CASCAIS TO LISBON FRIDAY 30TH SEPT 2016 18 Nautical Miles 4 hours

What a fantastic journey up the Rio Tejo! I think it’s approx. 2 miles wide and all along our port side bank were towns, a mixture of traditional orange tiled roofed houses and high rise modern apartments. We had a very simple journey, only 18 nautical miles, but we had to watch out for tankers and commercial shipping, however on our day the river was pretty quiet. We had some highlights, a couple of ancient forts flanked both our sides warning us of shoals, sandbanks and indeed our depth gauge dropped considerably going over them! As we neared Lisbon we motored past the Torre de Belem a huge square fairytale tower, then we passed the monument to the Discoveries, though this is currently being renovated and it was under scaffolding. The most awe inspiring sight was going underneath the Ponte 25 de Abril suspension bridge, spanning one side of the river to the other, carrying vehicles and trains, luckily it has a clearance of 70metres, but by crikey when we went underneath it still felt too close for comfort! On the starboard side there is a towering statue of Christ. We were so lucky to see these sights from the river. We also passed the neoclassical Triumphal Arch at the top of which is a sculpture of Glory crowning Value and Genius, we could just get a peak between the arches of Augusta Street, the main street of this particular district. We had already reserved our berth at the Marina Parque das Nacoes. This Marina has a lock entrance system re-opened in 2009 due to the silting problems. There was a major dredging effort in 2014. To avoid the strongest currents in the river and for negotiating the locks we were advised to arrive two hours either side of high water. As requested, we radioed the Marina advising them we were here. The Marina then sends a Marinero in a boat out to us to guide us through the lock. We could feel the strong current as he pulled up close by us. We had been advised by the Marina that we would be against a portside pontoon so I’d put out fenders and mooring ropes on that side. The Marinero motored alongside us and said we needed fenders on the starboard side! We asked if he was sure, he doubled checked, the Marina had made a mistake and I had very quickly indeed swap the lines and fenders over, the lock was only a matter of minutes away! As he shouted instructions to us, we took our eyes off the ball…… BANG!!!!!!! What the hell???!!!!! Terry and I looked towards the bow to see the top of a big green starboard buoy bouncing past us!!! The Marinero assured us there was no damage to our hull, we were quite shaken and we still had the narrow lock to negotiate, talk about being rattled!! We’ve never hit anything yet, we’d have been watching out normally, but in the fender dialogue, we didn’t keep watch for the buoy, which we knew was close by. Terry was not a happy bunny, understandably so. We couldn’t give this anymore thought was the narrow lock was open for us. The tide flowed across it, so we had to go through on full power quickly, to avoid getting swept sideways into the wall! Suddenly we were through the lock and into the Marina. We moored up at the pontoon where four of our East Atlantic Rally friends were waiting for us, they found our bump hilarious of course! Luckily the only sign of impact was a two inch scrape of green paint on our anchor, nevertheless, once we were safely tied up I was requested by the Captain to open a beer for him!!!!

 

POVOA DE VARZIM TO AVEIRO FRI 23RD TO SAT 24TH SEPT 2016 52 Nautical miles, 8 1/2 hours. AVEIRO TO FIGUERO DE FOZ SAT 24th SEPT 2016 36 Nautical Miles, 7 1/2 hours

 

Leaving Povoa de Varzim was a very easy motor down, averaging about 5.5 to 6knots, down the sandy coast. The depth was too shallow for our friends the dolphins, even though there must be plenty to eat judging by the sheer volume of markers and buoys indicating something, a lobster creel or crab pot was underneath somewhere just waiting for our prop to snag one. We listened to our downloaded eclectic range of music under a sunny sky. Sounds idyllic, but we prefer to sail!

Things livened up as we entered Aveiro.

Aveiro has an interesting history, its estuary is made up of salt marshes and sand spits. The fishing port was an ancient Bishopric and the town prospered from fishing off Newfoundland and salt, until a storm in the 16^th century effectively closed its entrance. It was reopened early in the 19^th century and Aveiro recovered its prosperity. We’ve seen salted cod everywhere, in markets and supermarkets, huge pieces of cod, at least two feet long and as wide, a couple of inches thick, how on earth they get them home on the bus I’ve no idea. Unyielding, flat, thick, grey and white slabs of whole cod, gutted and minus their heads. Like a shirt left to freeze on a washing line overnight in a hard winter, the cod lies stiff with salt on shelves to be manhandled into a shopping basket clearly not designed for triangular solid flat shapes. The cod is then soaked in basins of fresh water which is changed regularly, rinsing the salt out so it can be eaten, convenience food they are not, they do taste delicious though.Terry has had some, a real meaty texture and clearly a local food staple. I like this. In our world of perfect veg, prepacked, prewashed,sanitised food, here’s a food you have to work for! Forget popping your fork through plastic and bunging in the microwave, salted cod sneers at your microwave, here’s history, lying defiantly under today’s electric overhead lighting, no matter how attractively it’s presented, salted cod remains unchanged and you have to wrestle it, salted cod demands some of the effort those fishermen put in to land it in order to make it your evening meal!

Nowadays, this is a busy commercial and industrial area, albeit on a small scale. We could see a double ended ferry coming across where we were heading, a safe distance away, then it stopped. We wondered why, suddenly the tanker just up river which looked stationery certainly wasn’t! We stopped in time as a tanker passed within a 100 yards of us, it’s pilot launch nudging the tankers side, like a farmer gently herding a slow cow along a path into the next field. As soon as the tanker passed, the ferry sped across the Canal to collect its passengers and vehicles and we easily anchored inside the little breakwater bay area. We arrived just in time as two Swedish boats arrived. We all squeezed in alongside the tangle of mooring buoys and little boats, and tucked ourselves up for an overnight anchorage.

