From Povoa da Varzim

Moonshine
Thu 28 Sep 2006 16:39
Its 9.30 on Wednesday morning as I'm starting this. We are off a little island
called Farililao about 50 miles north of Lisbon, having been running since
yesterday morning.
Its been interesting!
Both of us were unwell yesterday - not entirely sure it was seasickness, but seems
likely. Lots of activity on deck with sails before we had got our sealegs.
The swell stayed at about 3-4metres through most of the night, but with a
confused chop on the top of it. It shook up the boat enough to spoil the
water, which of course we both drank before we realised! Tank cleaning at
the next stop. We spent the whole day travelling in our own diesel fumes
with the light following wind,so the combination was not good.
The chop has now gone leaving majestic atlantic swells on an otherwise calm
sea. It really is beautiful to watch. You see them first at about a 1/2 mile
distance, and they have the appearance of rearing up as they get closer.
Just as you think they may curl and break, they seem to disappear under the
boat, and you are left sitting on top of a hill, with a fantistic view of
the next one 1/2 mile away - and all this without any sensation of
movement at all - if you shut your eyes you don't know they are there.
We had dolphins through the night. Whatever they were doing, it was
deliberate, and involved us. They would catch us up from behind like
torpedoes, leaving a trail of light behind them, sometimes three and four
abreast, and then when they reached the pool of light from our navlight,
they seemed to compete to see who could create the biggest splashes.
Frequently they would swim with their tails coming out of the water beating
the surface as they swam by. I woke Alun up to see. He was tired, said he'd
watched them earlier doing it but thought it polite ,not to wake me, and went
back to bed!
This is a complete contrast to yesterday. It's a lovely sunny day, not
enough wind to be useful, so still running on engine, but today the fumes
are blowing away from the boat. Both of us are now feeling good, so maybe
some cooking today!
We have changed the plan a little, and will now go in to Cascais, rather
than direct to Sines. We should reach Cascais about 7pm, and then its about
10 hours to Sines tomorrow.
That way we get a meal and a good sleep!


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