Moorglade's Voyage - Nazare to Cascais

Nazare to Cascais

Moorglade's Voyage

Ted Wilson

Sat 21 Aug 2010 11:55

Our position is 38:41.44N 09:25.16W

Friday 20 August 2010

We enjoyed our time in Nazare even though it was foggy every day after we arrived. The harbour is really busy with fishing boats coming and going. Sometimes their imminent arrival was announced by a siren - whether this was to summon the unloading crew or to warn prospective purchasers of the catch, was unclear - but they only stayed long enough to unload and were then off out again. We had a good walk into the town. The visibility was too poor to make it worthwhile taking a ride in the funicular to the cliff top overlooking the town but we had an excellent lunch, cooked in a kitchen, and not in the road as some were doing! It seemed to be de riguer to advertise your accommodation vacancies by giving an old woman, sat on a street corner, a placard to hold. I didn't see anyone taking up these offers. There were many racks of fish drying on the beach. I was really surprised at the number of different kinds. We spurned the possibility of catching a bus to see the abbey where Henry the Navigator is buried - after all there's nothing intrinsically interesting in a tomb - and caught up with jobs. Ron had taken his boat out of the marina to anchor in the bay, so we gave him a wave. Presumably he need to save money in order to maintain it.

Ron leaving to go to his anchorage in the bay - sailing past the deserted quay, where the fishing boats unload in the evenings. It was heaving then in more senses than one!

The beach outside the marina with the town of Nazare in the background. It's not apparent from this but it shelved really steeply (and the water was very cold)

Fish drying on the beach

picture of a picture showing how the fishing boats used to come and go with their catches

The cliffs we didn't take the funicular up to. They overhang considerably.

Preparing dinner in the street

Advertising room vacancies!

We stayed longer than intended at Nazare, partly because of the fog and partly while we debated where the best place to leave the boat for September would be. Capt Mike, who runs the marina there, put up a good argument for it being there, but in the end the need to start for Madeira further South won out. The next decision to be made was where to go next as our previous choice, Peniche, is closed until September. We set off at 7.00am with that decision not finalised as the next real harbour was Cascais, nearly 70 miles away. The visibility wasn't as bad as the previous mornings had been, but the wind was light and we were motor sailing and discussing the possibility of the anchorage at Isla Berlenga, some 25 miles away. We were sailing a course described by Captain Mike as maximising the use of the south going Portuguese current, which took us quite close to the island in any case. As we got nearer a pod of around 10 dolphins came to play around the boat - the first we had seen in Portugal - and stayed for quite a while. However Isla Berlenga looked very bleak and forbidding - the pilot book described it as desolate and unspoilt - and the anchorage didn't look that sheltered, so the skipper's view held sway and we went on by, heading for Cascais.

Kay dolphin watching. Isla Berlenga just visible

Anchorage at unspoilt and desolate Isla Berlenga

The wind increased so we were able to turn the engine off, but the visibility deteriorated markedly until we could see no further than a quarter of a mile, if that. Thank heavens for radar and the chart plotter which reassured us that we were where we should be and nothing was going to run into us, particularly as the wind was still increasing and we were surfing down the waves at 7-8 knots, but on a dead run, with the seas building. We passed Cabo Roca - apparently the westernmost point in mainland Europe - without seeing it at all.

When the wind got up to 20kts over the deck, and we were running at 8kts, Ted decided to reef the main but before we could get the job done the anemometer was showing 35 and we were surfing along at over 10. We took the main down and whizzed along through the fog under just a bit of headsail. It did not last long, the visibility suddenly cleared and we were sailing under blue skies and hot sun into the mouth of the Rio Tajo and as we got closer to Cascais marina the wind dropped and the only concern was the many fishing pots and the threat of nets stretched half a mile out into the river (fortunately not encountered). The passage took 11 and three quarter hours but the marina check in took another three quarters of an hour - don't you just love officialdom and red tape - including the visit to the immigration officer - so much for borderless EU - before we were tied up in a berth conveniently close to what seems to be an all night music concert!