Woke to mist! Hmmmm….. we didn’t want to stay on the anchor for a day, we had reasonable visibility, no need for me to go and sit gnomelike at the bow. At 0920 we hauled anchor and wove our way through the little moored fishing boats into the main Canal da Embocadura, canal in Portuguese means channel. Through the light mist we could see many little open topped fishing boats darting about the channel, I stopped counting after 40, totally unperturbed of the busy industrial area they were fishing in. We eased our way into the channel, at the same time a Pilot boat roared up behind us, and in a very cool controlled manner, came up alongside us, held our pace and one of the Pilots onboard asked us in English to keep to the South side of the Channel, which was unusual, normally you pass port to port. He explained a tanker was coming up the Channel and our moving to the south side would ease the passage of the tanker. As we’d experienced a tanker at close quarters coming in, we agreed happily! He thanked us, ducked back inside the cabin of the Pilot boat and very rapidly accelerated into the mist. Ahead, in the distance we could hear the plaintive horn of what we assumed must be the tanker. Like skating boatmen insects on a pond, the fisherman continued darting around, stopping where it suited them, even in the middle, the deepest part of the dredged Channel, they fished! Out of the mist loomed, things do loom don’t they in a mist, came the tanker, so we eddied along the  banking, keeping out of the way of folks fishing with rods on the land side of the Channel and out of the way of the tanker! We were radioed by the Harbour Master, thanking us for keeping to the South and wishing us a good time in Portugal! An unnecessary radio call to us, but typical of the Portuguese people, friendly and good mannered.

Once past, we motored out, by now we were used to the small boats, outboard engines whining as they buzzed around us. One to four men in a boat, the wide rolling wash from the tanker didn’t put them off their routine, with fishing lines drooping over the side and fags dangling from their mouths, neither fish nor fag were in a hurry to complete their job of providing a buzz of satisfaction to the fisherman.

If we thought there were quite a few boats in the Channel it was nothing compared to the sheer volume gathered around the entrance to the Harbour! Over a 100! How did their lines not tangle? They were a noisy, energetic crowd, I loved it, seeing the history of generations of families carrying on the same work as had been done for decades. All waved to us, even pipping their horns if they had one, it was joyful, sharing a common bond, the sea.

 

 

 

 

CASCAIS WED 28th & THURS 29th SEPT 2016

Lovely readers of our blog have asked how do I go about writing one. I keep a daily handwritten diary, which I started when Terry and I began sailing together. Being a lady of a certain age I forget stuff, and a bit of a daydreamer. It’s not unusual for me in a moment of panic to check I’m actually dressed properly when out in public. Over the three years we’ve been sailing it’s handy to refer back to, be that the week we were stuck in marina in Ireland for a week due to the lousy weather or particular jobs we did on the boat. Or, for stuff we’ve bought for use on the boat, packed it somewhere safe and cannot for the life of us find it, but we’ve proof we did buy it and it never left the boat!! Then from the diary I write up a blog on the laptop. Then I match photos to go with each story. This then gets posted when we’ve internet. Simples. Today it’s the 4^th Oct and we’re in Madeira, and I’m going to write about our time in Cascais from days ago! Where does time go?! Terry’s fixing a hole in the base of our dinghy where it got snagged on rocks in Cascais, we’re planning to leave Madeira Thursday. Tomorrow will be provisioning, laundry,cleaning inside and out,checking boat over,fixing and attaching new bits to the boat we’ve bought in Madeira, filling up with water, refuelling, and that’ll be our whole day so in the vain attempt to be up to date when we reach Madeira, I’m going to give you a whistle stop experience of Cascais! Or maybe not, Terry’s just said through the main hatch “I’ll need you to give me a hand with the dinghy in a bit”….

CASCAIS

We anchored in strong 25knot winds, we had to shout at each other, Terry at the bow controlling the anchor, me at the helm, however the wind was so warm, something we’d not experienced for some time!

Cascais is a beautiful place, the Marina is incredibly smart, with a helipad and separate pontoon for megayachts! We were anchored so no fees, great! Our first job was to register being in Cascais. We walked round the seafront into a pretty square with sandstone fronted elegant buildings and found the Policia Maritima office. Two policemen were stood by a small coffee machine, dispensing expresso coffee into small cups. Having worked with the Traffic Police in our Isle of Man Police Headquarters, I understood how important the morning brew is to a Policeman. No tea stained mug for them, oh no, they have little express cups, which they took to the door opening out into the square. Here they could stand, watching and bantering with two guys who were pushing a barrow laden with buckets of water filled with huge fish, the water slopping out onto the street as the barrow went by. Their coffee was drunk with an accompanying cigarette slowly being dragged as they watched what was going on. We waited politely with our papers and passports. After 10 minutes, they came in and with a cordial air gave us their attention. They copied our passports and papers, asking where the Isle of Man was, a question we’ve got used to, and where was the last port we’d been to. Then we were asked to go to the ladies in the office next door. There was a ticket system to enter the ladies office, luckily we were next. Two ladies copied our passports and papers and asked the same questions……. The Policeman who copied our documents popped his head round from another door to their office, confirming he’d copied our documents too. There was a lot of computer keyboard tapping from their side and form filling on our side, in duplicate. We were asked had we paid any tax in previous ports? No. Ok, we will therefore have to pay a “lighthouse and buoyage tax”. This tax covers maintaining the navigation systems in Portugal. We waited pensively, hoping we’d enough cash to pay this tax. The two ladies looked at us, then looked at the computer, it was like waiting for the results of a winner on a game show. They deliberated and took their time, checking figures, it wasn’t looking good for us….. With a laugh, the lady with the best English said, “I’m sorry to have to tell you the tax required is……… Euros2! We were incredulous! What???? Euros2?? Yes indeed. The ladies had the good grace to laugh at the nonsense of it all, acknowledging the administration costs far outweighed the gathering of the tax! So, after nearly 40 minutes, we were free to go. We thanked them and with merriment in their eyes, they wished us a good stay in Cascais. I think our visit made their day as much as it did ours!!

