Police and Thieves

I prefer the live version by The Clash any day, (no offence to the original recording by Junior Murvin, which I am also partial to), to the cold harsh reality of what is happening more and more in this region of Portugal.  The two songs are poles apart with their musical versions, Murvin was totally outraged by Joe Strummer and his crew, claiming "They have destroyed Jah work."  Much the same can be said about our rapidly dividing society,  as many residents liken the polititians to "that murdering Government.".  The snowball effect is gaining speed.

It's sad but true, events as I am about to reveal, are becoming an all too regular occurance.  One morning, after arriving to check on my boat, run the engine, the usual weekly check-ups, I found more activity than normal around the fishing huts.

It turned out that the previous night, someone had decided it would be a great idea to steal 700 kilos of octupus, (estimated price of €2,100.00),  that were being stored overnight on a fishing boat, that was drying out on the communal slipway.  If that wasn't enough, the culprits stole a 5m fishing boat to make their get-a-way!

The outrageous news travelled fast, and soon rumours were coming back from Faro, but nothing more was forthcoming.  My guess is, the snatchers of the cephalopods had hoofed it already to Spain, selling quickly their hord and that would be the end of it.  The Polícia Marítima used the occasion to do what, it appears, they do best.

Their grand achievement of the day would be to take the 8m R.I.B out with 300hp to propel them up and down the Ria Formosa, trying to look as intimidating as possible, (wearing a Walther semi automatic on the hip helps), forgetting about legal speed limits and all the wildlife above and below the waterline they would be traumatising.  Let's face it, this was the excuse they needed to do just that and only that.  No one had the cojones to tell them they were only zooming around in the wake of the thieves, wasting time and money.

As a dark cloud loomed above this small fishing community, it was becoming clear, the thieves had won and the owner of the fishing boat was at least €2,100.00 out of pocket.

Long gone are the days I used to leave the boat and whizz off to land in the tender, leaving the mainhatch open so wide it looked like my boat was yawning.  If you don't lock, bolt, alarm or simply take with, it will grow legs.  It's almost tempting to set a trap for the thieving opportunists, they are getting so predictable!  Now that's got me thinking!!  A trussed up robber covered in tar and feathers is coming to mind as the imagination begins to flow.  Not too far from these shores, they hack off your hands for stealing.  Is that going too far in a society that is fast becoming uncivilized?

FINAL RELIEF - Day 5

I don't have to waffle on anymore with further boatyard antics as I think this video says it all...!! 

Much later on, I re-anchored in a calming breeze and hopped in the dinghy to meet friends for a well earned dinner.  On our return dinghy journey, together with my blue rinsed hair friend, the tide and wind were both against us, so we had to walk the dinghy upstream to compensate for the elements. Unfortunately the tide was also low, so we found ourselves slopping around in thigh high mud, which aided greatly to us slipping and sliding about, not to mention the odd nick or two on our feet from sharp critters or rubbish hidden in the putrid mud.  With our spirits flagging and a second attempt to reach the boat ending in another failure, we rightly decided to head back into the town of Ayamonte, to find a bar and sit out till the end of the tide, when at least, we would only have the wind against.  At least I knew my way around the boatyard and we headed directly to the tap, to wash off the oil based, slightly pongy and penetrating mud, so we would at least be accepted inside a bar.

Ayamonte is a great town and like most in Spain, the nightlife usually kicks off around 23.00.  We located a bar with relative ease and quickly ordered two capirinhas, not a Spanish but Brazlian drink, after I had spotted the famous Cachaça 55 bottle on their glass shelf.  The popular cocktail, turned out to be the best I had ever had and we promptly ordered another while watching the time.

I'm confident now, it actively helped us getting back to the boat at a slightly later time of 2.00 something in the morning. It was still an epic row back against the wind, but we made it. Ahh it's always the simple things in life appreciated and we both fell asleep with smiles on our faces.