Lagos - General Info
Description:
Located at the western end of the Algarve, Lagos is a vibrant, historic town. The older part of Lagos is still circled by the 16th-century city walls. It was also the home base of Henry the Navigator.
Cruiser Highlights:
The Lagos Navigators have an active Facebook group.
https://www.facebook.com/groups/lagosnavigators/
Entrance Notes and Cautions:
The harbour entrance has a tendency to silt up and in 2022 was silted up badly by May after weeks of SE winds and no rain at all (meaning the river had hardly any strength to fight the sand being pushed in by the SE waves). Channel dredging started May 11th, 2022, and it is expected that within 2 weeks there will be no more restrictions for large draught boats. Contact the marina for an update.
On approach to the port, be aware that the end of the western breakwater is partially submerged. If entering at night, beware of isolated, black, unlit piles on the port hand side of the channel. Another hazard is the number of fishing buoys and flags immediately outside the outer breakwaters.
Position:
37° 05.92’N, 08° 39.94’W (harbor entrance)
Last updated: May 2022
Read and Post Related Comments
If you have information for this section, or feedback on businesses used, please let us know at editor@noonsite.com. We also welcome new information about businesses you have used (see Related Businesses).
Next Section: Profile: Clearance
Related to following destinations: Lagos, Portugal, South Coast (Algarve)
Port Navigation
Courtesy Flag Discounts
YachtFlags.com provides high quality courtesy flags that are manufactured in durable Knitted Polyester fabric. Knitted so that the fabric itself does not deteriorate in the constant movement that marine flags are usually exposed to, and polyester so that the flag does not weaken in the strong UV-light usually found in the main sailing areas of the world.
YachtFlags.com offers a discount to Noonsite members.
Use the coupon code NOONSITE_5A2B when checking out to get 10% off today.
Buy Now On YachtFlags.comMain Ports - Portugal
Courtesy Flag Discounts
YachtFlags.com provides high quality courtesy flags that are manufactured in durable Knitted Polyester fabric. Knitted so that the fabric itself does not deteriorate in the constant movement that marine flags are usually exposed to, and polyester so that the flag does not weaken in the strong UV-light usually found in the main sailing areas of the world.
YachtFlags.com offers a discount to Noonsite members.
Use the coupon code NOONSITE_5A2B when checking out to get 10% off today.
Buy Now On YachtFlags.com
AVOID NAVE PEGOS BRUCE’S YARD This yard is really bad. They tell you they will do work and never do it!! Our trip was nearly ruined as I had taken my boat there specifically for work to be done and after three months I returned expecting it to be done and they had done nothing, after constant badering and unpleasant conversations I had to do most of it my self which ate significantly into our time to complete the passage. They will not take card payments which they don’t tell you until the last moment so you are left trying to find 1000s euros in cash or arrange bank transfers to pay fees. The owner Bruce is very diffcult to deal with and gets angey when you try to deal with his failings. The quality of what work they eventually did was not good. They lock the main gate over night and at weekends and don’t tell you so our hire car was stuck inside over a weekend. I was told that an owner had had a medical emergency over a weekend and an ambulance could not get in to take the person to hospital. The electricity constantly tripped out and the other facilities are basic. Another owner had his whole holiday ruined becuase Bruce had promised to do work on a boat and never did. I would never go there agian
Warning! Take care when dealing with Sopromar!
My experience:
After two years my 4 x 110 A AGM batteries charged from sun/wind/landshore/generator were dead.
I bought new Victron batteries through Sopromar, hired their electrician to install them AND to check all regulators and charging because I suspected these were the origin of my problem. Also told the electrician to wire the batteries with + in one end and – minus in the other end of the battery bank.
Now, one year later all batteries are dead again. Have to replace them once again here in Sweden but choose Lithium this time. I´m going to replace both batteries and regulators by myself. A curiosity is that also such a basic thing as the wiring of + and – were wrong.
Have had a mail conversation with the boss Hugo at Sopromar but he denied the fact that his electrician did anything wrong. I remember that he electrian was in a hurry to the next boat to earn more money to Hugo.
The implication of a fault installation will not be deceted in about 1-2 years and for a Swedish boat in Lagos on their way home this will happen in Sweden …
Very friendly and helpful staff but their charm was not worth about 2 000 Euro.
Forgotten:
Even wiring for the battery monitor was wrong. The electrician had wired so it was monitoring both domestic and cranking batteries.
Sopromar cost is 45 eur/hour and they do very good job. However you need to monitor how much time they use as we have been charged considerly more hours for some of the works. This also applies to material (four extra pots of Coppercoat – but when told they took them away). Fofovelas changed the uv – protection on main (200 eur) and genua (440 eur). They were supposed to make a rig check also (90 eur), but obviusly did not know how. Hoised one guy up looked around and then let him down. On request he checked the vhf-antenna, but otherwise a waste of time and money. Only seemed intressed in getting paid. Very disappointing.
For Sopromar add vat 23%, for Fofovelas it is includedin stated cost.
Lagos Marina was the most expensive of all the marinas that I stayed in between the UK and the Algarve.€46.19 per night for 10.78m.
No complaints about price if there is value for money and however the service and facilities at Lagos was most disappointing.
The staff were unhelpful and really unfriendly, Both the experience of check in and check out was unpleasant.
There was no Marina staff on the pontoons to help with docking or casting off and this compared with other Marinas such as O Porto or even little Sines where the staff were all professional, friendly and extremely helpful.
The security is shameful. The gates to the pontoon were never closed not even at night.
Wifi – a disgrace it did not reach the boat and we could not log on at all during our stay, we tried with two phones and two iPads .
The Lavatories smelt.
When I said I would like to make complaint at check out the man on the desk just pushed a card in front of me and said email “him” as if he really could not care that my experience had been a bad one.
I would not recommend this marina to any other cruiser. O Porto, Peniche, Camariñas, Ribeira, Sines were all great really friendly and well run.
Nicholas Tudor
Esperanza of Cowes
Lagos Navigators also have a thriving Facebook group which can be found here:
https://www.facebook.com/groups/lagosnavigators/
2019 Winter Update.
There is a full calendar of various events planned for the winter. Including Music Nights (bring your instrument!), Bridge, Yoga, Portuguese lessons and much more! Visit http://lagosnavigators.net for full schedule of events, or teh Lagos Navigators Facebook page.
And Sopromar can no longer arrange to have propane/LPG gas tanks filled as there was some issue with someone in town getting stopped with a car full of gas tanks.
The marina office re-confirmed that if you are on anchor, you do not need to go and see the authorities for domestic clearance. Only if you are berthed in the marina.