We get a nice day sailing from Lagos to Vilamoura, just under 30 nautical miles. At the pontoon where we end up, there are almost only motorboats without anyone living onboard. It’s a pity, we like living ports where people live in their boats.

As usual, you must first dock at a special jetty to check-in at the marina.

Vilamoura has a large marina surrounded by hotels and restaurants along the quays. Within 3 km from the marina there are three nice golf courses (we do not golf, but they look nice in the distance). On both sides of the marina, there are nice beaches and just east of the marina is Quarteira with older buildings and winding alleys.

One of the goals of the visit to Vilamoura was to visit the IKEA department store in Faro to buy some Swedish food we lack, such as caviar on a tube, meatballs, prince sausage, and pickled herring. The only reasonable way to get there if you do not have a car is to take a taxi that costs around 25 euros one way. Behind the restaurants in the harbor, there is a taxi rank, now with a long line of cars. So we did not have to order a taxi, neither there nor back.

As usual, IKEA delivered exactly what we expected, except for lunch where I ordered meatballs with puree, ”brown sauce” and lingonberry jam. Unfortunately, I did not get any lingonberry jam and the brown sauce did not taste as I’m used to. Later I learned that you should tell if you want lingonberry jam.

We also took the opportunity to visit the beach at Quarteira, a wide and long beach with many sunbeds to rent.

Since we still do not feel quite well, we spent most of the time taking it easy on the boat. In the evenings we could enjoy good food and amazing sunsets.

This period was dominated by an easterly air current, which meant that there was a strong headwind where we were going (through the Strait of Gibraltar). But eventually, there would be a small break in the wind and we could continue east.

Up next

We do a night sailing towards Gibraltar and experience what it is like when strong currents and sea waves meet.