Paddleboarding

A friend of ours, Tim, has a brother here, Nick who runs Surf n Paddle, a paddleboard centre on the beach in Cascais. We were to have a paddle board lesson with him. The paddle boards are similar to surf boards, slightly wider. Nick handed us over to his assistant Lea. Lea remained looking stunning in a big hat and bikini, totally at one on a paddle board. Despite our best endeavours at looking like we knew what we were doing, the sun worshippers lying on their towels and loungers knew we were faking, this could be entertaining! Lea took us through the basics with the paddle boards, how to get on the board, then get onto our knees on the board, and master standing up, and getting us to “row” as we stood on our boards in the sand. Easypeasy on dry land! We then took our boards out onto the water, pushing them through the small surf. First challenge is getting onto the board in the water, Lea had shown us what to do so we managed to clamber onto the board, then onto our knees! Ok….. with wibbly legs, I stood up, YESSS!!! I glanced at Terry his legs were a bit shaky but he was up too! Once our legs had settled on the board we placed our hands on the oar, and stood as steadily as we could as we dug the oar into the water and rowed a few strokes each side of the board so we could go in a reasonably straight direction. Once we got the hang of it, we really enjoyed ourselves! Lea took us round the bay, it was a great opportunity to row round some of the other boats anchored near us and we managed to stay upright! We paddled back to where we started, even managing to surf in on the boards, the watching sunbathers didn’t get the entertainment they’d hoped for! They didn’t bargain on how competitive Terry and I are with each other!!

Due to the wind, the anchorage was rather rolly, so once again we bailed out into the main cabin to sleep, bit of a theme here!

 

 

 

FIGUEROA DE FOZ TO PENICHE MONDAY 26th SEPT 2016 51 Nautical Miles 10 1/2 Hours

Once again, we had wall to wall sun but……virtually no wind! It’s said by fishermen that whistling brings wind, maybe that’s what we need to do! We were en route to Cascais so we would spend tonight at anchor, ready for an early start the following day. Motoring is not what Sisu is about, it also costs us more in diesel! It does give time to watch the sea state and the wave patterns. The sea state changes depending on wind direction, tides and interestingly, what’s underneath. On land we are accustomed to seeing hills, mountains, flat areas of ground, however the seabed isn’t flat, there are mountain ranges too. And our seas reflect this topography. Along this coastline is an undersea canyon that comes within half a mile of the land and we crossed it! It has a maximum depth of 5,000 metres, and is about 230  kilometres,140 miles long. At the point we crossed it, it was over 617 metres deep, about 2,000 feet deep, called Canhao da Nazare,  the only deep water canyon in Europe that runs all the way to the shore, funnelling large swells from the Atlantic Ocean.  To put that into context our highest mountain on the Isle of Man, Snaefell is 620 metres high, so… this canyon is as deep as Snaefell is high! It was here in 2012 that the world record was set for the largest wave ever surfed was set, on a 100ft wave. As we crossed it, the waves became very turbulent, we could see a huge flock of gannets diving into the water, we’d never seen so many and so active before, and in amongst the explosions of the dive bombing gannets were some dolphins feeding, a real food frenzy! There was obviously a lot of fish in one relatively small area, Terry thought the sea could be surging up from the bottom of the canyon, creating a cycle, bringing a flow of nutrients into the water, the fish then go after the nutrients, the gannets go after the fish! I was lucky enough to catch a photo of a dolphin lunging out of the water surrounded by gannets, he was absolutely focussed, no time to play with us! If you look on Youtube, Biggest waves ever surfed – Nazare, you can see the incredible effect of the canyon inshore, we were lucky that day that the weather was good!

We can also see where the wind is, or not. The waves ripple with breezes and we prick up a bit, perhaps we could sail, however recently we seem to be finding that when we switch off the engine, and oh the silence is lovely, that our GPS indicates our speed has dropped to 3 knots from 5.5 knots under motor, and our estimated time of arrival increases by two hours! The engine gives a false sense of wind speed and direction, darn. With shoulders slumped we reluctantly re start the engine….. time and time again……. But later on in the day the wind was with us and we could sail, the first proper sail for weeks! We were surfing down big waves in an 8 ½ tonne boat, hitting between 8 and 10 knots, excellent! Sisu was having a blast! It was so good to hear the sea rushing under her hull, looking behind us the waves rose up higher that we stood, 2 to 3 metres high, not scary though, the swells are long, not like the short, jaws snapping at your ankles waves we get in the Irish Sea, where Sisu can’t get into a rhythm and settle herself. The horizon would vanish, a boat further away from us would disappear into a trough then reappear perched on the swell of a wave, and we were doing to same. We already had the mainsail out, with a reef to keep her stable, now we could get the headsail unfurled on the port side. I was given the instruction to let out the headsail a bit more, as I stood at the winch, letting the headsail out a bit more, suddenly there were 7 or 8 dolphins about 10 feet away, as one they leapt out of the waves! What a sight! The times when I don’t have my camera ready!!!! I squealed “OOOOHHHHH Dolphins!!” Terry barked at me “Never mind the ******* dolphins, focus on the headsail!” I had been watching the headsail as I let the halyard out a bit more, but I couldn’t help but glance at this wonderful sight, I’ve never seen so many dolphins diving out of a breaking wave like this before, curses and damnation I couldn’t photograph it! You’d just have had to have been there, that’s all I can say…..

