Advertisement
Last Opening of Footbridge in Lagos
This will be the last time we see this footbridge open & close for a long time as left Lagos on May 3rd.Some of you that may have read our other blog, some of this will be a repeat, but we have tried to fill in some of the details for you about our trip thus far since leaving Lagos.
As you may have figured from our previous entries we have been somewhat anxious to get moving again. We definitely enjoyed our stay in Lagos, Portugal but figured it was time to start moving north toward the Baltic. We decided to take advantage of a weather window that was to be 3-4 days long allowing us to start the move north. For those of you sailors that may be superstitious we want to reassure you that even though May 3
rd was a Friday we really weren’t heading north yet – we were just moving to our staging point to start our travels in a northward direction on Saturday. Leaving Lagos about 1:30PM on May 3
rd we traveled along the southern coast of Portugal for only 4 hours til we got to Sagres where we planned on anchoring. This was recommended to us so we could cut down the length of the next day’s travel. All that we read and everyone we talked
Heading Out of the Channel
We are heading out of the Lagos channel to start our travels going north. to suggested that we should be doing day hops up the coast leaving early in the morning and stopping mid-day due to the north winds getting stronger in the afternoon. As we headed into the anchorage Bob found that our windlass wasn’t working. For those of you that don’t know, the windlass is what helps with lowering and retrieving the anchor chain. It had worked when we were back in Lagos, but of course now that we needed it, it didn’t! There is a manual way to turn the windlass by using our winch handle, but when Bob tried that it didn’t work either so we reverted to the fully manual mode of Bob setting the anchor by hand as well as retrieving it. Not the best, but still workable. Bob said it would be his built in exercise program. Unfortunately somehow the winch handle which is supposed to be a floating model went overboard so that was our 2
nd item of bad luck. We figured that was enough for tonight. The anchorage at Sagres is typically known as the staging location for those heading north. There were a total of 4 boats, 1 French, 1 Swedish, 1 British and
The grottos
We do regret not taking the time to kayak through the grottos here in Lagos - next time! us that evening. We tried to contact the others to see about having a buddy boat, but the only one we connected with was the British one called Gazelle. We decided that we would both head out the next morning around 1AM. We were happy to have found another boat to travel with as it is nice to have company.
The wind had died in the night and we finally got our anchor up and out of Sagres about 2AM motoring along the coast with Gazelle close by. Our destination for Saturday, May 4
th was Sines, Portugal. We turned the corner north and later in the day we did get some wind and were able to motorsail. We couldn’t be happier that the wind and sea were down. That may sound strange coming from a sailboat, but typically the wind and waves are out of the north along the Atlantic coast so we were pleased to not have the headwinds as we already had current against us. The first part felt like we were in a washing machine with rocking from side to side and bow to stern, but the sun was out so we didn’t complain too much.
Holiday in Lagos?
Here is a nice spot you can have a holiday in Lagos if you'd like complete with its own beach. By 3:30PM we were settled into the marina at Sines, Portugal. We found this to be a very nice stop. The marina was inexpensive (15 euro), very secure and close to town. We quickly got settled and hiked up to explore the town. Sines had a nice museum to explore and we walked around the birthplace of Vasca da Gama that evening before having a nice visit with Toni and Chris on Gazelle. We enjoyed getting a chance to meet up with them as we only knew them via the VHF radio. In our discussions with them we decided to leave Sines about 6:30 AM the next morning and head to Cascais which is located near Lisbon. In the morning of May 6
th we woke up to no wind and headed out of the marina under motor alone. The seas were flat and we were making good speed north. During the day we realized that we made a mistake by leaving so late as the north wind picked up in the afternoon just as everyone had told us. Guess we need to be sure to heed their advice in the future. We did have a great visit by a
Lighthouse
This coast line has quite a few lighthouses thankfully -this one is the closest to Lagos. large pod of dolphin –they are always fun to watch. We made it to our destination, Cascais, about 6:45PM. It looks like an interesting place to explore but we only anchored here for a few hours so didn’t go to shore.
