The first morning of 2026 starts quietly. While Axel sleeps in a little, I clean up the leftovers from the New Year’s Eve party. Wash the glasses, dispose of the empties, collect the streamers. It’s done quickly and we’re ready for a delicious breakfast. Freshly squeezed juice, eggs, and cheese on bread rolls. Not bad! Meanwhile, the weather is in a hangover mood. Gray and slightly rainy. Heavy rain and wind are on the way again for the next few days. Unfortunately, our next visitors will have to deal with it. Laura and Lars are flying in from Hanover and first have to endure the patter of rain on the deck. We make the best of it and drive to the shopping center. I get my Christmas present—a nice handheld vacuum cleaner—and Axel gets a new pair of shoes. We also drive to Decathlon in Faro and try our luck again with my defective bike battery. Fortunately, they believe us that we didn’t break the battery and classify the damage as a warranty case. It will take a few weeks for the new battery to be delivered, but at least we don’t have to pay 500 euros. Back at the marina, we continue to listen to the patter of rain and, during a break in the rain, quickly go to the Indian restaurant in the marina to enjoy some delicious curries.
The next day, the weather looks much better again and we drive to Paderne. There is a medieval festival there and we stroll through the charming alleys. There is music, dancing, and juggling on every corner. Numerous stalls and food stands line the streets. Hand-operated carousels and lots of games delight children of all ages. Afterwards, we head to the fortress of Paderne, which is located just outside the village. However, the road – or should I say dirt track – is barely passable after the heavy rainfall of the last few days. Rally driver Axel masterfully navigates every pothole in our current Peugeot rental car, and we arrive unscathed at the ruins on a hill. Unfortunately, the fortress itself is closed, but we can walk along the outer walls and take a look at the currently raging Quarteira stream. It is also geologically interesting to note that the hill was once under water millions of years ago and coral formations can still be found there. While Laura and Lars back at the marina take a trip to Praia de Falesia, Axel and I return on board and enjoy a sunny afternoon in the cockpit. In the evening, we have a Mediterranean tortellini salad, and then another beautiful day comes to an end.
The next day, we wake up to bright blue skies and sunshine. However, there is also a fresh and rather cool wind blowing. Never mind! After breakfast, we set off on another excursion, first heading to Silves. There, we walk through the town from bottom to top and back again. Of course, a visit to the fortress is a must. We continue on to Ferragudo and Carvoeiro. On our new favorite rock hiking trail, Algar Seco, we find a nice pool café and fortify ourselves with a sandwich. Then we hike a little more along the rocks and head back to Vilamoura. As always, it’s a beautiful trip with great views of the landscape and the rocky coast. You just can’t get enough of it. After lunch out, the galley stays cold in the evening and we just have a few snacks and sandwiches.
With the weather once again rather overcast, Laura and Lars take a trip to Faro the next day. As we still can’t get much out of Faro city center, we stay on board and take care of our dinghy. The sailmaker wants to pick it up the next day to tailor our new dinghy chaps. So first, La Ola is hauled forward so that we can lower the dinghy. Then we push La Ola to starboard and haul the dinghy forward on the port side between the jetty and the catamaran. It sounds easy, but it feels like it takes forever until La Ola is finally back in the middle of its box. In the evening, we go with Laura and Lars, as well as the crews of Seren Wen and Playmobil, to the all-you-can-eat Chinese restaurant around the corner. Afterwards, we sit together with everyone in the saloon of La Ola for a nightcap of wine. Meanwhile, Lucky the cat is becoming more and more of a party cat and is no longer intimidated by the crowd. For a treat, he even sits down with us as if it were the most natural thing in the world and lets us pet him. Who would have thought that 1 1/2 years ago?!
It’s Laura and Lars‘ last day, and time for another trip. With glorious sunshine and a bright blue sky, we head first to Tavira. We park by the river and walk through the town, climbing uphill to the fortress to enjoy the view and the garden within the fortress walls. You’d think it was spring! We continue on to Cacela Velha, where unfortunately everything is closed at this time of year. But the beautiful view of the lagoon landscape remains, of course, and is particularly beautiful today with low tide and glorious weather. The next stop is Castro Marim, where this time we climb one of the fortresses and walk along the walls. Compared to the fortress in Silves, quite a bit has been preserved or reconstructed in the inner courtyard of the fortress here. The view of the salt marshes and the Rio Guadiana is also nice to look at, making it well worth a visit. Apparently, medieval festivals are also held in the fortress, as there are numerous stands and a grandstand, which are currently unused. As the weather is simply too nice to go home yet, we continue further up the Guadiana River to Alcoutim. The drive along the river is beautiful as always, and I would definitely compare the landscape to a drive through the Moselle Valley. However, there is hardly any tourism here and, fortunately, no hotel complexes. Instead, there is pure countryside and an unobstructed view of the river. Unfortunately, everything is closed in Alcoutim as well, so we only take a short break before heading back to Vilamoura. In the evening, we go to our favorite Italian restaurant, Luna Rossa, for a farewell pizza dinner. It’s a shame that our time with Laura and Lars is already over!