The wind stayed with us as we reached Peniche, an important fishing port with a large harbour. According to the Pilot book its not picturesque, as it was getting dark by now it didn’t matter! We slowly motored into the harbour, which had a pontoon, but sailing boats were already rafted together and we didn’t want to raft up to another boat. The fishing fleet was coming and going and there was a wide tangle of floats and ropes on either side of the harbour entrance. We decided to drop anchor outside the harbour wall, out of reach of the fishing boats wash and noise. We’re usually pretty slick at anchoring, but the bottom was sandy, there was a strong wind and the nearby shore with heavy breaking rollers was just too close for comfort, we thought we’d give it an hour and review the situation. I’d just started to cook tea when Terry said let’s move, I trust him and fully agree, we’d rather spend another hour getting the position and anchor sorted than just leave matters to chance, so, turning off the gas on the hob, we got our warm gear back on and hauled up the anchor again after an hour, and the second drop was secure. Our position was the best given the conditions. We were joined by two other boats, and boy oh boy we all rolled together in the swell! Terry got his flopper stopper out once more, we never thought we’d be using it so early in our journey! This helped, and despite the rolling, we did actually get some reasonable sleep. I braced myself, spread out like a starfish against the sides of the fore cabin whilst Terry bailed out and managed to stay on the narrow bed in the main cabin without rolling onto the floor. The main cabin is the steadiest part of the boat, being the widest, but I was comfy and reluctant to move! There really is a sense of the total ridiculous in these situations, it’s a why the hell are we doing this?????

The following morning was a rather slow start to the day due to the weather not being terribly great, we’d got quite spoilt with the sunshine!  We checked the weather forecast, we were good to go, so feeling quite good considering, after a good breakfast, we left the other two boats to wallow and set off for Cascais with winds we could sail in. Hurrah!

 

 

FIGUERO DE FOZ 25th & 26th SEPT 2016

Figuero de Foz for us will be memorable for two things, the unhurried friendliness of the Marina Officer and simply the best food we’ve eaten since we left the Island.

The marina was packed, there had been a yacht race from Aveiro to Figuero de Foz, in fact we’d been caught up in it, and yachts were coming in thick and fast into one side of the marina. Luckily the marina officer waved his arms wide and said we could simply pick where we wanted to stay, we chose the other section of marina which was quiet and easy to get in and out of!

In the evening we walked up and down the relatively deserted streets. The town had a feeling of end of season tiredness. Not much choice foodwise, by the huge Casino was overpriced restaurants or burger style, extra wide tv, snack bars. We persevered and found food heaven! Volta & Meia (they’re on Facebook and Tripadvisor) has a style of it’s own, with the food and interior, Portugese and contemporary. The ceiling lighting was simply thick black electric lighting cables draped from the centre, the lights suspended above each table, creating a flattering light, so unique! In a town that had shut down for winter, Volta & Meia had a steady flow of people, local and tourist. We chose garlic bread with honey, who’d have thought this could work so well! The restaurant is owned by two ladies who love to cook and have busy jobs in the medical professions. The restaurant is their relaxation after they finish their working day. They’ve created, with love, the whole menu, and are hands on with preparing the food too. We had divine seafood pate, Terry chose Black Pork, which we know as wild boar served with wonderfully cooked cabbage in flavoursome olive oil, I had a whole sea bass, both were accompanied by roast new potatoes which I would consider selling my soul for. Pudding is always my favourite part of the menu, the girls once again had put their own spin on deserts. Terry chose a luscious custard tart, I had 3 chocolate pudding, served in a jam jar! Just gorgeous. They deliberately don’t make the puddings too sweet, a good move, chocolate can be cloying and sickly, not in this case, I could’ve eaten several. The evening was smooth, friendly and their timing between courses perfect. A bottle of their very good house red is just Euros 7. We had 2 starters, 2mains, 2 deserts, 2 bottles of red (sometimes you just feel like another bottle!), 2 glasses of port and coffee everything utterly delicious and only Euros50!!  The menu is not large, everything is cooked to order from a small, well run kitchen you can see into, always a confident sign in a restaurant, and the girls are fully hands on with cooking as well as being front of house. The steady turnover means everything is fresh and just excellent, we loved it so much we went back the following evening something we would normally never do.! This time Terry had local cheese in basil olive oil, which was beautifully presented in a little jam jar. We just had to have the garlic bread with honey again, then local salted cod, a really decent portion and I had a plump chicken breast with basil sauce, divine!!! Pudding wise, Terry chose the chocolate desert I’d had and I chose 3 fruit desert, both served in jam jars, I love this idea! Similar to a cheesecake, but more brulee style filling with a fruit compote, I’m running out of superlatives here, suffice to say I wish we could have taken some with us! However…… I had spied their home made chocolate cake on the counter, so bought 2 slices, the girls boxed them up for us, shaking icing sugar and their special chocolate, toasted nut sprinkles over them too, not just your average cake! Only one bottle this time though, we were off next day, again very reasonable price. If we ever visit Figuero de Foz again we shall be blazing a trail to Volta & Meia. If you’re in the area, please do call in to have a meal at this restaurant, you won’t be disappointed!

Tomorrow, with delicious chocolate cake as a midpoint treat, we were off South again to Peniche, an overnight stop on route to Cascais.

 

POVOA & PORTO 20 to 22 SEPTEMBER 2016

Povoa de Varzim is a lovely, quiet small marina with Marina staff who speak excellent English, good rates, we paid Euros 58.98 for 3 nights including electricity, water and only Euros 2.50 for a washing machine and tumble dryer. It’s got an active boatyard, the area around the Marina office and shower block has a large number of boats on stands being renovated, some are way past being a project. There is a sense of progressive upgrading going on too, the showers are in what looks like the old Marina building, with the new, modern, airy office nearby. Security to our boats is high tech, we used fingertip ID to get through the gates! We were made very welcome and enjoyed the peace of this little Marina.