The next morning at 1:30AM we left Cascais with 0 wind together with SV Gazelle. Today we were headed to Nazare, Portugal which was a distance of about 70 nautical miles so we planned to be there about 3PM. Another dolphin pod joined us and we were able to get a few photos this time. About 12:30PM we talked to Gazelle and they decided to continue north past Nazare as they said the weather continues to look good. We bid them good-bye and then we studied our weather reports as well. After checking ourselves and discussing our options we changed our plans and direction continuing on north as well with Gazelle. Nazare sounded like an interesting town to visit, but we also decided we wanted to take advantage of good weather while we had it. This was going to turn the trip into a much longer one, but one we knew we could handle. Like clockwork in the
Sure is a Beautiful Place
Lagos is an excellent place to visit - you might want to put it on your list of places to come see yourself. afternoon the winds picked up. This continued through the night and rain was added to the mix. The next day, May 7
th continued to have wind so we headed out farther from the coast to get a better angle on the wind for a more comfortable ride. We stayed in touch with Gazelle for part of the day and then we lost contact as they had headed in closer to shore. The winds and sea continued to build so had thoughts of stopping earlier along the Portuguese coast, but many places were not as easy to get into in bad weather so we continued. Our destination was set for Bayone, Spain which is not far from the Portugal/Spain border. We heard that this was an easy harbor to enter in any weather. We were getting winds of 20-25 knots quite steady as well as rain. Not a fun part of the trip but manageable. Winds then got up to 30-35 knots and of course that is the time the autopilot decides to blow a fuse! Janice took the wheel while Bob replaced the fuse and we were able to get the autopilot functioning again. When we rounded the corner where
Watch Out for Fish Farms
This fish farm was close to Lagos - glad we were still in daylight to see it! we should have entered into Bayone the wind and rain were still heavy with very little visibility. We made a quick decision to continue further down the river (Ria da Viga) to another town, Cangas as we felt it would give us more protection as well as a better place to get parts for the windlass.
We are very happy that we changed our plans as the marina here in Cangas is well protected with a very welcoming staff. We found out today there are 2 marine stores within easy walking distance as well as 2 well-stocked grocery stores. The tourist bureau also gave us some great ideas of places to see and where we could go hiking. This looks like a place we can easily spend some time. There are a few islands close by that are part of the national park system that we can get to by ferry so we may do that as well. We are finding that the weather is cooler here so we may slow down our pace for our northern trek and enjoy the area. We have also gotten out our Spanish phrase book as we need to convert from using our
Light Over the Coast
Morning will be greeting us soon while heading up the coast of Portugal. Portuguese in the shops. Wish us luck on getting the windlass fixed so we can then have time to enjoy the area.
The following has been cut and pasted in from our other blog that we use while sailing - I have included it here for our benefit of having this as our complete journal. You may still want to scroll down as there are more photos included below.
Morning of May 7th We are still at sea with winds of about 17-20 knots and seas of about 3-4 feet and things are going well even though we are "rocking and rolling some". With the direction of the wind we had to go farther out to sea to get a more comfortable ride, now that it is daylight we have adjusted the sails again and heading toward our destination. The estimated time of arrival now is anywhere between 9-11 hours from now. I am writing this at 7:30 AM our time.
We saw lots of freighters and fishing boats out last night and had a couple of hard downpours in the early, dark hours of the morning. It is much clearer now and we are looking
Sunrise and Mountains in Portugal
Portugal definitely does have a beautiful and varied coastline. forward to getting in to port later today.
It is funny how even though we have been to sea before there sometimes are things that "tumble" with the movement of the boat. We had a couple of very small items that we never would have thought would have fallen fall - each time you never know what movements the boat will actually make and we haven't seem to figure them all out yet. Sleeping last night was a challenge as we were rocking back and forth as well as from side to side - we definitely didn't get sound sleep, but we rested. I am sure we will sleep well tonight when at anchor. I think we will welcome a few days of "bad" weather for sailing so we can stay put for a couple of days and do a little exploring as well. Will keep you all posted as best we can.
Saturday, May 4, 2013 We have left Lagos! Well, we are on our way and are really enjoying being back on the water again. We left Lagos Marina on Friday, May 3rd about 1PM and headed down the coast about 20 miles to
Sunrise
It looks like there is cut in the mountains for the sun to rise out of here! Sagres. We anchored there for a few hours and then got moving at 2AM on Saturday May 4th as the north winds had died down. We were fortunate in finding another boat heading in our direction so we have company going up the coast. It is always nice to have another boat out here with us as we check in with each other during the day. We had to motor a good part of the day and felt as if we were sitting in a washing machine, but then later on in the day we were able to have a very pleasant sail - what a great day! We made it to Sines about 5PM and checked into the marina here. We quickly got changed and headed into town to do a little exploring. As Bob said we are now back into our explorer mode and are enjoying it already. As we were at the dock we also got a chance to meet Chris and Toni on the other boat (Gazelle) that is traveling north with us. It was nice to put a face with a voice and start to get to know them better. Our plan is to leave
here about 6AM tomorrow and head to Cascais which is close to Lisbon (about a 10-11 hour trip for us). We will anchor out there and then the next day more again for 14 hours to Nazare. We are pushing quickly now as we have a good weather window and trying to get some northing done. It looks like some weather will be stopping our move north soon and picked Nazare to stop in as it looks like there are some things to do and see there. Hopefully the information we have read will hold true.