After Laura and Lars leave us early in the morning at 6:30 a.m., everyday life returns to normal for us. We use the rental car to drive to IKEA and actually buy a new shelf there. We stole the idea from other Lagoon 450 owners who discovered a shelf at IKEA that fits perfectly in the front guest shower. The shower already serves as storage space for us, but until now it has been rather difficult to access. In addition to hanging items such as oilskins and diving suits, there were various boxes. Their contents could only be accessed by clearing out the entire cabin, which was correspondingly difficult. Back on board, however, the bathroom first had to be cleared out. In doing so, we discovered that an alarming amount of dirt and grime had accumulated in the shower. So, first of all, everything was cleaned and scrubbed until it was sparkling clean. We postponed the shelf assembly until the next day and treated ourselves to delicious tagliatelle with salmon for dinner on board.
Before we start assembling the shelf, we use the rental car to go shopping at Auchan. With cat food and cat litter, as well as some food and drinks in the car, we head back on board. I start the shelf assembly project with a little on-board yoga exercise. The assembly is very simple, but unfortunately the shelf doesn’t fit through the bathroom door once assembled. So it has to be assembled in the bathroom, where space is correspondingly tight. I wriggle my way through the shelf bars as best I can and suddenly find myself standing in the middle of the shelf in the shower. A few screws loosened here and there and everything fits perfectly, and I can wriggle my way out of the shelf again. Phew! But what wouldn’t you do for a little more storage space? As a reward, we go out for Indian food with Corinne, Matthias, and Guido in the evening. Unfortunately, Mücke is already back in Germany. As usual, we finish off with a nightcap at La Ola.
Work continues the next day. The shelving is completed and the shelf baskets can be put in place. To ensure that the shelving is secure at sea, Axel prints a few more brackets overnight. After the reorganization, the stowage plan has to be rewritten so that we can find all the stowed items again at some point. Then the starboard sail load is tidied up. The new Paradailor is brought in, but first everything else has to be taken out. However, in order for the Parasailor to fit, it first has to be taken out of its bag and then put back into the locker. Of course, the space in the locker is more than cramped, so I decide to do a quick yoga session on board. Once everything is stowed away again, it’s time to tackle the port sail load. There, the raclette machine is stowed away again and the diving equipment is reorganized. Last but not least, we get out our sewing machine and Sunbrella fabric so that we can devote ourselves to a sewing project for Seren Wen the next day.
Before the sewing project begins, however, we first have a visit from the sailing yacht Morning Sun the next day. We only know Claudia and Jonas virtually through Trans-Ocean, and since they are currently moored in Vilamoura for one night, this is an opportunity to meet them in person. Then it’s time to tackle the Seren Wen’s tarpaulin. Unfortunately, the last storm caused large tears, which now need to be repaired. However, the tarpaulin is already quite old and the material is so brittle that new tears appear even while sewing. But a new purchase would cost €8,000. So we decide to try to repair it together once again. As a reward for my work and the Ssunbrella fabric I provided, we are invited to Tai-Tai for Chinese food in the evening. The next day, we continue sewing, but unfortunately poor Corinne has to sew by hand this time, as my sewing machine does not have a long enough arm to sew the tears in the middle. So this day also passes in a flurry of activity and ends with a delicious meal at the Alxama steakhouse. The next day, my sewing machine gets another chance. This time, Seren Wen’s bimini is repaired, as a zipper has come loose. Finally, all the large tears are sewn and the sewing machine can be put away again. As it is Corinne and Matthias‘ last day in Vilamoura before they return home to Switzerland, we invite them to a farewell dinner on board in the evening. After vegetarian Corinne had to endure the steakhouse the night before, we serve delicious veggie-stuffed peppers with coriander pesto. The next day, we also say goodbye to Guido from the Playmobil and serve him a farewell dinner on board La Ola in the form of a delicious carrot soup.
