Day One Hundred Twenty Three - May 8

We have finally delivered the suitcase to its rightful owner in Portimao after receiving possession of the said suitcase a long time ago in Tahiti. The said suitcase has been under our bed since then.

Portimao is towards the western end of the Algarve. It is close to Vilamoura which we visited on a golfing hoilday in September of 2019. The city with its population of 40,000 has had a large boom in contruction with the increase of tourism and the many expats from England. You can witness this by the many condominiums / hotels that we saw while sailing into port. Definitely another beautful sail in city.

Our arrival time is 11:30 with all onboard at 20:00. Tonight there is an Around The World Event tonight on the pool deck so we needed to be back before the 20:00 departure time.

Janice and I with two other couples spent the day with Cliff and Angela who hosted us back at their beautiful home. We had met Cliff on the first part of the cruise and he is the chap who had entrusted us with his suitcase while he was travelling around the US - before heading back home to Portugal. Angela missed the cruise due to sick dogs but luckily they are both better. Janice was thrilled to finally meet Angela who has been an instagram friend for a few years. They certainly bonded and I can see them becoming very good friends. Angela is an avid reader and posts a daily instagram blog (she has over 5000 followers) that is absolutely amazing and creative as per Janice -so please get in touch with Janice if you are an avid reader and you would like to follow Angela. A good day was certainly had by all.

As I mentioned early there are many English expats living in Portugal including Angela and Cliff which has become a small/large problem for them due to brexit which doesn't allow them to come and go as they used to. Proof that there so many is that the large British supermarket chain Tesco has many stores in the area so Janice ws able to get more prawn crisps.

A sea day was in store for May 9 as we made our way to Vigo Spain 383 nautical miles away.

Our cruise director, Lesley, continues to make comments about washing our hands regulary although the wearing of face masks is not mandatory but recommended. Unfortunately Covid is now on the ship with quite a few cases although we have no idea how many. We are being extra careful and have decided to keep our bubble for dining to 2 couples max. Certainly interesting to witness that most of the couples with Covid are those that were not careful and didn't wear masks - so based on our experience masks definitely offer some protection.

Covid is still out there and both of us do not want to miss any more ports because of it. The magical mystery cruise continues and we will see where the last 6 weeks will take us.