dramatic I accept. But there are times in life when 'dramatic' is totally appropriate. And my darling husband seems to get a kick out of my terror at times. Although in truth on this occasion, I think even my cool, calm boyfriend was a wee scared.

So among the many things I am learning along this journey, is that the weather gods will play and toy with you like a cat with a mouse or lizard!

We had an absolutely lovely stop in Vilamoura, taking the time to explore further afield and indulge in some history and some great food. And Culatra at anchor with those spectacular sunsets was food for the soul. But I think, in hindsight, I was lulled into a false sense of security. One of the things I now find myself doing all the time is checking weather forecasts and while relaxing in Culatra, the various weather models were collectively predicting that sometime in the next week to two weeks, there would be gale force winds sweeping through from the Straits and along the Spain south west and Algarve coast.

So consequently, given our outboard motor hassles and the weather predictions, we made the decision to head off sooner rather than later, still enjoy a couple of days in small villages along the way but try to get further down the coast before the weather pattern set in. We chose to head off to Ayamonte in Spain.

To leave meant we had to pass out through the mouth of the Ria Formosa Lagoon entrance and that my friends, was terrifying. Read anything you like about standing waves and river entrance-bars and everything will say its not for the weak hearted.

You need your engine at full throttle so as to ensure you get past the bad bits as quickly as possible, and so as to maintain steerage. But everything on the boat is subject to unusual and extra strain, particularly if you get thrown around by a wave. So steerage problems are a possibility. You also need a boat that is good at surfing. And finally, once you have committed to crossing the entrance, you can not and must not change your mind!!

Well, the Ria Formosa looked peaceful and gorgeous when we lifted anchor at 6am. The sun was rising and all seemed calm. So we pottered our way out towards the entrance so as to hit it on the correct tide aspect. Again, binoculars out, all looked okay. Then we got to the 'go no go' point and I freaked out because we were close enough to see the turbulent waves at the entrance but it was too late to change our minds. Craig was confident but not me.

With everything as it should be on Inelsamo, we gunned it and hit the entrance standing wave and right about then, I thought "I'm gonna die"! The waves were horrifying and one huge sucker came at us on the port bow throwing us around like a top. I was sure we were going to get knocked down but Inelsamo, gorgeous and talented lady that she is, can surf mighty well!! She took a massive crashing wave in her stride rode up over it and slammed down the other side. Me.....not so elegant I'm afraid. I recall screaming "Craig....I'm terrified, are we going die!!". He calmly said all was good and we'd be right. But hell no....that's not how I felt. I was white knuckled and gripping onto everything solid thing I could find. If I could have wrapped my legs around something I would have done that too but as it was, I was barely staying upright. My core muscles were working overtime I tell you!

But we did make it out over that bar and proceeded to have a very uncomfortable sail with huge swells for at least the first couple of hours of the day. So needless to say my poor old heart and nerves were terribly frayed and it was only for this gorgeous sunrise that I could speak again!

We managed the rest of the day painlessly and in fact it ended up being a nice sail before heading into Ayamonte, our first stop back in Spain, just in time for cocktail hour and sunset. Its fair to say I had more than one 'cocktail' that night.