Ilha da Culatra

We have stocked up on fresh food from the local shop so we can move anchorage to an uninhabited part of Culatra. This is a much quieter spot. There are less boats at anchor here and far fewer fishing boats whizzing by, although we do still get the occasional wash from speedboats. We are at anchor in what seems like a vast horseshoe bay of sand. The continuous stretch of sandy beach is a mirage because there is a channel out to the sea in one spot. We can’t see it because there is so much sand and beach they meld together. We can feel the channel when we jump off the boat to cool down. If we don’t swim we drift quickly. We adapt to this and always start our swims against the tide.
Ashore there is only beach and dunes. At low tide people are dropped by boat to the beach or in shallow areas around the lagoon to harvest clams.

Within the anchorage there are two house boats. One of them is called Casa de Ria we find for rent on bookings.com. The other is homemade; a Portacabin painted bright red, sitting on top of the hull of a boat. It is at anchor close to beach where it dries out at low tide. We walk right by it and it has a dotey gypsy vibe.

We have stayed in touch with Yacht Luna since we met in northern Spain and we have tagged-teamed down the coast of Portugal. They come to anchor here and we have several meet ups at the beach. One evening Ruby and Colm help Luna harvest clams and we bring some home to cook - delicious.

One windy afternoon we see a boat drag its anchor. When we realise there is nobody on board, Ronan and Ruby zoomed over on the dingy and joined another helpful neighbour. They manage to prevent her from doing damage to another boat before the crew return by dingy in a panic.

We see a very unusual looking jellyfish the size of a bucket with black tentacles. We google him and it turns out he is unusual - Rhizostoma Luteum. He is the only jellyfish we have seen in a long time.
When we swim off the boat we wear our googles and look at all the different fish who like to loiter under our hull. Ruby and Colm make several Crab hotels/ prisons with Luna’s crew on the beach and get to see sea cucumbers too.Read more