Meanwhile, Lucky is not only practicing being a party cat, but also working on his reputation as a killer cat! Joking aside, our little Lucky would never hurt a soul! But when he’s hungry and his dinner is being poured into his bowl on the cockpit shelf, he sometimes forgets his good manners and jumps up. In this case, he misjudges the situation, slips, gets stuck, and unfortunately catches Axel in a desperate attempt to still get to the food. Poor Axel has numerous bleeding scratches on his leg in no time and looks pretty battered. We clean the wounds, disinfect them, and put on bandages as best we can, and by the next morning, everything has almost healed. And Lucky tries to make up for his faux pas by being extra cuddly…
Now that we are back in Vilamoura on our own, everyday life on board has become a little more peaceful. The weather continues to be April-like, but there are plenty of sunny moments for us to enjoy. At night, however, it gets quite chilly, and in the Monchique Mountains, it even snows in Foia! Brrrr!!! Let’s hope that after the April weather, May weather will soon follow and it will get warmer again. Otherwise, we are continuing to plan the course of the upcoming season and preparing for the longer trips to Madeira and the Canary Islands. To do this, we need to purchase a few things that we haven’t needed until now. In particular, some spare parts, but also medical and emergency equipment that we might need on the high seas in case of an emergency. We know from experience how difficult it is to have parcels delivered to the Canary Islands. Since our last visit with Hello World, we do have a NIE number, a Spanish tax number, which makes delivery much easier. But we don’t want to take any chances, so we’re buying some of the things we’ll need for the Atlantic crossing now. So the packages are piling up in the marina office, and we are glad that the ladies at the reception desk consider it a matter of course to take care of our package deliveries. Time to praise the super service and friendliness at Marina Vilamoura once again! Without complaint, packages are handled, we are greeted warmly every time, and every question is answered helpfully. I am also delighted that I can practice and improve my Portuguese skills – which, to be honest, are still very limited – with the receptionists. A big thank you also goes to Axel’s sister Anja and his parents for handling our mail and packages! Unfortunately, some things just can’t be done online or virtually, and some things can only be sent to and from Germany.
This purchase is due to the fact that our favorite pizza maker, Jens from the sailing yacht Marieke, is now back in northern Germany and we are no longer regularly invited over for pizza. So, during our last visit to the pizzeria, we decided that we had to do something about this. And since my birthday is coming up soon, a gift seems like the obvious choice. In our Daverden mill, we had a nice wood-fired oven for making pizza, which we also miss a little. But there are alternatives! Electric pizza ovens that can reach temperatures of up to 450°C can also be operated with the on-board power supply, so we quickly did some research, asked Jens, and finally placed an order. A few days later, a package with our first Ferrari arrives at the marina!!! We name it Giovanni and, of course, have to try it out right away after it arrives. Jens sends us a comprehensive list of ingredients we need for the perfect pizza. No problem, because there is a small Italian supermarket in Marina Vilamoura where we hope to get all the ingredients. Unfortunately, it is closed for the winter holidays. We quickly find another Italian supermarket in Quarteira as a replacement, but unfortunately it only offers a few of the products we need. So the only option is to go to the larger international supermarkets. Luckily, we have a rental car at our disposal again! Axel booked a car with Europcar for three weeks for a mere €9 per day, including insurance and a second driver. Too cheap not to book, especially since my e-bike is currently without its electric drive. There, we gather all the ingredients we need, step by step. They even have pizza cheese from Giovanni Ferrari. If that’s not a good omen, I don’t know what is! The first pizza turns out quite well. It’s not as nicely round, but it’s crispy and fluffy around the edges. The second pizza is rounder, but we fail when it comes to the toppings and getting it from the pizza peel into the oven without any problems. As a result, it ends up pretty black on the bottom. Damn! But practice makes perfect, and we’ll definitely be testing the pizza oven extensively.
While we are busy baking pizza indoors, one low-pressure system after another is passing through outside. With bad weather, rain, and sometimes strong winds. Fortunately, however, we in the Algarve are spared the worst of the chaos! Cyclone Harry is first wreaking havoc in the Mediterranean, devastating Mallorca, Sicily, and Malta. And devastation is meant literally here. If you want to know what I mean (and why we will definitely not be traveling to the Mediterranean), search for Cyclone Harry and Catania on the internet. The pictures are terrifying! Our next low-pressure system is called Ingrid and is already bringing a lot of rain and wind. We are „fighting back“ with comfort food, and Axel is preparing delicious beef roulades with spaetzle.
After that, the low-pressure systems Joseph and Kristin will sweep across the North Atlantic, bringing significantly more wind and rain. Since our sails are still being checked by the sailmaker, we don’t need to worry about that. But we will make the rest of La Ola as storm-proof as possible. The bikes – I’ve now got my new battery – are stowed in the cockpit. The SUP, which used to hang on the railing and was susceptible to the wind, has been sold and replaced with an inflatable kayak. However, it’s still in its packaging in a locker, waiting to be used for the first time. So that’s not a problem either. The gangway is brought in and stowed away so it can’t slide around. All fenders and lines have been checked. We also take a look at our friends‘ yachts at the jetty, but can’t see any major problems ahead of the storm.
