Anchorage Wells

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Anchorage Wells Holiday Cottage for 8 to 10 people, King Room only, Harbour & Seaview Lodge Apartments, Orkide our Sailing Catamaran, Watchkeeper & Marine Mammal Medic

So one of the reasons we wanted to go to Ayamonte marina was to purchase a new 50m anchor chain from the Chanderly just ...
23/05/2026

So one of the reasons we wanted to go to Ayamonte marina was to purchase a new 50m anchor chain from the Chanderly just outside the marina.

We had 90m originally but the last 40m had gone rusty and cotton as most times we only use the 1st 30m.
We had done our research and it was the cheapest in the area.
So not to miss out on a bargain we decided to drive the 1 hr and collect it by car, now I did wonder how we were going to lift 100kg of chain into the boot but the owner had done this before and recommend flaking the chain from the bag across the boot 🤓.

Once back at the boat we did the reverse to get it onto the trolly and then the same to get it into the tender, we had already removed the old chain.

Although the old chain looked rusty the links were still solid but had worn from 10mm to 8mm which meant the chain kept slipping in the anchor windlass , this is danger as many a sailor has lost digits with anchor chains.

New chain went in well and was deployed for the 1st time in Alvor , when we came to raise it the difference was amazing, no slipping or messing just pulled the anchor of the sandy bottom, a well worth investment.

Part of the old chain we kept and will be used for our stern anchor that we set manually, job well done ! Avril Lill Simon Lill

Oh no, another anchorage and another emergency.....suddenly realised I had left some of our Cava collection in the car w...
14/05/2026

Oh no, another anchorage and another emergency.....suddenly realised I had left some of our Cava collection in the car which is now parked in in Portimao and we have run out of Cava 😱 🚨🆘️.

A quick look on Google and there was a Pingo Dolce supermarket in Tavira......right next to the launch slipway only 150m away.....great we can take the tender and don't have to carry the good stuff very far.
So now we're stocked up with the essentials we can stay a here a bit longer, it's very tranquil and beautiful here.
Lilly has made some pals , doggy play group at 8am on the beach everyday and then we have a lazy breakfast on deck before a mixture of afternoon activities like wing Supping, swimming, walking and sampling our interesting Portuguese Cava collection .

The next day we had some beam on swell that almost threw us out of our bunks, so we lifted anchor and moved further up the channel towards Canabas We watched monohulll sailboat leave across the rough bar which got thrown all over the place, we didn't film it as we were genuinely woried for their safety, we watched ready to call 112 and assist if possible but after a rolla coster ride that lasted 25mins they were safe across on the other side. I expect nothing was still in its rightful place inside their boat.
Later that afternoon the Marine Police said we were blocking the channel so had to move , luckily the swell had dropped so we went back to where we were before.
Next day we headed to Tavira by tender to explore and buy more provisons so we could stay longer, and discovered some wonderful old narrow twisting streets and interesting buildings, even a fountain with Koi and turtles.
We came by accident for 1 night and stayed for 12, sure we will be back soon.

12/05/2026

The sound of sailing..... and breeeeeath
Portimao to Alvor for some beaching and maintenance before making our way back to the boat yard ⛵️

So after a beautiful night at Anchor we woke up to a glorious day, before we headed to Ayamonte marina we had time to tr...
29/04/2026

So after a beautiful night at Anchor we woke up to a glorious day, before we headed to Ayamonte marina we had time to try the recently repaired electric outboard that failed last season, as we all motored towards the beach we realised we could here ourselves talk not something you can do with a 5hp 4 stroke 🤣
Lilly was excited to land on the beach and went for it a bit further out than normal and splashed in 1m of water, handy as she was still on the lead and I could lift the outboard and use her to pull us in like a sled 🐕 .
After breakfast we motored up to the marina who had not answered our email....and then didn't answer the vhf radio.....but finally answered the phone only to say "there was no room at the inn"....what.we thought! we have strong winds coming and it was already afternoon, after a quick check of the Almanac we realised Tavira was only 3hrs away and was a well protected Anchorage, we set sail and arrived unsurprisingly in 3hrs...
We tried to head down to the west but even though it was HW we soon got into only 1m of water below the keel, we headed back to the main pool unsure where to anchor we pulled along side the GNR police rib and asked them.....if they spoke English in my best Portuguese and they thankfully said sim , they were very helpful and pointed us over to a spot infront of the mooring balls where we could anchor, took us 3 times to get it right so we weren't top close to the moored boats and not too close the channel, only one other boat at anchor, so not too crowded.
After setting the anchor alarm we were in time for a sundowner and mother nature treated us to an amazing sunset !

A cunning plan !So rather than go up the mast we tried using the topping lift line and downhaul to put pressure on the H...
27/04/2026

A cunning plan !
So rather than go up the mast we tried using the topping lift line and downhaul to put pressure on the Halyard car and slowly easy it down, this worked for the first 3m but as the mast has a bend (mast rake) it became harder to keep enough pressure on the halyard car.
So Plan B, we cable tied some coat hooks on the topping lift line and played hook a duck 18m in the air.....well only went and hooked it first time (very similar on hook a duck at the fair 🤭) and once hooked using the downhaul topping lift combo safely retrieved the main halyard....lesson learned!

