A week in Lagos

Lagos Marina is a lovely place to be. The Pontoon we are on is very big and lots of boats come and go and more ARC boats arrive. Perhaps it is the transient nature of it that makes it so friendly. We meet lots of different people who all have interesting stories.
As I am walking into town I hear a heavily accented voice calling ‘ Margaret’ - I figure it couldn’t be me as I don’t know anyone here. It turns out that I do, It is Yerc, a young Dutch boat hitchhiker I had a met a few days earlier before he left for Portimao. He had hitched a ride on a 38 foot a English boat which had all the crew it needed as far as we could see. There was the owners, their 9 year old daughter, 20 year old son and another man as well as their Collie. I find sharing this space with my immediate family a squash and a squeeze so I am full of admiration for people who share their boat with strangers.
Yerc is back in town looking for a lift to the Canaries and from there he plans on hitching a ride to the Caribbean. He is one of 3 young boat hitchhikers we meet in Lagos all hoping to cross the Atlantic, The most ambitious of them is a young French man who is trying to travel around the world without money.
All on board Regal are all happy to be in one place for a while and with have a mix of jobs and fun here.
We finally source wheels for our Dingy at the super chandlery here and Ronan installs them - This will make bringing the dingy ashore a whole lot easier from now on.
We do a two trolley shop in the Pingo Doce supermarket and make a terrible racket wheeling the trolleys on cobbled paths past the lovely cafes at the marina interrupting people’s coffees and serenity. Shopping excursions take so much longer than at home and is a much sweatier affair. There is navigational challenge of an unfamiliar supermarket - doing four laps to find honey then hauling all the shopping back to the boat followed by stowing it in on the boat - in cupboards, under seats and under the floorboards. Feeling frazzled after all this, the best solution for the crew is an afternoon at the Marina pool - We pay a pretty penny to get in and we make the most of the pool, the loungers and the table service.
During the week we have trips to the beautiful beach nearby and walks in and around the town which is humming with tourists. People are here from all over and we by the end of the week I don’t even twitch when I hear an Irish accent, it is so prevalent.
We finally pull the school books out of their box in the bilges and start to get our heads around boat-schooling. After 2 hours of maths the books are shelved as preparations begin for Nana and Grandad arrival.
I continue to do regular Orca watch online and am very happy for our sake that they seem to be migrating north.Leia mais