Monday, September 16, 2024

Viana do Castelo - Leixões

As it often is, what a difference a day makes! Yesterday we could barely sail a bit, and today instead the conditions were quire lovely for sailing the whole day.

We left the Viana museum dock in the early morning and followed the dredger ship out of the harbour. Then sails up, and soon watermaker on.

Today’s scenery was made quite dramatic by the smoke from the many wildfires in the interior. We followed the coast at the recommended 20m line in sometimes quite surreal lighting, with the sunny day filtered through the smog.

We arrived to Leixões in late afternoon. This is the cheaper marina for Porto. The evening was spent swapping stories with the crew of the Finnish boat that arrived the same day. Tomorrow we’ll do a bit of exploring. We will stay here in Porto at least until Thursday, weather depending.

• Distance today: 33.9NM
• Total distance: 3207.8NM
• Lunch: feta salad
• Engine hours: 1.2

Sunday, September 15, 2024

Panxón - Viana do Castelo

The morning started with practically no wind, so we motored out. Expecting the wind to pick up out of the bay, we hoisted the main sail while still in the shelter of the mountains.

We are now in prime orca territory, so the plan was to hug the coast on the 20m depth line. As we turned on the north buoy, we found no wind, so we motored on.

As our water tank is 38% full, we wanted to make water even though we were motoring. We had just done a fresh water rinse for the system, so there was a lot of air in the system. So we needed to bleed air from the watermaker system, so we opened the first filter a bit and turned off the watermaker. And boom. No water from the engine exhaust anymore as it just sucked air in and created an air lock into the engine water intake.

So engine off, opening the sea strainer to let the air out. Then closing the strainer again and starting the motor. Still no water. WTF. But I forgot to open the seacock again after closing the strainer… Opening the seacock and woohoo! Water again.

Luckily I noticed the missing water quickly. We got the motor only 10° warmer than usual during the process.

Now motoring ahead again.

🙈🤦‍♀😅

At the border we tried going into an anchorage along the Minho river, but the bar would have been too shallow on low water for us to leave in the morning, so we turned around. Eventually we found a sliver of moving air, so we pulled the genoa out, turned off the motor and sailed. Now we could also use the watermaker without fear of hindering the water intake of the motor.

During the last hour we found wind and of course the highest gusts were right behind the wave break. And what a sight greeted us, dozens of kite, foil and wind surfers!

By our late arrival the official marina was already full, so we were instructed to go to the historical marina in the city center. Awesome location, though the 1km walk to the showers means that we will stink for one more day!

• Distance today: 35.5NM
• Total distance: 3173.9NM
• Lunch: Gazpacho
• Engine hours: 5.7

Saturday, September 14, 2024

Islas Cíes - Panxón

The visit to the Cíes islands nature reserve was lovely, but had to be cut short due to the anchoring permit restrictions. Yesterday we watched the sun go down from the island lighthouse, and then rowed back to Lille Ø in the dark.

In the morning we then made the boat ready, and sailed the short distance to the Bay of Baiona. Wind was light, and so when a tanker sped up to enter the Vigo channel, we had to motorsail to get out of its way with a comfortable CPA.

Now we’re anchored in front of the town of Panxón. After the rolly Atlantic islands, this gave an excellent opportunity for some smaller boat maintenance tasks. Now we weigh the orca situation and the light winds on the opportunity to head further south.

• Distance today: 5.7NM
• Total distance: 3138.4NM
• Lunch: Caesar salad
• Engine hours: 1.1

Friday, September 13, 2024

Illa de Ons - Islas Cíes

During the night wind shifted from NW to NE which made for an uncomfortable night. In the morning getting rid of the mooring line was interesting as the waves and wind made it hard to release. A complete newbie mistake but you need to make also those from time to time.

We decided that two sleep deprived sailors should maybe make the 10 mile journey to the next nature reserve under engine, so we motored the uneventful journey. We are now tucked in on the southernmost anchorage on Islas Cíes. Now a small nap and then well head out to explore the island.

According to The Guardian, this island contains the best beach in the world. The nature reserve is so popular that we could only get anchoring permit for one night.

• Distance today: 10.5NM
• Total distance: 3132.7NM
• Lunch: feta salad
• Engine hours: 2.3

Wednesday, September 11, 2024

Illa das Ratas - Illa de Ons

Our anchoring permits for the Illa de Ons nature reserve got approved, and this meant giving up on that lost parcel and sailing on.

We started the morning early, hoisting anchor just before sunrise, and motoring into the Pobra do Caramiñal anchorage. Since we’ll be off the grid again in nature reserves for a few days now, it was good to do a round of groceries, laundry, and getting rid of trash. Three hours later we hoisted anchor again.

The trip south started with almost no wind. Between motoring we tried sailing a bit, but it was more just drifting. Once out of the Ría, wind started picking up and we could finally sail properly.

Our anchorage neighbour happened to sail out at the same time, giving a chance for some impromptu regattaing. Turns out our strategy of going dead downwind poled out was better than their gybing.