Not all champagne sailing and Cava Cocktails.There are a lot of jobs and routine maintenance to do on a boat, one of the...
25/04/2026

Not all champagne sailing and Cava Cocktails.

There are a lot of jobs and routine maintenance to do on a boat, one of the pressing ones was removing our main halyard twist, this is the line used to raise and lower the main sail.
Over time the line twists as it runs through blocks, pullies and winches, this eventually shows as twists at the top that make raise the sail harder and stop it fully raising.
To remove the twist you have to take all 50m of line out of every pully so it's free to uncoil and then disconnect the halyard from the sail making sure you attach a new line(downhaul) so you can pull the halyard back down, this is normally done by pulling the sail.

After each time you raise the halyard to the top you then starting at the bottom of the mast uncoiling the twist from the halyard, then pull the downhaul down to bring the main halyard back to the boom to straighten it, then repeat, I did this 7 times and the line was almost perfect, one more should donit, on the last time I was slightly distracted and raised the halyard tonthe top of the mast and the line was fully untwisted , brilliant I reached for the downhaul only to see I had not attached it, it was still.clipped on to the mast......Doh !!!
So now we have the halyard stuck at the top on the mast unable to raise the sail , looks like someone will have to manually climb up and pullnit down, we usually use the main halyard which is connected to electric winch !

Happy Friday everyone , let's hope it plane sailing into a great weekend !
24/04/2026

Happy Friday everyone , let's hope it plane sailing into a great weekend !

As we departed Mazagon we had a decision to make, do we take the best route to maximise wind angle taking us into deeper...
24/04/2026

As we departed Mazagon we had a decision to make, do we take the best route to maximise wind angle taking us into deeper Orca territory or stay under 20m contour line and end up motoring.....
We check Orca.pt site.for the latest sighting, none in our area this year, they could still be out there and not been seen but with the cost of fuel did we really want to motor?
We decided to sail, comjng out of the Huelva channel we had challenging 2m waves cause by the longest breakwater in Europe and the wind over tide, once out we hoisted the sails and bared to starboard to enjoy the breeze......that lasted all of 5 minutes before it went dead calm...so much for the forecast, iron sails it is then, we changed course to shallow water to avoide Orcas!
As we motor sailed to Ayamonte we kept our eyes peeled for the Spanish maritime police, they have a knack of appearing from no where in their fast rib ,normally from the stern, they spooked me here last year when i didn't see them and they hailed us.
We didn't expected to be boarded.....but from nowhere a willow warbler (or is it a chiff chaff?) joined us for a ride, hoping around and picking out a few flies hidden in our canopy, he stayed for around 30 mins and with a full tummy headed off to the North.

We had emailed the marina at Ayamonte but with the office closing at 2pm we got no reply so we headed to an Anchorage at the mouth if the Rio Gaudiana that seperates Portugal and Spain, the impressive road bridge that connects the two in the distance.
This location played avhoc with our phone as Portugal is on UK time and Spain is 1hr ahead so the time kept changing back and forth.

As the day boats headed off we were left with the Anchorage to ourselves and as low water passed leaving us 1.2m under the keel we knew we could head off to bed knowing we secure, tomorrow we will try the marina again as strong winds are forecasted from tomorrow night.

So having given the Spanish Navy the slip we arrived and checked into Rota marina, chance to practice Sy's Spanish, luck...
22/04/2026

So having given the Spanish Navy the slip we arrived and checked into Rota marina, chance to practice Sy's Spanish, luckily this time the lady was very patient and spoke slowly and the whole check in was done in Spanish, result!
Dinner was already decided, a John Cooper smashed burger served in a giant Cadiz croissant with an amazing sauce.....Mmmm it's good.

With calm seas and a couple of days rest we head North to Mazagon, normally we anchor in the river but with big springs we didn't fancy the swell of a passing tanker at low water with only 1m below the keels, so we checked in for the first time to Mazagon marina and looked forward to a peaceful rock and roll free night sleep. 🌙

We are back on board Orkide to continue our adventures and set sail from Gibraltar early hours to make way to Portimao w...
18/04/2026

We are back on board Orkide to continue our adventures and set sail from Gibraltar early hours to make way to Portimao where Orkide will be hauled out to prepare for the Atlantic, North or Southbound is still to be decided. Smooth sailing so far, except for a very fast moving ferry that pushed his way between us and a large tanker that seemed to be hesitant to overtake us and when a warship was on a collision course we did the honorable thing and turned to the opposite direction. Glad we did that soon, as when we looked at them looking at us through binoculars the guns were manned.
Next stop Rota.

Address

28 Blackhorse Yard
Wells Next The Sea
NR231BN

Telephone

+447764188875

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