Peniche to Nazare

Mira's Web Diary
Gordon and Catherine
Wed 21 May 2014 13:53

39:35.03N 09:04.51W Sunday – the other two boats are making a longer hop and leave at first light but we slip at 0645 and settle down to motor as the wind is non-existent.  An uneventful 4 ½ hour journey brings us 24 miles further up the coast to Nazare.  This proves to be a quiet backwater with a tiny marina set in a larger fishing harbour.  Nothing’s happening on a Sunday and it’s all very peaceful.  The office is closed so I have an interesting time booking in with the harbour security guard who speaks no English.  Since my Portuguese is limited to ‘obrigado’ it’s largely conducted in sign language, smiles and diagrams but he’s patient and I suspect I’ve broken the day’s tedium for him.  The only other sign of life is the tiny café and shop where time has stood still.  The shopkeeper picks out my cheese slices with his hands and places them carefully on greaseproof paper before weighing them on an old fashioned set of scales and carefully wrapping them.  I suspect not much happens in Nazare these days but it’s worth looking at it on the internet because there are some amazing photos of a 30m wave being surfed.  There’s a deep canyon running into shallow water and it throws up some amazing waves that fully demonstrate the power of the sea. 

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