We’ve chose here rather than go on to Porta, a large Marina as it would be cheaper and we could easily visit Porta by the above ground Metro and bus system, a 24hour ticket was only Euros7 each and was much more fun! We spent a day in Porta,the second largest city of Portugal. The Pilot book describes Porta as “rising magnificently above the gorge at the mouth of the Douro.” It certainly does! Porto is extremely hilly, swooping down to the river mouth where you can see long boats lined up against the quay filled with Port casks. Porto has a long standing connection with the wine trade, flourishing in the 18^th century, after English merchants began to lace the best Douro wines with brandy. On the other side of the Douro, there are cable cars running across one side of Gaia to the other, so we had to go in one! Better still, we got a free glass of port included in the ticket! What a fantastic way to view Porta, there 4 to 5 bridges crossing the Douro, the bridge nearest the cable cars was very similar to the Eiffel Tower in construction, incredible! We were able to walk along the top of it on our way back into Porta, the Metro runs parallel to the walkway, excellent disregard for health and safety!

Visiting the Mercado do Bolhao, a traditional market, rather like rows of ancient old fashioned greenhouses set in a partially covered square. We walked up and down the narrow alleyways between the stalls overflowing with flowers, fish, all types of olives, beans, souvenirs, breads, cheeses, strings of pungent bright red peppers strung up like bunting, even live chickens! Right in the middle is a bustling café, the girls waiting on were lively, friendly and darted between the tables, chattering away like starlings as they took care of their customers. We ordered sardines, the plates arrived heaving with buttery, cooked to perfection waxy potatoes, big sardines, fragrant tomatoes, lettuce you could actually taste with a delicate dressing, accompanied with freshly baked bread. In such simple surroundings, paper tablecloths we had a superb meal, washed down with half a litre of local red, of course! Porto was a curious mix of empty and lived in dwellings with the traditional tiled fronts and sky dishes, to stunning architecture in the grand buildings in the middle of the city, to an utterly modern shopping centre not unlike any you’d find in a UK city! If you ever visit this coast of Portugal, take time to go and visit Porto, we thoroughly enjoyed our day there.

So, having recharged our batteries from sunstroke, washed down Sisu again, …… caught up on the washing again…….yup, you’re starting to realise there’s a pattern to our day to day life, we have regular jobs to do, just as we do at home!  It’s time to move on, we’ve had 3 good days here, met more lovely people, hearing their stories and sharing ours, I know we’ll meet up somewhere again in the future. Tomorrow we’re heading for Aveiro, 55 nautical miles down the coast.

BAIONA TO POVOA DE VARZIM 18 & 19 SEPT 2016 55 Nautical Miles 10 1/2 hrs

A lesson learned the hard way!

Our girl is growing a beard, a green one at that, and it’s not attractive! All round Sisu’s water line, she has a border of green weed just above her copper coating. The copper coating prevents weed growing but there’s always the bit above, and if left to grow, creates friction as we sail, slowing down the boat by half a knot or so, this makes a difference over 10 to 12 hours when you are travelling at only 5 knots per hour. So, time to give her a scrub down again before it gets worse. It’s a beautiful sunny day, armed with metal pan scourers, I climb into the dinghy, I’m sure my new M&S tankini wasn’t bought for this job….. and did the first shift, hanging onto ropes, leaning over down at her bow slowly working my way round her ample girth, elbow deep in green seaweedy water. It’s a good chance to top up the tan, physical and strangely satisfying…. A couple of blokes walk past seeing me scrubbing away and say to Terry, “Hey, it’s Sunday you know, time for leisure” Terry, always quick witted replies “It’s ok, it’s not me doing the work!”, oh how they all laugh, fortunately I’ve a broad sense of humour….. and armed with a weed filled scourer……….. Once I’ve worked my way round to the starboard side and in shadow, it’s Terry’s turn, ha ha! She looks good once we’re done and so we take a walk round Monterreal Fort, constructed in the 17^th century on the Monte Boi peninsula. The Celts, Phoenicians and Romans also lived here. It’s a good walk of 3km of crenelated battlement walls, overlooking stunning views of the Atlantic where we’ll be travelling further.

This being our last day here, we decided to try out our new masks, snorkels and fins on one of the pretty nearby little beaches. Walking backwards in fins past toddlers who are splashing about in the water, I still faff getting in, but less so as the temperature is increasing the further south we go! It was fun pootling around the bay in our new snorkelling gear, though not much in the way of things to see. We sunbathe at the base of the fortress, above us is the posh Monterreal Yacht Club restaurant, enjoying heat that we simply don’t get at home. That evening we head into the old streets and enjoy a meal of tuna, pulpo (octopus, urgh)and many croquettes and garlicky potato bravas washed down with a couple of beers. Tomorrow it’s an easy, no wind again, motor down the coast.

We wake feeling really not ourselves, but we crack on, putting it down to both being greedy guts the night before, it was a big meal! The weather forecast was right, there’s no wind and full on sunshine, I rarely am ill, but boy I felt queasy. Our sailing companions, the dolphins, did their utmost to cheer us up, and it worked whilst they played around our stern and bows, but then fish attracted their attention and they were off, leaving us to our dicky tums. I just wanted to lie down on the seats in the cockpit, I felt very poorly, really not me at all. Suddenly I was up like a shot, I’ll spare you gentle readers the details, all I’ll say is that I do tend to favour the starboard side! Terry felt dodgy too.

Finally, we came within a mile of the entrance to Povoa de Varzim, the wind finally picked up! I turned her into the wind whilst keeping enough throttle on to keep her away from the two narrow breakwaters guiding us in whilst Terry took the sail down.

