Already two days ago it happened… 2000 nautical miles we’ve sailed since we left Berlin ! That’s not really much will say all those that went around the world or crossed the atlantic. – But it just happened that I was there and had a camera at hand, so I made that pic for you.
Well. – And 2000 miles is pretty much all I’ve ever sailed *before* we’ve started our adventure – and it took me more than 10 years to do that. So… it IS much – or is it not ?!? Hehehe.
Just arrived in Figueira da Foz. Seems a nice little town – and of course it has a pretty beach we gonna explore tomorrow. We had a really pleasent and sunny ride towards here. More info, pics, stories tomorrow. Promised.
After a rather ugly sailing experience we’ve arrived in Aveiro and had a nice little tour through the ‘Venice of Portugal’. Now we’re heading for the beach. More later…
Pfoah. What a foggy soup out there ! Actually we wanted to go more southward because of our hunt for the Summer – and now we’ve got FOG every day. Well. Yesterday we received Oliver and Julia and immediately went into a local fish restaurant where we ate decent fish – and for the first time barnacles. Which are optically challenching but quite tastey.
After a good nights sleep we go towards Porto to go a little touristic. Half an hour with the bus towards the citycentre and we finally see the sun again. But from the Bridge Dom Louis we can already see the fog creeping up the river Douro. When we sit down at the river for dinner, the fog catches up with us and it’s getting cold. We decide to shorten our tour and go back to Leixoes immediately after finishing our Bacalhau. While leaving we run into our friends from the SY Chiloe and soon after hop onto the Bus back to the harbour.
We want to leave… I don’t know whether it’s the grey weather or the rather oily harbour but there’s the city of Aveiro just 30 miles to the south and it’s supposedly very nice there. – BUT the tide and the wind are against us. Well, we sometimes are a sporty crew and so we’ve decided, tomorrow w’ll get up early and give it a try. If it’s not working, we’ll be back at midday. ;-)
On the way from Spain to Portugal once more Dolphins payed us a visit. And this time I got our GoPro cam mounted on the boat hook and tried to film them while they were playing around the ship. The video is a little short as I didn’t know whether it would work at all and also we were going quite fast and it was difficult to not loose the boat hook… Enjoy.
So yesterday right after breakfast we’ve decided to leave paradise and sail towards Porto, where my brother and his girlfriend are already awaiting us. The decicion was made easier by clouds covering the Islas Cies. – So we’ve said goodbye to our friends and set sail. Actually not. – Because the first 1.5 hours we were running under engine until right out of the Ria de Vigo, where the wind set in from NW.
The afternoon was beautiful sailing with hot sunshine and nice wind from the perfect direction. From 5pm on the wind (and waves) increased and we were running towards Porto with a speed constantly above 7kn. Top-Speed: 8.8kn (!!) Around 7pm fog began to darken the sky and soon after we were enclosed in a big white, fluffy something. We could not see a thing but could hear the waves around us – with the wind still at a constant 5 Bft.
We’ve met with a freighter and one fishermen. – The freighter passed about 0.3nm from us (as I could verify via Radar and AIS) but we could not see a single light. – The only evidence of it being there was the humming of it’s diesel engine. – Spooky !
Around midnight we were searching for the entrance to the Porto do Leixões but could find it only thanks to our GPS. – The light on pier that is supposed to be seen 9 miles out on sea, we could only see when we were already entering the harbour and about 200 meters away.
The ‘marina’ itself is quite nasty – good that we couldn’g see it in the fog or we would’ve passed on to the next town. ;-) But good to be here as we’ve our friends from the SY Chiloe as neighbours who waked us with fresh bread in the morning. As the fog is now dissipating, we can see many of the ships we’ve been following for the last weeks, there are the yachts of: Thor, Hitch Hike Heidi and Roede Orm on the opposite side. Time to take a shower and say hello.
Just arrived in Porto. Had a very fast but also a rooooling ride towards Porto. And the last miles we sailed in thick fog. Spoooky ! More tomorrow…
After two wonderful days at the Islas Cies, we’ve left Spain and are now sailing in Portuguese waters. We should arrive in Porto around midnight – if the wind stays like it is… We’re running downwind with 6.5 to 7 knots. About an hour ago dolphins came for a visist and this time, I’ve captured them on video with our camera (underwater !!)
THAT IS, why we’ve gone on this journey ! Yeah, yeah, yeah !!! Blistening sun, a nearly white, lonely beach, clear turquoise water. Even I – who never goes swimming with water less than 20 degrees – was unstoppable. We’ve spent hours jumping through the waves, diving, running on the beach.
