Cascais and Lisbon

Off to Cascais at 0930, 45 miles and the Portuguese Nortada trades are becoming very consistent, building from 10 knots in the mornings to 25+ in the afternoons. Had a fast sail down to Cascais along side Vaughan and Lynda on Ravenala. Heres a pic of them flying into Lisbon in 25 knots doing 8.5 knots.

 

We arrived in Cascais 8 hrs after we left Peniche and anchored off the main beach, just outside the marina for the night. A very nice protected anchorage and as Cascais is one of the most expensive in Portugal at around 60 euros/night we didnt see the point of going in just to sleep.

We headed into the marina next day at 0900 and cleaned Sephina, did some laundry and walked around the very pretty town.  Ate yummy Thai and slept well!
Next day we took the train into Lisbon, Portugals Capital to be tourists for a day.

 

 

 

Lots of interesting sights and culture in the city. I really wanted to catch a tram up the hills so we walked a bit then jumped on to a free local tram (well it was free for us because the driver was too intent on her phone conversation to care if we paid or not..)

The ride was crazy, stop start, and worse than a melbourne tram because the roads are STEEP ! and cobblestones, but it was lots of fun. We had no idea where it was going or when it would stop, but we jumped off when we thought we were near the top and found somewhere for a sugar hit..

 

We were aiming at finding the castle/fort on top of the hill in Lisbon, and although it was hot and we seemed to circle it I wasn't about to give up (after our last disappointment on getting up the hill in Viana do Costella)

Jen played some African juju xylophone with some guy that told her she really needed to buy some bracelets as well, if not for her, then for her relatives back in France !

YOOHOO WE FOUND THE CASTLE !!

We wandered around the old fort and read some history and saw some artefacts etc etc (as you do ) and enjoyed our tourist day in Lisbon.

Headed back to Sephina and checked out of the Marina to anchor off Cascais again and head South in the morning…

Peniche

55 miles of great sailing today from Foz to Peniche. We arrived at 1930 and prepared to anchor in the harbour near the marina, but snagged an old ship mooring line, so we decided to take the hint and tie up to the marina dock. A very friendly customs official came and cleared us in and we headed to town for pizza! We bought enough for Lynda and Vaughan who were just behind us, but unfortunately ate it all (almost) before they arrived.We  decided to take a day off tomorrow and relax and set sail Monday for Cascais.Felt drunk from the sunshine and big days sail and slept like babies

Jenijane made yummy cake and chocolate things too!

More of Portugal

As we are trying to press on towards the South (and warmer weather and water) we are making our way fairly quickly down the Portuguese coast and making the most of favourable weather windows, i.e not too much swell, preferably under 2m, not too much fog, Northerly winds of 5-25 knots. Sometimes the ports can be fogbound for weeks at a time at this time of year, and also can be closed due to large swells making them unsafe to leave or enter for weeks at a time. As we are conscious of this when we wee a good opportunity to sail, we take it…

We headed to Lexios, 35 miles, on the 25th, the harbour on the outskirts of Porto which was full of big ships. smelt like an oil refinery (probably because there is one next to the harbour) and the water was toxic. When Jen pulled the anchor up the next day it was covered in black sludge, as was the chain and anchor ball line, and shortly after, so was Sephina. The pilot book warns of crews that have become pretty ill after handling the lines that have touched the water here, needless to say we washed our hands and Sephina as soon as possible !

 

On the 26th we departed for Aveiro, another 34 miles and a nice sail in the end. A much nicer anchorage up a tidal river. Going into the river with the tide of 4 knots we were doing 11 knots over ground. The crazy fishermen were zipping in and out of the channel, racing to the mouth to drag their lines across the bottom as they drifted back inland.

We went ashore and ate at the touristy town with grossly colored tiled walls, brightly colored fishing dinghys and local dogs and cats, lots of cats !. It really feels like Portugal here..

next day down to Foz 55miles and ended in a good sail after a few hours motoring. Very officious marina officials checked passports and papers without a smile. We wandered  around the city, ate at pizza hut and watched some of the Olympic opening ceremonies. Next day Jenijane and I had our own olympic events with thumb wrestels, toothbrushing, singing, fishing and saiiling on the event schedule.

Viana Do Costello

Left Punta Subrido at 0830 and slowly made our way South in light variable wind. Said bye to V as he and Char and Yugi were planning to skip Portugal and head straight for Southern Spain. We arrived in our first Portuguese port 42 miles and 10 hours later at Viana Do Costello. Jen caught a cray pot along the way and lost her new lure
We were both a bit surprised by the friendly locals and beautiful town as we weren’t expecting as much in Portugal.  Tied to the visitors pontoon in the river for a couple of nights. Caught up with Roy again who we met and jammed with in Cedeira. He is enjoying cruising down the coast solo. Its been pretty foggy here but we have avoided the worst of it. This morning is foggy so we will delay the next sail till tomorrow and take a look around town with the bikes.
We tried to catch the cable car up to the cathedral on the hill 3 times but each time we went back the attendant said its being fixed, wait 30 mins…

OK so that never happened but its a beautiful place and Jenijane found a beautiful shop full of her favourite things (mostly music boxes )

Ria de Vigo

Left Ribeira in Ria de Arosa around 1100. Not much wind early but we had a nice drift across the bay behind V and Char and Yugi on Merlin. The wind picked up to 20 knots about halfway down and we were cut off by a careless ship that had the gennaker wineglassing around the forestay for a while till we sorted things out.

