Atlantic France, Portugal & Spain
Oct 17th - Nov 18th, 2019
France, Brest: Oct 17th- Oct 19th
Arrived in Brest, France, after a fun fast and lively overnight passage 😊⛵️
Lots of water activities going on around the marina. Big groups having a good time with all the “water toys”. Fun to watch 😀
No need to haul the boat out for bottom cleaning and paint. Just tie to the concrete wall and wait for low tide ;-)
Today we had a boat fixing and preparation for the passage day. Anders was up in the mast to check the wiring for the AIS, which has been acted weird. We will set sail for Porto, Portugal. It's a 530nm sail crossing the Bay of Biscaya.
Beautiful views from the top of the mast!
Portugal: Oct 22th - Nov 13th
Passage from Brest, France to Porto, Portugal. It took us 3.1 days. And we averaged 6.2 Knots. The shortest great circle distance is 466 Nautical Miles. We sailed 532 Nautical Miles to get here.
Porto:
The inlet to Porto, Portugal
Safely docked in Douro marina, Porto, Portugal. We had a wonderful crossing from Brest. Three days, downwind the whole time . Glad to be in Portugal 😊🥂
Walking in the old town in Porto
Just Love the colors
Very tall palm trees
Such a colorful city!
Lots of hills and stairs in Porto. We're on our way up on that walking bridge
Selfie on top of the bridge over river Douro. Old town Porto in the background
We also enjoyed the port wine district
Beautiful sunset the last evening here in Porto. Nazare is our next port
Nazare:
Approaching Nazare and it's famous lighthouse and cliffs. But Nazare is most famous for it's big waves and surfing
We took the tram up the hill. View over the beach and the town. The marina is at the very end
Pretty spectacular overhang.
From the lighthouse
Street art in Nazare :-)
Cascaise, Lisbon
We stayed in Cascaise marina close to Lisbon. Very nice marina. A 45min train ride in to Lisbon. Here is some fun optical illusion in the streets of Cascais
We went up to the top of the famous Monument of discoveries. Here is a view from the top, from the bottom and from the top looking straight down
The famous Belem Tower
Cool sand sculpures on the beach
Time Out Market. A very cool place for food and drinks.
Great to have your own local guide. Thanks for showing your town for us Anders 😊🍷
Lisbon's Cathedral, where Vasco da Gama's tomb is
Vasco da Gama's grave
We visited the cute town of Sintra. Unfortunately the weather didn’t cooperate, but we still enjoyed it
We also visited Castelos dos Mouros. Super cool, despite the weather
Very cool wall walk around the fort. Torre Real, The highest point
A foggy hike
Fun visit to the Museu de Marinha.
HH on Horizon. We have had two wonderful days in Lisbon, despite the weather. Big Thank You to Anders Qvarnström and Jennifer for being such good guides in your city! Tomorrow we set sail going south ⛵️
Rounded Cabo de Sao Vicente, the South West corner of Portugal. At the same time we’ve now sailed 15000nm on our adventure 😀⛵️
Lagos
Marina de Lagos! We stayed here a week. Very nice marina
I (Anette) joined Lagos strollers, a big hiking group, today on a 13km hike inland. Great company, weather and very nice to see some of the inland countryside 😊
The surrounding walls around the old city of Lagos
The old city of Lagos was amazing with a lot of colors and vibrant street lives. Music , shops and lots of restaurants
The inlet to Lagos
Stunning coastline and rock formations around this coastline
At the tip of the peninsula
You can more or less hike the whole coast of Portugal! I hiked from Lagos marina all the way out to the lighthouse and further.
The coastline from the lighthouse looking west
Maintenance on our two electrical winches. A full days of work. Very well needed. Check 👍
Lots of parts in a winch...
Sailing in through the rough seas in the inlet to Faro. Tide against wind here
The famous lighthouse of Faro
Culatra island
We anchored inside the Culatra island right outside Faro. Beautiful sunset tonight
This is a gem, and a must see! Ilha Da Culatra is the southern most part of Portugal. Wonderful anchorage and stunning island and scenery . Definitely worth a visit. And no cars on the island...
...only tractors! This is the road we walked over the island
Not very crowded on the beach today ;-)
And Yes, of course I went swimming! It was beautiful and 15C in the water
The famous lighthouse of Faro, at the end of the beach
Pictures of some stranded mussels
Oh Oh, were did this tractor end up....
Cool pattern on the walkway
We left Culatra, Faro, in the first light. Next stop Cadiz, Spain.
The Dolphins stopped by to play with us for a while :-)
Spain: Nov 13th- Nov 18th
Great downwind sailing the whole day with spinnaker only, almost the whole day
We Love our new "The Tacker" from ATN
It got a little hectic today when traffic control called us up together with all other in the area. It was a military exercise and they didn't want us to be in the target zone
Cadiz
After 82nm we sailed in to Cadiz in the dark with the spinnaker. From Portugal to Spain. Now we're safely anchored almost under a bridge. A great day indeed ☺️⛵️
Fort Sebastian in the background. And Yes, it's low tide
Fort Sebastian looking towards the city
In high tide a shortcut passage inside the fort
At the top of Torre Tavira. An old lookout tower, one of many, at the highest point of the town
Camera Obscura at the top of Torre Tavira
Camera Obscura, very cool!
Local old farmers market! Just amazing. You can buy all different food here. All very fresh
A very impressive old tree
Enjoying a late afternoon stroll in Cadiz
We found Salvador Dali in the restaurant ;-)
Night walk in the old town of Cadiz, on our way back to the boat
A fisherman's wife relentlessly waiting for her husband. This statue is at the end of the pier to the marina. We now say goodbye to her and Cadiz, after two wonderful days here. We will now sail south towards Gibraltar.
Life isn't always as easy as most FaceBook posts is projecting. Our sail today from Cadiz down the coast to Barbate should have been an easy 40nm beam reach sail in moderate winds, with just a little tide against us. Turned out to be more adventure than we asked for. The wind became 25 knots early on with very big confused seas, and 2.5 knot tide against us. A military exercise prevented us from going further from the coast (to deeper water). We had our spinnaker bag secured at the footrail. Then a number of huge waves got hold of the bag, that opened, and the spinnaker were now in the water, quickly disappearing behind us (still floating). This unplanned man-over-board exercise turned out well, in pouring rain, 25 knot wind, full solent and double reefed main. We got the spinnaker back onboard. Happy with the action and the outcome. (thanks for the MOB drills Lisa and Andy. Anders was the Hooker BTW)
After a night stop in Barbate, a charmless but very protected place, we set sail towards Gibraltar.
Flying the spinnaker again after yesterday’s mishap. Sunny skies with the Straight of Gibraltar and Africa ( Morocco) in sight. Mediterranean here we come.