Well it`s been a while since the last update but here is the latest. Sailed from La Coruna on the Atlantic side of Spain to Povoa de Varzim near Porto on the North part of the Portugese coast, a journey of 30 hours or so and tied up in the marina there. Very relaxed and friendly place. An old fishing village that over time has grown and now is a busy tourist and commercial centre. We met lots of friendly boat people and had quite a social time, spending 9 days in total there which included a surf, getting computer issues sorted out buying a couple of fold up pushbikes and riding to nearby beaches and towns such as Villa de Conde a few klms along the coast.
We were told that we missed a really good area between La Coruna and Povoa de Varzim which is in Spain close to the Northern border of Portugal so we sailed 10 hours North to Baiona and spent 5 days exploring the area, dropping anchor in a different place every night. The scenery here was spectactular with large estuaries and islands with sandy beaches and rugged coves. An absolute highlight as you can tell by the pics.
Had a fantastic sail back to Povoa de Varzim with 15 to 20 knot breeze coming from behind and our balooner sail working perfectly providing us with 7 hours of comfortable sailing in perfect sunshine averaging 8 knots-perfect!
From there we moved on down the coast but had to take shelter from a force 9 gale in a marina for a couple days at Leixoes. This was quite an experience with the marina not coping with the conditions. Everyone up all night adjusting lines and lashing the marina together as it slowly broke apart in driving rain, wind and swell. Luckily the marina survived the storm although there was quite a bit of damage to the pontoons and some boats had fittings ripped out and suffered dings as the boats slammed into the pontoons. We were ok though with plenty of heavy lines and fenders and managed to come out unscathed except for sleep deprivation.
With another gale forecast a few days later we all cleared out and sailed down the coast about 30 hours South to Cascais where we are now sitting it out waiting for the next storm to pass. This marina is much more substancial and well protected so we are fine here. Also the town just near Lisbon is very, very nice. Again a mixture of old and new but extremely well kept and some fantastic scenery.
So here we are for a few days before we head further South and then across to Morocco to prepare for our Atlantic crossing which is scheduled for mid November subject to weather. Oh sorry forgot to mention that we are no longer planning to go into the med since we have spent so much time on this coast and would prefer to spend some time in Morocco. The med will have to wait until another time.
That`s all for now and cheers from Craig and Julie.
