About 10 years ago I sent an email to Anne Hammick who was then the editor of the Royal Cruising Club pilot book ‘Atlantic Spain and Portugal’. The reason for this email was because I had just read in her annual supplement to the pilot book that a visiting British yachtsman had emailed her with the comment that Ria Formosa which he had recently visited was an area of very shallow badly marked channels.

In my email to Anne I told her that these comments were ‘complete rubbish’ and that the channels in Ria Formosa were both sufficiently deep at all states of the tide and very well marked with buoys, leading marks and leading lights.

The area of water that I am talking about is the lagoon that lies between Faro and Olhão and is enclosed by a broken strip of sand that forms the islands of: Ilha de Faro, Ilha da Barreta, Ilha da Culatra and Ilha da Armona.

There is just one navigable entrance into the lagoon and that is at Cabo de Santa Maria from where there are two main channels; one leading to Faro where the minimum depth for 4 nautical miles up to the commercial quay is 5 metres, the other 5 nautical miles up to Olhão where the shallowest part is 2.8 metres in depth.

From a pilotage point of view (a subject that I wrote about in my ‘On-Board’ page two months ago) both channels are very well marked with large port and starboard hand buoys, all these buoys have lights and in addition there are a total of 6 sets of ‘leading lights’ on the way up to Olhão and 4 sets on the way up to Faro. These buoys and leading lights are all shown in the ‘RCC Pilot Atlantic Spain and Portugal’ and also on the Portuguese chart ‘Barra e Portos de Faro e Olhão’ Ref Nos: INT 1885 26311.

Leading lights and marks are designed to assist you in keeping your boat in a channel, they are usually on the land and consist of two lights one behind and above the other and when seen either ahead or astern in a vertical line as shown in the diagram above you can be certain that you are in the centre of the channel.

Some but not all leading lights can also be identified as leadings marks during the day and the there are some leading marks that do not have lights and therefore can only be used during the day. The entrance to the Arade river leading up to Portimao has excellent leading lights which are positioned on top of red and white striped posts which are also designed to be used as leading marks. A photograph of them is shown to the left.

Some words of caution! When entering a harbour that you haven’t visited before and when you are looking for leading lights that you are planning to make use of, make certain that the lights that you have identified really are the ones that you are think they are. It is very easy in the dark when looking at a mass of shore lights to make other lights into what you want them to be! There are several checks that you should make:

1. Your pilot book or chart will show the type of lights and their duration. In most cases they will be Occulting, Isophase or Flashing over a specific period, so positively identify the lights and then time them.
2. In addition your pilot book or chart will show precisely what true bearing they will be on when in line. Check that the lights that you have identified are on that bearing when in line and remember that the hand-bearing compass that you are using for this shows magnetic bearings not true bearings. The magnetic variation for the Algarve is at present (2008) 3 degrees west and so you will need to add 3 degrees to the true bearing shown on the chart or pilot book to convert that bearing to a magnetic bearing.

Portugal has a long maritime history, probably longer than any other country in the world. Their hydrographical office (Instituto Hidrográfico) which is run by the Navy is an extremely professional organisation, they produce excellent charts and much of the information on them is in English. They have a very good web site (www.hidrografico.pt) which although only in Portuguese is very easy to understand. Their ‘Notices to Mariners’ (Avisos aos Navegantes) giving information on changes to buoyage and lights etc is updated everyday on the web site.

All the harbours that I have visited in Portugal are well marked with buoys, leading marks and lights, but you do need the relevant pilot book or chart to get in and out of them safely.

Finally – this is my first article for 2008 – I wish you all enjoyable and safe sailing or motor cruising during this coming year.