Well prepared, we face the storm, or rather storms. Storm Kristin has now joined forces with storms Joseph and Chandra and is heading towards Portugal with tremendous force. Although the eye of the storm is passing further north near Aveiro, the Algarve is also experiencing strong winds and heavy rain. In Portugal, 600-800 ml of rain is expected over the next few days. That is supposedly equivalent to the annual rainfall for Berlin! And, unsurprisingly, the low is expected to pass between 3 a.m. and 9 a.m. So we are in for a restless night. Fortunately, even with hurricane-force winds, there is no swell in Marina Vilamoura and no disruption from the high seas outside the harbor moles. So it is „only“ the wind that keeps us awake from midnight onwards. It is constantly picking up and getting louder and louder in the ship. It whistles, howls, screeches, and rattles. As a precaution, Lucky the cat takes refuge in my bunk and buries his head under my hand. Better safe than sorry. Around 4 a.m., the background noise takes on a new spectrum and we curiously glance at our wind gauge. First 40, then steadily 45 to 50 knots, and finally 58.8 knots, according to the anemometer. Phew, that’s 11 wind forces again! While La Ola only wobbles a little, the monohulls next to us are rocking quite a bit from port to starboard. But the wind is also taking its toll on us. There is crashing and clattering, so we jump out of our bunks in alarm. A quick check reveals that the rear window of our steering cockpit enclosure is torn along its entire length at the bottom, and wind and rain are now blowing unhindered into the steering cockpit. Damn! But actually, it’s not that bad, because a replacement has long been ordered, as the window had become brittle and opaque from UV radiation. Now the sailmaker will have to get to work on the task more quickly.
Fortunately, someone from Dune Sails comes by the next morning to pick up the broken window. After breakfast, the storm has blown over and moved on. The sun even comes out, and we can take a look at our friends‘ yachts. The repairs to Seren Wens Persenning have mostly held up. But in return, long new tears have appeared. The awning on Atlas Shrugged also looks a bit battered, so after consulting with Ralph, we take it down as a precaution and stow it in the cockpit. All the other yachts have weathered the storm unscathed. In glorious sunshine, we drive to Quarteira at noon and treat ourselves to a delicious piri-piri grilled chicken as compensation for the sleepless night. Before that, we stop briefly at Praia do Forte Novo and marvel at how much beach the sea has conquered here. On the way, we pass numerous uprooted trees and the glass pane at our jetty entrance has also been shattered. After lunch, we take a short stroll on the beach to aid digestion, where the waves crash against the shore, dirty brown. The small Ribeira de Quarteira, which flows into the marina entrance area, has turned into a raging torrent, bringing with it numerous pieces of flotsam. Mountains of reeds and tree trunks accumulate on the jetties and on the beach. Where the Ribeira meets the sea, there is an unpleasant wave with tree trunks rising and falling like shark fins, drifting towards the sea. This currently makes the entrance and exit of the marina impassable. Back on board, our repaired window is delivered. Just in time before the rain starts again. It’s great that it worked out so quickly and that the wind and rain can no longer blow into our conservatory. Throughout the day, we read more and more information about the extent and damage caused by the storm. In northern Portugal, winds of 208.8 km/h were measured near Coimbra! That corresponds to wind force 17 and is referred to elsewhere as a super hurricane/super typhoon. In addition, the storm has caused widespread flooding, which will continue to occupy us over the next few days as the water flows down from the mountains. The ground is so saturated with water that trees can no longer find support and are still falling over even after the storm. There is also a risk of landslides. The reservoirs are at a historic high and must be drained for safety reasons, which further increases the risk of flooding along streams and rivers. None of this is a pleasant prospect, and we hope that the weather will improve soon and that spring will finally arrive with plenty of sunny days. However, this wish seems unlikely to be fulfilled for the next 10 days. We don’t stay up late in the evenings and go to bed early to catch up on some sleep before the next storm hits.
The decision to buy a pizza oven entails further follow-up costs. A food processor is purchased for kneading dough. Fortunately, it can not only knead dough, but also make pasta, juice, grate vegetables, and grind flour. However, as space on board is limited, the other food processors have to be replaced and sold. The machine—like a Bosch—handles the first pizza dough with ease. And at the end of January, the food processor is then used to grind hazelnuts and prepare cake batter. In no time at all, a delicious eggnog cake is made according to a recipe from our friend Andrea. Just in time for my birthday on February 1!
