Off Figueria Da Fos

Amazing Grace
John and Julie
Tue 2 Jun 2009 13:43
Well,  our current position is (N 40.14.7 W 9.16.6) - that's about 1/2 way down Portugal.  We left Baionna in gloriaous sunshine yesterday afternoon only to sail into thick fog. Happily, the fog cleared in the middle of the night and it was not so difficult to see. It lifted into thick stratus and the moon had set so it was pitch black.  It was not dark enough to put off the Portuguese fishing fleet however who were up to thier usual business of driving all over the place just to make life difficult!
 
There was hardly a breath of wind all night and we ended up motoring until lunchtime today. We've put about 50 hours on each engine since we left Dartmouth many of which were necessary to escape the English Channel! Its a lot more than I anticipated but I suppose that is the penalty of such light and contrary winds!  It could have been much worse though - we had no storms at Cape Finisterre :)
 
Everyone is asleep - well almost - Julie has just woken to some text messages - amazing - we're over 20 miles offshore!  Happily Vodafone has dropped its roaming text charges so its a lot cheaper to send and receive them now!
 
The way it looks right now, we will get into the Algarve sometime on Thursday - Just in time for the Essex Girl's Weekend out!