Once in, according to the Pilot book, there are three green starboard buoys, there were only two, and a buoy marking a rock in the middle of the small marina area, there was absolutely no buoy! We had enough water, but rocks lurking under water aren’t always easy to spot from even a short distance away. We left the two green buoys to our starboard side, then we just had to guess where the rocks might be! Suddenly there was shouting from the harbour side opposite us. Sat in a car, a man was shouting and waving his arm. Did he mean us or someone else? Was he warning us? We couldn’t hear him clearly, he kept shouting, we wished he’d get out of his car! We were close now to the marina, very slowly motoring towards a pontoon. But did that little stretch of water contain the rocks? I secured a middle line and stood on the toerail, keeping an eye out for rocky shadows! Still feeling rough I jumped off and held her secure as Terry motored in. Phew! Then the adrenalin stopped and we both felt ill again! As we signed in at the Marina Povoa de Varzim we asked about the rock. “The rock?? Ah yes” the Marina Officer replied in excellent English “there is no marker” “We know that!” “Yes”, he replied, “the marker is being repaired, be back sometime soon”. Checking our charts again, and at low water we could see a sort line of rocks, now we know where to steer round as we leave! The rocky patch is something everyone knows…. Once they’ve tied up! In the couple of days we’ve been here, the buoy is being slowly painted, perhaps it’ll be back in the water for October!

And our sickness? We thought back to the day before, stupidly we’d underestimated the power of the sun and I don’t burn. We’d been out in full sun virtually all day, doh……. We both had sunstroke. That was a very, very, long 10 ½ hour trip….. Lesson learned the hard way, hats, cover up well, drink more water and keep out of the sun for some of the day. Never again, it’s taken us two days to feel ready for a beer!!!!!

 

 

 

BAIONA SAT 17 & SUN 18 SEPTEMBER 2016

Checked out the Marina, Puerto de Baiona, Baiona Sports Harbour properly today. It’s described in the Pilot Book as “popular and a little closer to town than the (swankier,my words) Monte Real Club de Yates, but the planned shoreside development has stalled and the facilities are provided in portacabins.” Yup, we can confirm this as fact, which in itself is ok, the showers in an adjoining portacabin were spotless and once we perfected the entry card technique, quick downward swipe and shove, the security was fine too, on the downside, there was no washing machine, though there was a launderette just down the promenade, and we had to pay Euros50 deposit for a convertor so we could plug in to their electrics. The marina worked off 32amp instead of 16 amp sockets, Terry hasn’t seen 32amp sockets anywhere else! Very strange. There was also a big hike in marina fees between 10 metre and 12 metre. We’re 11.5 metres, so…. We paid the higher rate, marinas tend to work in 1 metre difference in length, a bit naughty. Our cost for 3 nights was Euros 102, I think the most we’ve paid so far. It was peaceful though. Where possible we anchor, it’s more private and free, but there wasn’t room here, however, we weigh the cost up with the long passages we’ll be doing and of course, those nights will be free!!

The weather was fabulous, so we made the most of this historical town. Just across the pontoon is a replica, built in 1993 of the caravel “Pinta”, captained by Martin Alonso Pinzon, one of the three ships including the “Nina” and “Santa Maria” the ship sailed by Christopher Columbus during the 15^th century. Baiona really got the historical Golden Ticket as, “Pinta” was the fastest and on the return voyage after discovering the New World, she landed in Baiona on 1^st March 1493, thus making Baiona the first European port to receive the news of the discovery of America. Throughout the town, there are numerous statues and commemorations to this epic voyage. Interestingly, not only did Capt Pinzon return with new, exotic plants, such as tobacco, aloe, peppers, maize, spices and wildlife, parrots and lizards, even gold, he also had 3 extra rare pieces of cargo, 3 Native Americans. One sadly died when he arrived, and there is a huge monument near the wall of the Monte Boi, the walled fortress, close to where this Native American was buried. Given the incredibly harsh conditions the crew lived with, very little fresh water, in fact they had to drink beer and wine. I’m not entirely convinced this is harsh living, but perhaps one would tire of wine and beer every day, as we all know the New World wines can be excellent. They slept on rough matting on the deck exposed to all weathers. Captain Pinzon had a small cabin. When they reached the New World they discovered the locals slept in comfy, swinging hammocks. Their return sleeping arrangements improved along with chewing tobacco! They could only wash clothing in sea water, towing their well worn clothing behind the ship on a line or in a bucket. Their clothes never properly dried and the salt caused dreadful itching. We were struck by how small “Pinta” is, she is an exact replica, 20 metres/65 feet long, 7 metres/22 feet wide and with a crew of 24 it would have been incredibly cosy. Their diet was meagre, though there was a large open fire with a grill over it to cook meat and bread, though cooking could only be chanced when the ship wasn’t rolling too badly. There was also the constant foul stench from the bilge water collecting in the bowels of the ship. This smell actually gave them some comfort as if the smell was there, then there weren’t any seawater leaks elsewhere on the ship! I can’t imagine the conditions,  can you imagine the thoughts of the three Native Americans?! Also…. The steering was controlled by one steersman high up in the stern of the ship, all he could see was the wake of the ship, via a small square hole. He had to rely on shouted instructions from those on deck! Incredible. When we’re nearing a port, I’m in the cockpit taking the helm, turning Sisu into the wind so Terry can drop her mainsail, if conditions are “bouncy” and blowing a hoolie I can sometimes have a problem hearing Terry shouting “that’s fine” or any other instruction, and he’s not too far away, how on earth the steersman managed I cannot imagine.