Take care & will stay in touch as much as we can.
May 5 - Looks like my message above did not get sent so will update you. We did leave Sines at 6:30AM with absolutely no wind and it turned out to be a nice, sunny day. We had absolutely flat seas so started motoring north. While the sea was calm we had a very large pod of dolphin around the boat which was great. As Bob says I am like a little kid every time I get a sighting as love to have them play around the boat.
Sines, Portugal
Notice the old fortress walls and the chapel as we come into Sines. There were quite a few and we could even see them jumping completely out of the water as well as silver streaks going under the boat. We always take a sighting as a good omen. Only problem was that about 12 noon the winds picked up in the wrong direction and the seas came along with it. It wasn't too bad and we actually did get to have our sails up and sailed for a large part of the way (but with the motor on too). It turned out to be a long day as we got to the anchorage in Cascais about 6:45PM. All in all a good day. A bonus was that Chris & Toni on Gazelle got very close to us while we had our sails up so we will share some photos with each other. It has been very nice to have company on the trip. The plan is to sleep for a few hours and then leave here at 1:00AM as we have quite a long distance to the next stop in Nazare. We picked that location as we have heard we may have bad weather for a few days and it sounds like a
Translation of Slop?
The rubbish containers mentioned EcoSlop - had to take a photo to add to our sign collection. nice place to explore.
Best wishes - by the way we have now traveled 190 nautical miles since leaving Lagos on Friday.
Monday - May 6 - just checked my email outbox and it appears that this didn't get sent. I am not positive so hope this will not duplicate a previous blog entry, but in case it didn't go, I'll try to send again tonight.
Plans always have to be flexible with this lifestyle. As mentioned above we planned on doing a day hope up to Nazare today. When we left at 1:30AM there was no wind so we started our motoring trip north on a very flat sea. At times it is hard to remember that this is still the Atlantic Ocean! We were making good progress toward Nazare and were only about 3 hours from our goal when plans changed. The other boat we were traveling with and ourselves looked at new weather reports and it looks like the weather is going to stay calm for another day. After talking it over on each boat we both agreed that we should "make hay while the sunshine’s" and make as much northing
Sines Marina
We were very happy with the Sines marina - it had everything you needed and was in walking distance to town. as possible with good weather. We have heard and read too many horror stories of what this coast can be when there are strong north winds. This plan now will take us overnight and we should get into the Bayone, Spain (just north of the Portugal/Spain border) by tomorrow afternoon. The other boat (Gazelle) have been there before and said it is a nice stop.
About 1:30PM today we had another good omen when a pod of dolphin came and played again. I tried to capture some of it on film so will see how it turned out and share it later with you if I got any good footage. Today we have had a mixture of weather - the moon came up about 4AM today but didn't see it too long as it became overcast and very foggy. We are happy to have our radar and AIS in these situations to be able to still see where other boats are. It works very well. We had a few sprinkles but nothing much (at least not yet at 6:30PM) and better yet we got some wind out of the south so we have been able to get quite
Fortress Wall
The wall of this fortress was in excellent shape in Sines. a bit of help from the wind today boosting our speed.
Yes, plans have changed, but things are working out very well and it will get us to Spain by tomorrow, much earlier than we thought we would be able to accomplish this. We hope the weather forecast hold true through the night and into tomorrow. I'll report again tomorrow.
Advertisement
Tot: 0.099s; Tpl: 0.02s; cc: 13; qc: 27; dbt: 0.0287s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.2mb
Home and Away
Bob Carlsen
Thanks for explaining things...
to us landlubbers. I find all this nautical detail fascinating. However, Linda will never let me sail again after our near hurricane event in the Virgin Islands. Even canoes on lakes are out ask far as she is concerned.