Monthly Archives: July 2020

Finally! Pushed the boat out.

Torre de Aires, near Pinheiro, Tavira, Algarve Portugal, canoeing
Pushing the boat out

And I am really happy that after a long time I can post to this category.

So summer is well under way it’s very hot and it's ‘o tempo do berbigão’ although I haven’t yet indulged 😀

I had to make an concerted effort to get my boat to the water, being challenged for transport.

I have an electric bicycle type scooter and a small excellent trailer that I got from On the Rocks Bike shop in Olhão. I had to modify the connecting bar in order to get the canoe to fit. I replaced the connecting bar with a interchangeable standard 50mm diameter by 3 metre galvanized hollow steel rod.The ground clearance I ended up with is quite low, about 4 inches but I made the journey to Pinheiro including traversing speed bumps without incidence.

Prior planning and preparation.

I decided to moor the kayak/canoe in the Ria Formosa. So I had to first secure a bit of chain to the river bed to which I attached a home made bouy. The camera passed the underwater test. I also made a shroud of standard plastic shade screen which works quite well. I also made rollers of black irrigation pipe to help move the canoe over the ground.

The crossing.

Yesterday we made the crossing with Bonji to Praia Paríoso beach from Torre de Aires. We went out as the tide was coming in. So it was hard work paddling out. A bit windy too but there weren’t any waves to make the journey a bumpy ride. The Critter2, an open plastic 2 man kayak, is a river kayak/canoe and has quite a flat bottom. Bonji was very relaxed . Coming back was easier as the current was with us. I lost some time by taking a wrong channel and so had to double back. There were a lot of mullet and perch native to the Ria Formosa, leaping out of the water. They seemed to be having fun. 🙂 .

After beaching the canoe we walked across the dune, about 250 m to the beach with the real ocean. The beach goes on for miles and was deserted.

The real ocean
This is the map of where we were.

That’s all for now!