PORTO

Well we made the trip to Porto 12 hrs and 72 miles later and anchored in Leixoes. We had a bad night sleep with the anchor drag alarm, it went off about 8 times and each time one of us got up to investigate because we were so close to a wall. Eventually we got up 6am and waited till the marina opened next to us, both very tired and needing a good night sleep we headed in. The marina is connected to the commercial port a bit noisy very dirty and smelly but cheap, only 17 euros a night. We moored next to Mirabel II and met the owner Richard. a really nice guy very friendly and knowledgeable about sailing and maintaining yachts, always smiling and coming out with amusing stories.  

The city of port, Graham is in heaven!!!! we just done the tour of a port producer and sampled their wonderful goods, and bought 3 bottles, 1being a nice vintage. The idea is it lasts till Christmas in the Caribbean, we will have to see. Next bar on we are in port mode now sampling Sandemans only 10 more producers to try including Graham's.

Porto- Cascais (Lisbon)

This was going to be our first night sail alone, as the trip is 176 miles. We left at midday after a good breakfast and a shower. The first few hours past slowly with little wind so we took it turns to sleep. When 2am came we had no wind so on went the engine and on it stayed for 17 hrs, without failing. As we rounded the last headland Cabo Raso the wind went mad hitting 30 knots very quickly. First our 1st reef line frayed and failed, as Graham tried to get the main down the halyard broke away and stayed at the top of the mast. As trouble comes in threes our mainsheet managed to free itself and we were stuck with out sail out flying and unable for a time to get control of it. We overcome our problems but now it was dark still blowing 30 knots and we were trying to workout where the marina lights were. First we entered the wrong harbour and although the GPS was showing that we had 4 miles to go we sensed that something was wrong , we were half a mile from a wall!! When  we finally found the Cascais harbour we were fighting against lobster pots that would pop up from nowhere, the lights indicated in the chart where wrong , not properly lit and confusion to find the lights against the city light, what a nightmare!!  Well, we got in to the marina 2 hrs later but we will never come into a Portuguese harbour at night again. Learning curve!!

We spent the day sorting out the reef line, Judit being hoisted up the mast to retrieve the halyard and then pumping out all the diesel from the tank. We were totally exhausted and thought it would be another early night for us, until we heard someone shouting from the opposite pontoon. It was Mike and Carol on Tyrant wanting to come over for a drink. We first saw their boat in Bayona, four hours later we made bed extremely drunk!

Lisbon

With sore heads we caught the train to Lisbon!! Managed to climb up the hills to the Castle of Sao Jorge ,saw the Torre de Belem and the Monumento da Descoberta. Another wonderful city.

The day afterwards we sailed up the River Tejo just to see Lisbon from another angle. It was a lovely sail up with 6 knots of wind. But the return trip we got hit by force 8 winds and limped back to Cascais fully reefed looking at all the racing yachts fully crewed with all their sails out. As soon as we dropped anchor the wind died down , we were soaking wet and shattered again. Then we consoled ourselves with home made sangria.

Sines

The birth place of Vasco de Gama, a renowned Portuguese sailor who first rounded Cape of Good Hope on route to India for the spices trade, everything is named  after him. A very Portuguese town with a nice citadel, where Vasco was born ,we anchored here for 3 nights. Judit even managed a swim of 2 minutes, but hot waters were yet to come. Although it had a limited choice of shops for provisioning, the town is very unspoilt and kept its character. There is a big fruit and fish market  but by the time we managed to find it was almost shut down for the day.

Lagos

We rounded Cabo Sao Vincent without a problem but without wind, a bit of swell but not what we imagined it to be. Maybe the getting up at 2am made the difference, so we got there before the Nortada ( northerly winds that gust in the afternoon) started to blow just before 1 pm. Lagos has got a wonderful natural landscape with its cliffs and caves. We anchored  for a night just outside the city, a really sandy beach before pulling into the marina in the morning. A very expensive marina at 38 euros a night, the dearest we have encountered.  The town is horribly tacky with English bars, English breakfasts everywhere, gone is the real Portugal and I presume it will be like this for a while. We have loaded up on water, beer and food so hopefully we can just view the scenery not the towns.

Well that is Graham's point of view, the town has a nice citadel with a fort, and although touristy it has lot of character with its cobbled streets  and typical Portuguese buildings. The marina itself is a feature of the city, a lifting bridge links it with the town. Obviously the main feature are the grottos and caves of the Ponta da Piedade. The next day we headed out there dropping the anchor and exploring the caves with our inflatable. The temperature is soaring , there is a big difference from Lisbon, we even had to gatecrash the swimming pool of the hotel adjacent to the marina to refresh ourselves. Now Judit didn't want to get out of the sea, the water temperature was 27 degrees!

We were lucky enough to be in Lagos for the 29 of August, on this day the city celebrates the Festa do Banho 29, when farmers and locals descend  to the beach for a dip in the sea in the evening, this tradition has been followed for generations. when they dip on this day they do not have to take a bath for 29 more days.. Anchored at the Praia do Sao Roque we heard the concert near the fort and saw the spectacular fire works at midnight from the best spot in town! On  our last night a German boat anchored next to us, we were the only boats anchored on the entire bay. His name was Ditti, from Stuttgart and apart from sailing he also free dives and spear fishes, as deep as 25 metres. 

Faro

It was extremely hot and  the winds were unfavorable making the trip very difficult, before making Faro we stopped for a night in Albufeira. A brand new marina next to a bustling town but the marina was like a ghost town. So far it has a shopping complex adjacent which is complete empty, a few colorful apartments next to it, also empty. It is 20 miles from Faro, so good flight connections . Maybe in 5 years it will be an exclusive place.

The journey to Faro was interesting, with caves and sandy beaches carved in between rocks as landmark. We made the entrance of the Cabo Santa Maria at late afternoon, there is a little channel in between bars  that opens into a estuary. The anchorage that we had chosen was in front of Ilha da Culatra. It was very crowded with yachts, about 30 of them  from all nationalities, but very quiet . The heat was unbelievable, we never managed to make Faro, but with a dinghy and a ferry ride we made Olhao. There are two markets, a fruit and vegetable and a fish market, where we stocked up. During low tide the sand banks came up together with cockle pickers and fisherman changing the scenery from high tide. Next day  we were up for a rest day due to the heat  in the afternoon we went to the Ilha da Culatra beach for a swim. That was a deserted beach that stretched for miles. The Ilha itself was completely unspoilt, a real fisherman's village, with one chapel, two roads, carved in sand dunes, transport was old battered tractors. We had a  barbecue dinner and lots of beer  for only 21 euros . Leave the best for the last, that is how we end our trip in Portugal.