Now we’re tied to a mooring off the island, and plan to head for some trails tomorrow.

• Distance today: 17.9NM
• Total distance: 3122.2NM
• Lunch: empanadas
• Engine hours: 2.7

Monday, September 9, 2024

Illa de Arousa - Illa das Ratas

Team lazy needed to move to the other side of the Ría for tomorrow’s NE wind. But as right at the moment we have no wind at all, we left FLINsails up and didn’t bother to pack the dinghy properly. Anchor chain was also left on the deck ready to the anchoring on the other side.

Before we left, we could visually check that the bay we had planned for us had no boats anchoring in it, so we turned on the motor and weaved our way through the mussel farms. When we arrived, we drove our loop checking the bay out and dropped the anchor at 5 meters depth. From here it is a short row to what seems to be our private beach.

The postal service is trying to locate our missing parcel, hopefully they are successful.

• Distance today: 2.6NM
• Total distance: 3104.3NM
• Lunch: spaghetti with avocado sauce
• Engine hours: 0.9

Saturday, September 7, 2024

A Pobra do Caramiñal - Illa de Arousa

Getting packages delivered to the marina was a bit of an adventure, and one is still missing. But since they only move on weekdays, we decided to head out to anchor for the weekend.

The morning came with a heavy fog - you couldn’t even see the wave break from the pier! But by noon it had started lifting, and so we paid the marina and headed out.

Very light conditions for this short hop across the Ría. There were orca attacks here on Monday, but no sightings since then. Nevertheless, we kept our eyes and ears open, and tried to stick to the shallow parts.

Now we’re anchored off the beach on the northwest corner of Illa de Arousa. We’ll spend the weekend here, and hope the missing package arrives to A Pobra on Monday, so we can then do a provisions run and continue our journey.

Today is Suski’s birthday, so we’ll celebrate that here. Kippis, Martin and Andreas M!

• Distance today: 3.2NM
• Total distance: 3101.7NM
• Dinner: Pimientos de Padrón and other tapas
• Engine hours: 0.9

Tuesday, August 27, 2024

Palmeira - A Pobra do Caramiñal

We woke up to a foggy day. As we were preparing the boat for the short ride, a pod of dolphins swam by. First time we’ve seen dolphins in an anchorage!

After we had the boat ready we turned on the motor and ventured out into the misty morning. With absolutely no wind we motored out of the mussel farm area and in to the harbour. We need to order some stuff, so we’ll spend a week here.

• Distance today: 3.7NM
• Total distance: 3098.5NM
• Lunch: not yet
• Engine hours: 0.9

Saturday, August 24, 2024

Bornalle - Palmeira

A few days went past quickly off the Bornalle beach. Some dinghy adventures under both sail and oar, and some cruiser socialising with a Finnish boat. But now the weather and orca forecasts aligned to allow us to continue.

We hoisted anchor and motored past the mussel farm before hoisting sail. Initially quite nice light conditions with the wind speeds in the low teens. Seas were somewhat big, but of the mellow long Atlantic swell sort.

The only traffic we saw was a British traditional gaff rigger, beating its way up under full sail.

As we turned the corner to head into Ría de Arousa, wind picked up quite a bit. Soon we were blasting on a beam reach with full main at 33kt. The somewhat tricky navigation between rocks and numerous lobster pots didn’t leave us a lot of room, and so we decided to live with the weather helm instead of reefing.

Once we got into the Ría proper, wind quieted down and the seas went flat. Now we’re anchored off the beach at Palmeira, a bit north of the town of Ribeira. This Ría is the biggest one and should provide us with places to explore for a while.

• Distance today: 31NM
• Total distance: 3094.8NM
• Lunch: gazpacho
• Engine hours: 1.8

Monday, August 19, 2024

Muros - Bornalle

We have been enjoying life at anchor and been exploring the village of Muros and it’s festivities. The rudder-munching bunch of Orcas has been reported to be some 150 south of us and moving north so we have decided to stay in this Ría until they have passed our location, which by this rate should be in 3 days.

Orcas or no, we felt like a change of scenery, so we decided to go for a little day sail. Run the watermaker in the middle of the Ría and then find another anchorage.

As we had just gotten all of the chain up, we were intercepted by the Spanish Customs. So we dropped some chain out again and went to get the boat and personal papers. After getting the boat details we were free to go back to lifting the anchor. We hoisted the main sail and rolled out the genoa and tacked towards the Ría entrance.

Then we turned around and lazily sailed down wind with just the main sail up. After few hours we saw a pod of dolphins jumping around. As the dolphins were from a fairly large species, we actually needed to check that they indeed had dolphin shaped dorsal fins instead of orca shaped dorsal fins.

We dropped the anchor in the bay where the river Rego de Rateira meets the sea. Here we have a nice breeze to keep us cool.

• Distance today: 9.2NM
• Total distance: 3063.8NM
• Lunch: blueberry soup
• Engine hours: 0.8