Day 6 Position 37:07.02N 008:31.66W arrival in Portimao

Gwenhyfar's Travels
Peter
Thu 19 Sep 2019 14:53
 
Dear All
 
We felt certain to be boarded.... ???
 
But, from the corner of  David's eye, he spotted a very large and distant massive splash splash. No, no, not our coastguard - but 120'  to starboard was a plume of whale spout and a large exhaling whoooossssh - his smell was distinctive - eau de anchovie !!  -  He was spotted at 12.45pm.  He was swimming north west - to our surprise he turned around behind us and then followed us for a few miles and snorted along our starboard side about 150 metres away - we maintained our 7 knots and he leisurely maintained the same pace.  Which just goes to show how pretty a Spirit is, even to whale.) He gave up his interest around 13.20pm and went on his way out into the big Atlantic. Later checking, concludes that we probably saw 35 foot sperm whale of maybe 17 tons. Gwenhyfar is a 17 ton vessel ! Strange that he turned and followed us for so long ???? Clearly he admired our Spirit - we must have looked very pretty to Mr Whale. 
A splendid sunset followed as the encounter with our Portuguese whale friend sunk in... we couldn't quite believe that he turned and followed us...
 
10pm - we rounded Cape St Vincente - and were now on the last 25 mile leg to Portimao. Encounters with unlit fishing boats followed  and David ducked south of an uncharted fish farm near Lagos. Finally a pirates of the Caribbean schooner  needed avoiding as we lowered and stowed sails and headed north up the river Arade  to our destination Marina de Portimao.
 
Pitch black darkness with a backlit street lighting made a challenging approach. The cheese wire on the reception pontoon was a surprise to the athlectic leap of David! He escaped a very near decapitation on our landfall in Portugal!
 
Never mind -  liberal lashing of beers ( abstained for 6 days!) sorted us out ! 2am arrival and 3am in bed.
 
Great trip  :  Total distance 852 miles - Total time 6 days 5 hours (149 hours)  Weather was very light with little wind ( except Biscay )  90 hours engine and 385 litres of fuel used. Very impressive! - Spirit build a great boat and Gwenhyfar was a fantastic vessel for our memorable trip.
 
Peter and David
 
Gwenhyfar
 
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