on the night of 25 november, the two strike-craft positioned themselves off luanda, 9 km north-west of the lighthouse at ponto das lagostas. two special forces boats were launched and headed for a point off the shore. two 4rr divers then entered the water and swam to the beach to ensure the landing point's suitability and its security and then called the boats in to drop off the two-man reconnaissance team. the boats returned to the strike-craft which withdrew 80 km offshore. as the dawn approached, the reconnaissance team found themselves in the middle of military transport storage area, but were able to leave and find a safer hideout during daylight hours. that evening they returned to reconnoitre the transport storage area before proceeding to the refinery, surveilling and photographing the target before returning to their hideout having establishing an inward and exit route for an attack teams. after spending another day at the hideout, on the evening of 27 november, the strike-craft returned and the boats collected the reconnaissance team. the two strike-craft then set off for their rendezvous with the sas "protea" on the early morning of 28 november for refuelling as well as the final planning and briefings of the forthcoming raid and the transfer of the attack teams.