There’s a little camping ground and two small restaurants but despite that there’s nothing going on. And that’s good that way. So if nobody will bother us because of our missing cruising permit, we’ll stay for a few days and make from here directly towards porto…
So we finally made it and sailed out of the Ria de Arosa. We just dropped our anchor here in a little bay at the Islas Cies, into 7,5m of atlantic water. I have no idea how the beach and the island looks like as it’s quite dark outside. Maybe I’ll tell you tomorrow…
That – you’ll never hear on board of the Rancho Relaxo. We stay true to the name and sleep until the sun already is waaaay up and our solar panels are on 100% output. But shouldn’t we be on the Islas Cies ? I look outside, and I see plenty of other ships and a little town in the back… Hmm.
Ah, yeah. It went like this: The LosLocos were preparing to leave the harbour when we received an SMS from the SY Chiloe if we’d like to meet in a nice little bay not far… As the outlook for the night was not too favourable (wind gusts up to 7Bft) we decided to go for that bay and leave for the Islas tomorrow. Well, we had a little trouble to find our friends and when we finally arrived it was already too late to water the dinghy and row for the beach.
The weather report said something of NNW to W – winds. We actually got ENE wind and had to leave our little bay. – So we dropped the anchor in Caramiñal not far from where we spent the last days. The good thing about that: WLAN connection. Hehehe.
But now as the breakfast is over we’ll definately give it another try, sail back to that little bay and go for a swim (for me that would be the FIRST time during our journey). In the afternoon we’ll try to leave for the Islas Cies then. Maybe this time we’ll make it.
After two days of indoor service, we’ve finally seen some sunrays through the window and went outside to take the bus to Santiago de Compostela.
Having arrived, one thing immediately strikes the eye: About 50% of the people roaming these ancient streets have sore feet and either ski poles or long wooden sticks in their hand. Ah ! Claro – the crusaders ! (Or something similar…) Anyway. We immediately went into that famous big church and made many pictures of important historical figures, when Bruno, wo always has to explain everything whishpers into Viola’s ear: ‘You know – this once was a big circus !’ It was quite hard to retain the composure after that. My personal highlight: You know that little candles that you can inflame – a very romantic gesture to lost friends or family. Well those candles are ELECTRIC here and they switch on for a few hours when you put a coin in a box. See – the church is modern after all. Hehehe.
If we’re going touristic, we do it 100% so we hop onto one of those little trains and chug for an hour through that old city. There are maaaany orthopaedists here. Ah – I’ve already mentioned the thing with the sore feet… After a little break with some Jamón, Queso and cerveza, we miss the second to last bus towards the coast and have to run to catch the very last one. So in the end, we also got our part of hot feet.
Today I’m happy about the maaaany emails from family, friends and also some (until now) unknown blog-readers. That’s something that is really motivating: To get some comments and emails now and then. Otherwise one really get’s the feeling of writing the blog for oneself – despite the statistics telling a different thing.
And now we go (in that order) for a shower, shopping, picking up or new main sail and finally anchor-up. Where we go ? We don’t know exactly. But the next planned stop will be at the Islas Cies just outside Vigo. Internet access we’ll probably have again in Portugal… Sounds like few serene days are ahead.
Bad weather outside – which means more time in front of the computer. And this time it’ll bring to you all the pictures of the last six weeks. Including a few more pics of
the English coast and the Solent
our crossing of the Bay of Biskay
and the Costa de la Muerte. Have fun !
Dolphins…
They’re smart, beautiful, playful, fast… And most importantly the kids and the grown ups love to see them jumping in the bow wave. Here are a few pics from yesterday. Next time I’ll have my GoPro prepared and taped to our boathook to try a few under water shots.
Tonight we parked close to SY Chiloe in between the beach and some rocks not far from the Marina de Santa Uxia de Riviera. Shortly before midnight we threw the dinghy in the water to row over to our friends for a short visit – because the guest of the Chiloe – Antonia had her 18th birthday.
During the night the wind shifted (expectedly) to the South and we were woken early by the Rancho Relaxo bouncing in the waves. So we lifted the anchor at six in the morning and left to the next marina to the north that is Caramiñal. And here we are – having breakfast with Croissants and INTERNET. Hehehehe. We started about two hours ago and I’m still here typing and sipping cold coffee. In the meantime the harbourmaster arrived to greet us (and tell us we have to move to a different box). Erich who is an Austrian sailor now living here in Caramiãl came by to say hello and tell us a little of their own trip to the Carribean, Pacific and back via Cape Horn. His daughter is right now sailing the North-West passage together with her two kids (!)
We’ll stick around in this area for a few days – at least until the southerly wind will dissipate and we have our new main sail. There’s not too much to tell about the last passage we had pleasent weather but no wind. Ah, and som fishermen confused us by having a ‘meeting’ right in front of the entrance to the Ria. We tried to find out what’s that about but as usual none of them would answer the VHF calls…. Ah, and we saw loooooooots of Dolphins – pics in another post.
