Benagil Cave, Portugal

This cave is the hottest tourist stops on the southern coast of Portugal. The trails in the area all lead to this cave, hotels are set centered around this cave, and entire tour groups organized just to get a glimpse of this majestic cave.

The people in that inflatable boat in the entrance paid around €30 per person to sit at the opening of the cave and never see this view. The people inside the cave either swam in or rented paddle boards for €15 just to scoot inside the cave for a few moments before they have to paddle back and return the board.

By coming in on our own dinghy, we were able to make it in all the way in and have no one telling us when its time to leave. We roll in when we want and we left when we were ready!

This is one of the best parts about cruising, you have the flexibility of time and the peace to enjoy where you are for as long as you want.

Algarve, Southern Portugal

When you think of cruising, you probably think of arriving somewhere with white sandy beaches. You should skip that thought and come sail to the rocky limestone cliffs of Algarve on the southern coast of Portugal.

Waves and rain water have eroded away the soft stone to create giant cave structures that litter the coastline. Based on the steep cliff face, you can assume that the water is incredibly deep right up to the waters edge, and you would be right!

We didn’t dare to bring our floating home, Wisdom, close to the rocks, but we did give it a go in our dinghy Brad! We motored along the coast in our little inflatable going in and out of the caves that litter the coastline.

The depth right up at the cliff face was roughly a steady 30 feet deep, but it quickly dropped off to over 100 feet in no time! We wanted to anchor outside of one cave and swim in, until a local told us that was not a viable option! Outside that one cave was more than 100 feet deep, but inside the cave was a soft sandy beach where we landed the dinghy and had a relaxing afternoon.

Algarve is a beautiful stop on our way into the Mediterranean Sea and one worth stopping at, even if for just one more day in Portuguese waters!

Sunsets Never Get Old

My favorite part of ocean sailing is sunset. The sky turns into beautiful palate of colors as the sun dips down on the horizon and night watch begins. While some sailors fear night sailing, I actually quite enjoy it. The sails are set before sunset for the rest of the night; if we think we will need to reef at some point in the night, we reef while the sun is still up that way we have no surprises in the dark. The only thing left to do is watch for navigation lights in the distance, which in my opinion, makes ships easier to spot in the distance!

In an attempt to capture the beauty of the sunset as the light played with the sail, I experimented with my iPhone’s panorama feature. There are some artifacts as the lifeline seems to have a break in it and the boom seems rather jagged, but the overall feel of the expansive sky changing in color from dark to colorful prevails!

End to End Splice

Eye splices are handy but what if you want to make your Dyneema line longer?

Check out this video where I show you how to easily carry out an end to end splice.

Sunset at sea

Everyone will agree that a sunset viewed from a western coast is the most beautiful. This is because of two factors:

1. The sunset occurs over water.

2. No one has seen the prettier alternative!

What could be better than a sunset from a beach? A sunset out in the middle of the ocean where the whole sky become god’s canvas.