Sleeping conditions onboard the “Pinta” lead me nicely into our life on Sisu. Fear not, it is safe to read on, this is a family blog, you may find it insightful! When sailing around the Irish & Celtic Seas back home, though we often sail in rain and damp conditions we don’t have humidity problems. You need warmth for that. We’ve found since the Scilly Isles that just occasionally, our bedding, in particular, the duvet, gets a touch damp. This is due to the warm and  humid conditions. It doesn’t help that we get proper condensation lying on the boat till late morning, more often than not, we’ve gone off the boat somewhere and not been able to air the bedding, or been caught out and not had time to bring it back in before the evening damp air returns! It’s a common sight on a sunny day to see across marinas, or at anchor, people’s mattresses, duvet, sheets and pillows draped all over decks and tied up in rigging! You don’t see the reality of living aboard in the glamorous “lifestyle” adverts for cruising in Yachtie mags! Our beds and pillows are never too damp to sleep in, if you can imagine Bill Sykes and Bullseye coming out of an alley in dank, dense London fog kind of unpleasant, oppressive feeling, not like that, but rather, delicate dewdrops decorating spider’s webs on country side bramble hedges kind of barely there, a sort of light damp. Just enough when you know you’ve not had the bedding out to air, but it’s ok once the bed warms up. The warm fog we’ve had down the Galician coast made turning in a regular 5 minute icky feeling, but catching up on this blog few days later whilst in Portugal, where so far it’s been cooler, we’ve been fine. It’s not an uncommon subject of discussion amongst sailors! But, as I say, compared to the crews of old, perhaps Terry and I have it easy! We also have pictures in the forecabin, a wooden sign with “Free as our sweet mountain air”, a line from our Manx National Anthem, rather fitting too, a card from Terry’s sister stating “Home is where the boat is” and a picture Terry bought for me “Sometimes it’s alright if all you did today was breathe”, a hint for me to slow down! We’re very comfortable on board.

Since being onboard Sisu for some weeks now, we know her every creak and groan and different moorings make for different sounds. Ropes stretch and relax with any swell, be it from passing fishing boats or the tide. Halyards ( the ropes that raise the sails) if not tied properly can be very noisy, they twang, or rattle against the mast, a form of Chinese torture. Or a mooring buoy may bump the hull. Or something could have been left on deck to roll backwards and forwards, and you wonder what on earth that new noise is. A torch was one thing Terry came across the other night, rolling about. Sisu’s vocabulary can be comforting or damned irritating, not unlike ourselves really. You get used to her voice, or use ear plugs. I found a very cheap branch of chemist had the best ones, soft and spongy, so stocked up on them! Terry tends to lose ear plugs, I find them all over the boat, on the chart table, or in the saloon, especially when he’s had to go on deck in the night to sort out “a noise”. The rest of the time I don’t know what he does with them. We have our own version of bedside tables on each side of the forecabin, these are hanging pockets in which we put our “stuff”, kindles, glasses and the like, including ear plugs. His stock of earplugs just vanish. I suspect he dreams of eating marshmallows…………..

PORTOSIN TO BAIONA 16 SEPT 2016 46Nautical miles 9hrs.

Leaving Portosin on a beautiful morning, for the first time we saw the Galician coast! From La Coruna to Portosin, we’ve motored in fog. Now we could see the dramatic coastline, the mountain ranges extending all the way along, how green the coastline is too. Once again we had no wind to speak off, pointless putting up the headsail, though we do, and pull it in again a short while later, the mainsail flapped backwards and forwards, like an impatient racehorse in the gates, wanting to fulfil what she was born for. When we meet up with other sailors, or perhaps motorer’s would be a more appropriate term, the comments are the same, “there’s no wind, we’ve got sailing boats, not motor boats!” During the 9 hours we keep a watch out for floats marking pots, these could be plastic containers or just a big water bottle! They’re dotted haphazardly all along the coast, in deep water, sometimes where the contour line changes, sometimes not, often we don’t see them until one passes by. We are now seeing the big Atlantic swells. Looking back over the stern whilst sat in the cockpit I’m used to seeing large fishing boats disappear into the trough of a swell then reappear high above us, and vice versa. The swells roll on past us, rather like pushing your finger along warm wax that’s dropped onto a table, the surface tension making deep ripples but not enough to break the skin. In between that, we, or rather more the case, I, doze, occasionally tightening the mainsail when it flaps too much. I’m sure we’ll be in for proper sailing and wind in the weeks to come, so I don’t mind an easy run! The weather is fabulous, turquoise skies criss crossed by planes vapour trails, under our lifejackets we’re dressed in shorts, t shirts, light fleeces, crocs, sunglasses and baseball caps. We’ve got cold water bottles instead of warming mugs of tea, very comfortable conditions which more than makes up for the tedium of motoring, and, even better, we have the dolphins again! These boys do seem bigger and beefier than their cousins in the Irish Sea. There’s certainly more fish around here, the number of fishing boats prove that, and the seas are warmer too. They roll and somersault under our boat, in no hurry, unlike our local dolphins, who I’m sure, are leaner and more hardy. The dolphins played around us for an hour or so, but then what’s the hurry? No matter how many times we see them, it’s such an absolute joy! I make no apologies for going on about them, I hope there’ll be more species of mammal to describe in the weeks to come, to break the monopoly the dolphins have at present! Terry has reminded me that we saw what we think are bonito or tuna surfing out of the waves, so the range of sea life is increasing.

We motor past the Islas Cies, these are a group of Islands that are National Parks. You need a permit, which is free, to visit, anchor or dive there. They are a birdlife breeding ground.

The sea livens up for us as we near Baiona. We keep well off the cliffs and rocks stretching out into the sea, deciding to go round the couple of small Islands at the mouth of the bay rather than go between, it’s possible, but with the wind, that has finally picked up, we take the safe option. The entrance into the marina is easy, the long breakwater stops the swell, and we moor up easily, almost next door to the Pinta, a replica of one of Christopher Columbus’s 3 ships which sailed from the New World. Tomorrow we’ll explore, tonight we enjoyed tortilla, and large G & T’s in the old part of the town!