We’ve decided otherwise and will continue towards the Ria de Arosa. As the weather is not gonna be the best during the next few days, we think that we have more possibilities there. We’ll also pick up our new mainsail there (hopefully). Saw lots of dolphins today and I think we might even have catched one or two with our camera. Hehe. Running under engine is boring and stupid. Well, we’re making the best out of it. Eating fresh, homemade pesto. Music: ‘From dusk till dawn’ (Soundtrack) Yay !
Das Ende der Welt. Als dieses galt fuer lange Zeit das Cabo Finisterre, welches gerade aus dem Seenebel vor uns auftaucht. Die Sonne scheint und wir haben kaum Wind, weshalb wir unter Motor unsere Freunde von der SY Chiloe und der SY Tamora verfolgen. Aber eigentlich sollte ich noch ein Woertchen zum gestrigen Segeltag verlieren: Wir liefen also den gesamten Tag mit Halbwind oder Raumwindkurs und stets ueber 6 Knoten (schnell) die Kueste entlang. Wie so oft verlief der gesamte Tag ohne einem einzigen Segelmanoever – bis kurz vor Camarinas, wo wir einmal halsen mussten. Und hier passierte es: Eine Welle befoerderte den Grossbaum etwas schneller als geplant nach Steuerbord. BLAMMM !!! Unser schickes, 30 Jahre altes Grosssegel ward zweigeteilt. – Ein vier Meter langer Riss verlaeuft etwa einen Meter ueber und parallel zum Grossnbaum. Tja. Es hat uns bis hierher nach Spanien gebracht und war immer gut zu uns. Heute motoren wir also nach Muros und von dort – einen ‘Ria’ weiter in Caraminal sollte dann eigentlich schon das neue Grosssegel, welches wir in Flensburg bestellt haben, auf uns warten. Die naechsten Tage werden wohl Suedwind und auch Regen bringen, weshalb wir vermutlich ein paar Tage am selben Fleck bleiben werden. Vielleicht fahren wir ja auch mit dem Bus rueber und holen unser neues Segel… So. Im Cockpit laeuft gerade ‘Elmundo Jazzfunk’ genauer gesagt: Asiko von Tony Allen. Ouuuu yeah !! Und es ist 12:00h – vielleicht goenne ich mir heute mal ein Mittagsbier ? Mal sehen. MAHLZEIT !
Sailing downwind around Cabo Villano with an average speed of 6.5 knots. The sun is shining, the crew is sleepy. ‘They shoot horses, don’t they’ from Quickspace is running high volume in the cockpit while the sun slowly is setting to the west of us. About 10 more miles to go and we’ll drop the anchor in the Ria de Camarinas. What a wonderful day. YAY !!!
Finally we’re anchoring again ! After spending five nights in La Coruña marina, we’re now not far away in a little bay. There’s a nice little beach with palm trees but the water is too cold for me to get in (17 C). Yesterday in the evening we had a big BBQ together with the crews of SY Tamora, SY Kira and another ship of which I do not remember the name right now. We had a great evening and the best was to finally have a fire on the beach (Bruno’s dream come true !). Going back to the ship in the dinghy we left a trail of light – magic !!
After weeks of constantly pushing forward, forward to use every possible weather window to gain a few miles towards the west, it’s a real treat to finnally having ‘arrived’. After all, our next date (family visit) is only on the 8th of September in Porto. Until then we can hang around and that’s what we do. A few little repairs on our ship, getting the neighbour’s shortwave installation to work, a visit to the Torre de Hercules. And of course doing groceries… but beside of that we mostly enjoy ourselves and glide along the coast (with the finger, on the map that is) – in search for nice anchor bays.
Today we have variable weather – or to say it differently: Rain. But I still only wear flipflops and T-Shirt and that’s definately an improvement after spending weeks and months in fleece jackets and oilskin. But why am I again talking about the weather ? Because otherwise I wouldn’t sit in front of my laptop and also we would’ve been gone already to drop our anchor in some nice bay. But there’s time for that tomorrow. And sometime during the weekend the wind will veer and we’ll be sailing slooooowly towards the south.
But still, I’ll have to get out now. To send my defective laptop battery from Spain to Germany after which my brother will bring the replacement from Austria to Portugal. To have no home address can sometimes make things a little complex.
Ah ! But I nearly forgot… two important things: First – we have a second mobile phone (bought for 6 Euro – WTF) – and we have a spanish phone number. Means: for everyone who want’s to be nice to us: call us on THAT phone. You can find the number on the ‘Contact’ page. Second – we again have credits for our Satphone. But we’ll not use it until we leave the coast. So don’t bother with that one until we’re heading towards Madeira.