Wind kept filling in and we had a fast ride all the way to Isla de Ceis where we planned to stop the night. Unfortunately swell and wind were getting into the anchorage so we decided to head into the Ria for some protection. Nice move as the wind backed off once inside and we drifted along with a pod of dolphins for an hour before we anchored. Balrog enjoyed watching them play off the bow, so did Jen and I !

 

After a night anchored at Cangas we headed to Marina Davilla to have the Raymarine Navigation gear checked as it was turning off intermittently, not good when trying to navigate ! It turned out to be a fuse that wasn’t secure, so all good, Sephina cleaned and off to find a nice anchorage.

Marinas are handy for doing groceries, cleaning Sephina and sightseeing on land for a day or avoiding bad weather, but anchorages are a lot nicer place to be.

 

 

Char and Yugi really like Balrog, I think Yugi was a bit angry still because he cleaned some peepee of his shoes with his hand!

 

We headed over the other side of the Ria on the 21st to Punta Subrido. No wind for an hour or so so we drifted back and forth and ended with a 20 knot sail into the anchorage. Probably one of the nicest anchorages we have seen, with a Huge cliff to the North dropping down into clear water, allowing us to anchor close to the cliff, protected from the wind and swell.

 

Jen and I played with the panorama feature of the camera

 

We stayed here for a couple of beautiful days, visited the beach for a swim (nudist beach) , saw some guys playing nude volleyball but decided not to ask if we can play too!

Had a drink in the little cafe overlooking the bay and soaked up some sunshine. We probably should have stayed here longer but we are on a bit of a mission to press on, so next its off to Portugal !

Ria Arosa

We had another nice light wind sail down to the Ria Vigo from Muros with no swell and lots of sunshine. Anchored off Aguino and went for a walk ashore. Aguino is just outside the Ria Arosa and therefore not protected from the swell and Southerly wind as we were to find out at about 7am the next morning when the wind picked up to 25k + and a 2ft wind swell started bouncing us around a bit. I sat up for 4 hrs and took bearings and sweated over the anchor holding, but all was well so I went back to bed for a nap around 1100. I woke 2 hrs later and things had calmed down so we decided to head into the Ria and find a more protected anchorage. The day turned out fine with a nice slow sail up to Carimanal at the NE end of the Ria.

This is the sort of scenery that never really gets boring in the Spanish coast!

 

And this too !

 

The Ria’s are basically the rivermouths of the Spanish rivers. Some are up to 15 miles deep by 10 miles wide, so there is a lot to see and a lot of places to visit and explore, from huge cities to smaller towns to secluded bays. There are quite a lot of Vivero’s (floating mussel rafts) in some parts so its best to navigate them in daylight hours.

We anchored off the very nice little villiage of Carimanal (recomended by the customs guys in Muros) and it was a beautiful place to rest a few days from sailing.

A quiet well protected anchorage with pods of dolphins paying regular visits and a nice little village for some land based treats. The fisherman and women came at low tide to scrape the sand and weed for mussels (hard work !) and didn’t seem to collect much for their labour. The kids sailed their optimist dinghies being herded and looked after my the instructors in the zodiac, like ducklings with their mother hen.

We stayed 5 nights before continuing and heading over to Isla de Arosa, an island in the middle of Ria Arosa, wich was beautiful ! We swam to shore from Sephina and Jenijane practiced her snorkelling with Balrog hot on her  heels. After spending the afternoon there we sailed around to the other side to anchor but it wasn’t suitable, so we headed to the more protected Anchorage at Ribeira, ready to leave the Ria Arosa the following day to continue our Southward Voyages.

 

 

 

 

Muros

Muxia to Muros – Around Cape Finisterre (translates to The End of the World!) and finally off the Cote de la Morte (Coast of Death !!)
We had an easy sail around the Cape with light winds increasing. Flew the Gennaker and added 1.5 knots boatspeed with the wind abeam. 38 Miles in 7hrs. Another almost finished and Free marina ! No power but water will be on tomorrow so we can wash Sephina and prepare for the Ria’s to come. Muros is a very pretty town with lots of nice restaurants and a nice coastal fishing vibe. We stayed 3 nights, Vaughan and Lynda caught up with us so it was nice to see them again. The marina started to charge and all the yachts except us exited so we decided today is agood day to head to our next port of call…Ria Arosa !


Yum !

Laxe

Laxe is a beautiful protected bay and we had a great sail from La Coruna. Jen felt a bit seedy but mainly because she was still recovering from a cold she picked up in La Coruna. We arrived and dropped the anchor just of the beach on a sunny Saturday afternoon and watched the sun set over the quaint spanish town and listened to fireworks and fiestas as they celebrated another win in the soccer euro cup final for Espania! Next day we took the dinghy in and walked along the beach and explored the small township. Jen not feeling great so we are hanging out and relaxing. Balrog enjoying a swim of the transon steps..