We have been in no hurry to depart from Lagos.  Our crew, Mike and Benjy departed the Monday after we arrived, as did many others from other boats once all the organized ARC events were over.  Somehow we managed to be awarded third prize for the last leg … but in a different division (still not sure how that happened).  Mike was awarded a bottle of Moet et Chandon champagne for the most beautiful fish caught, a wahoo … well deserved.

Since then we have been trying to sort out a few boat issues and recover from the passage and all the partying.  It has taken us a while to clean and dry out the contents of all lockers above and below decks and wash the salt off foul weather gear, sails, lines, etc. that seems to permeate everything as well as catch up on a mountain of laundry.  Having spoken to an agent for the water-maker, we have decided to delay working on it until the winter as we will have to send the main (Clark) pump out to Germany for servicing so it makes more sense to wait until we are stationary for a while.  Howard has been servicing almost all our winches, a time-consuming but very worthwhile process.  He found out why our main electric winch wasnt working …. one of the pawls was broken.  A replacement and some spares have been ordered and should arrive tomorrow, with luck.  A local sail-maker made a connector piece between our bimini and dodger to replace the one that blew overboard upon arrival in Lagos.

But we have managed to explore a little of Lagos and have certainly enjoyed eating at many local restaurants where seafood is so abundant and reasonably priced.  Below are a few snaps to give you a flavor of the place…  The Portugese are very friendly and many speak excellent english.  You can understand why there are so many Brits around…

Steep narrow cobble-stoned streets
Part of the old city wall
Beautiful sandy beach …. but the water is chilly!
The Saturday market with great fresh produce
Sardines …. one of many great fishy meals we have had