We have had a bad experience with Nave Pegos shipyard in Faro. We had decided to leave Neos on the hard for the winter.

We asked if the travel lift was wide enough to accommodate Neos’beam which is 4.7 m. We were told that there was no problem as the travel lift was 5m.

In fact, it was only 4.8m. We had just the space to insert lines along the side of the boat to protect the hull! We lifted the boat in October.

There were works to be done. In January nothing was done and we realized that nothing will be done.

So we decided to put Neos back to the water and move her to Sopromar in Lagos. They are professional but expensive.

I deeply regretted leaving Culatra for an overnighter to stuffy, busy, dirty, Gibraltar, where I had harboured dreams of getting any kind of boat work done. Culatra is incredibly well-protected and has lovely thick gloop that anchors were made for.

Once in you won’t move an inch in any conditions.
You can save yourself all that tricky shoal draft pilotage by catching the ferries that run to Faro and Olhao.

They are very cheap (Olhoa E3.70 return). Or if you group together the boat taxis are just as economical. Bear in mind this. Drugs not normally available without prescription elsewhere are readily available and extremely cheap in Portugal.

I stocked up with gout pills at a quarter of the UK prescription price.
Culatra is a tiny village but fresh goods are still reasonable and restaurants and bars are cheap too.

Faro and the spectacular kaleidoscope of colour, life and variety that is the Olhao Saturday market will provide anything you need. I can’t comment on facilities for boats.

Culatra Island – in addition to the above written: The small village, visiting by dinghy no problem in the fisher harbour has also a basic supermarket with fresh bread and fruits and a lot of good things to buy. There is a year-round ferry service to Faro ( 5 Euros for the round trip), Olhao and Isla Deserta.

Enough space for more than a hundred of ships to anchor, good holding in “gloopy, sandy mud”. From Isla Culatra you can walk to the open Atlantic coast with a wonderful beach and crystal-clear water.

Faro: a wonderful little town, a must, to spend one day or more in this area, you see also big birds in the entrance channel, where the little ferries are landing.
Olhao: Anchoring or Marina also available in Olhao, but not many places and not so nice.

With the dinghy its possible by high water to go from anchoring to Olhao, better than with the big ferry. There are two big halls with red roofs: one with a large fish market and second with a fruit and vegetable market during the week.

On Saturday morning visit the big open-air market in front of the halls. On the road behind the big halls you find some Ferreteria`s with some nautic parts and supermarkets when you walk easterly, but better ask for the way.