 

 

PORTOSIN 12/15 SEPTEMBER 2016

Portosin is a busy little fishing harbour with a small marina. The fishing boats are immaculate, paintwork pristine, gear on deck clean and up to date. There’s a real sense of pride amongst the fishermen, you get the feeling that the fishing business is healthy here. Most of the crew are mid twenties to early thirties, fishing is no old man’s job! They return early morning and then out again mid afternoon. Sat in a café at the corner of the harbour, we’re surrounded by fishermen, dressed in their civvies of hoody and track pants, smoking, drinking Estrella, Galician beer and enjoying tapas at 11am, a friendly bunch, they greet each other with hand clasps and teasing, a hard working man’s humour between his fellow grafters is universal, it’s a comfortable, warm and lively environment and preferable to that of a tourist café. Along the harbour front is a building, the front of which could have been a large window. This has been removed and the interior is a large dark room, on peering inside we can see it’s full of brown nets and, sat right at the back is one woman, sat mending it. Friends stop by and chat to her, she’s got the full view of the harbour, but what a job!

 

We have some jobs to catch up on. If you’ve a boat, motor home or camper van, you’ll be aware that unlike living at home when you turn on the tap and your fresh water is 99% limitless, on a boat, at some point your cup isn’t going to runneth over and the well runs dry. Our fresh water tap began to gurgle and sound rather strangulated, a sign we’re running low. Ironically, last night we lay in bed listening to torrential rain literally bouncing off the sea around us and filling our dinghy! It rained steadily through the night. We have a tarpaulin water collector packed somewhere on the boat, fitted with a pipe we put into our water tank, next time it looks like rain we’ll be ready! As we’re anchored in the cheap seats, just outside the marina we take our 25 litre water canister and do several trips to the jetty and fill up our 300 litre tank. We just have to watch out for the fishing boats zipping across the harbour to the  Repsol fuel berth.

On long passages, we’ll need a supply of freshwater, however, we’ll be far out of reach of fresh water taps! Terry fitted a water maker and has been waiting for the opportunity of clean seawater so he can fit the membrane to the filter and try it out for the first time. Portosin offers us that opportunity. Simply, when sea water enters the membrane in the water maker casing, which is a long tube, the membrane lets freshwater through, stopping the salt which gets flushed away by the sea water that doesn’t pass through the membrane – a process known as reverse osmosis. Also, the water maker requires steady engine revs, around 1,000, so generally we can’t do it whilst motoring on passage as engine revs can change. However, this is ok, as we only need to run the water maker for 3 hours or so every 5 days. There are 3 filters too, purifying each stage of the process. When trying out something for the first time, there can often be teething problems, this was no exception! Nothing Terry couldn’t fix though. He’s an engineer, and I’ve become convinced he’s never happier than when there’s a problem and he can take machinery apart. The cabin filled with bits of casing and a variety of tool boxes. There was no space left for me so I escaped in the dinghy to find the local chandler and supermarket! Filling the tank by dinghy and fitting the membrane to the new water took us two days, I’m getting used to jobs taking longer on boats, it’s definitely been a learning curve! However, big result, the water maker’s producing fresh water at the rate of 27 litres in 25 minutes!

Another niggle. The bilge pump has been pumping out water from the bilges over the last couple of nights. This is unusual, normally this happens when we’ve been swilling the deck and cockpit down to clean it, so this activity when we haven’t been cleaning the boat down indicates there’s water entering the bilges from somewhere more regularly than normal. Terry suspects one of the sea water foot pumps, like the water maker, we’ve not had the chance to use them for any length of time. We decided to start using them now the waters cleaner and use less fresh water. We can use sea water for washing dishes and general cleaning down. It’s possible to wash clothes too, but they have to be rinsed in fresh, as clothes never feel dry when washed totally in sea water. Not as bad as you think, sea water generally is very clean. I think of back home and how much water we literally “pour down the drain”, here it becomes second nature to be careful. On taking the foot pump apart Terry exclaims with a satisfied  “Ah ha!” as he finds the diaphragm had perished in one area. We’ve still got the other foot pump in the heads and plenty of time yet before we need to use both, we’ll pick up a replacement diaphragm on our travels. We’re lucky that Terry knows what to do, these situations occur, and can, like buses, come in threes, or fours………

We take a break from duties and take the bus, a 10 minute ride into Noia to see the Church of San Martino in Tapal Square, and the Museo Das Laudas, a tombstone museum. we know how to get our kicks! Interestingly, the town of Noia was founded in the time of King Ferdinand 11 of Leon through a Founding Charter granted on 9^th April 1168. This charter enabled them to build a new port and the right to charge certain taxes and tributes. Noia enjoyed a growing mercantile and craft trade, the town changed from a medieval site into a privileged place used as a resting area for the powerful Archbishops of the Domain of Santiago. The place was pretty much deserted when we were there, the Archbishops moved on, I hope they enjoyed eating tapas and drinking wine under and around the arches of the church as we did!

One area of Noia was buzzing though. A stage of the Galician Cycling Tour was passing through, huge wide screens were being erected, enormous speakers belting out muzak and long stretches of fencing was being laid out for the cyclists to hurtle down later on in the evening. I hoped they’d have an audience, we hardly saw anyone!

We’d decided to move on on the 15 Sept, the weather’s not been the best here, on waking fog had again descended. We made an executive decision, we’ve no fixed deadline and had a lie in, tomorrow the weather would be better. We bought a couple of mackerel for Euros2 for both (!) and enjoyed them for tea toasted in oats. Tomorrow Baiona…….