Normal service resumed
Moonbeam
David and Lynn Wilkie
Mon 9 Aug 2010 18:40
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41.11.093N 008.42.370W
1st August
Flew from Porto to Liverpool 'courtesy' of Ryanair-
flight was fine but why is their website designed to annoy so much?- my elder
brother collected us and we were home in Cheshire less than 6 hours after
leaving Moonbeam in Povac. Dad is just recently out of hospital but in the
circumstances both mum and dad were on good form and we could help with some of
my brother's caring duties.Lynn took the train to Glasgow for a couple of days
to see her father. After 2 1/2 months aboard it was strange to be in a
'conventional environment again but we realised we were not missing out on
anything except family contact.
Back to Moonbeam again and took the efficient metro
from Porto airport to Povoa. All appeared well at first glance but apparently
there had been forest fires further north and all the boats were covered in
black grime. All the new canvas work was dirty and the masts and shrouds were
coated. So up the masts and laboriously cleaned down the masts and shrouds
before it all got transferred to the sails; even the halliards and lazy
jacks are grubby so I think the sails will inevitably need a good clean although
a lot of the dirt was transferred to me and my clothing! Not long after we
returned we heard a shout of 'Lynn' and it was our Dutch friends Rene and Anneka
so after dinner a few drinks and laughs were partaken of!
Monday morning we woke to find Moonbeam covered in
a yellow dust which is not washing off easily. Povoa marina id friendly
and cheap but the harbour is full of plastic rubbish and to walk to the town
means negotiating a waste land. We've got to leave! Onwards and
southwards.
LEIXOES
Left Pavoa de Varzin at 13.00 with a light
Northerly breeze but for once there was no swell so we made about 4.5 knots
goose winged down the coast. I feel we should have liked Povoa but we were glad
to leave. We headed just 12 miles down the coast to Leixoes ( appartently
pronounced 'Layshonish' but as you cannot understand what the Portuguese say it
is academic) which the pilot books describe as a grubby harbour are
generally off putting. There is a marina but as we were planning to leave early
we just anchored off. A police boat told us to go ashore with passports and
ships papers and when we said we were not going ashore he said there would be a
'collision' in 120 minutes! Somewhat puzzled I assumed he meant he would come
back and see us but 10 minutes later there was an underwater 'explosion' from
one of the dredgers! The harbour is busy with 3 dredgers working, large ships
coming and going and plenty of noise but it has character.
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