Cape Saint Vincent marks the eastward turn in the coast  of Portugal. It also signifies warmer weather, long white beaches, and tourism (just check the advertisements in the travel section of your Sunday newspaper). Given our predilection for cool and quiet we were not sure if this left turn was right for us.

The Cape is a wind acceleration zone and there was a nice sea running as we rounded.

This is the first trawler type yacht we have seen since leaving the UK. Of Dutch pedigree, she was having less fun than Wind Horse in the surfing conditions.

We had heard Villamora was a good spot to get a feel for the area, and reconoiter prior to the arrival of family. It is a huge real estate development, very modern, with your choice of six watch shops, four Indian rstaurants, and a variety of other spending opportunities.

They also have the fanciest security gates through which we have walked to a dock.

Along with he aforementioned Indian establishments, there are dozens of other purveyors of local fare from which to choose.

But wait, there is more. On any given evening you have a choice of musical styles for your listening pleasure, all playing at once, and resonating throughout the marina. Easy listening for the weary abed.

As you can imagine it was tough to tear ourselves away.

Thirteen miles down the coast lie the estuaries and beaches emanating from Culatra Island and leading to the regional center of Faro. This is a wonderful area for bird watching.

From the deck of Wind Horse there are a variety of feathered friends on whom we can practice the patience and panning techniques of a the photgrapher consumed by BIF (birds in flight).

During the week things are quiet.

The ten foot (three meter) tides expose lots of beach for exploring, clamming, or just relaxing with a book.

The tides are also good for maintenance projects.

This area is home to those deliverers of babies, the stork.

These are enormous creatures, much easier to photograph than smaller birds, because of the rather slow nature of their movement.

The clear air makes for great photographs.

The nights tend to be still, but with enough breeze to require a blanket when sleeping. The photo above was taken from our deck a week ago using a 500mm F4 lens with a 1.4 extender. This is the equivalent  of an 1100mm lens in 35mm camera terms.

Lest the photos give you the impression we are isolated, the image above shows a small percentage of the hundred+ boats at anchor along the beach. As crowded as this sounds, it will get much worse shortly.

During the week it is quiet. On weekends the pace picks up.

Large powerboats, inflatable, jet skies, and pangas all charge full speed while they weave amongst the anchored yachts. Notice the careful lookout forward of the driver.

On the boat ahead of us the crew is practicing the Maiori Haka dance.

If you are not watching the big birds, there are plenty of other targets flying near the boat.

We particularly like shooting early and late in the day for the soft light.

If you get up early, and the tide is out, the local stork population will be enjoying breakfast.

They are familiar enough with humans that you can get within full frame photographing distance.

A 15 minute dinghy ride from the anchorage is the charming town of Olhao. Closer is the village on Culatra Island.

There is Internet service with Vodaphone, so we are going to hang out for a while longer. When we get caught up we’ll put together a slide show.

Post script: The photo above is real and not a Photoshop product. It was taken by our son-in-law, Todd Beveridge using a Canon 50D body and a 100-400mm zoom.