Delights of Santa Maria
Persephone... Cruiser/Racer
Nigel & Karen Goodhew...
Thu 24 Aug 2017 16:23
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We have been here a week or so now and it is
perhaps time to reflect a little on the island.
The calm atmosphere is intoxicating. Days come and
go with startling speed, despite our relative inactivity.
But the first couple of days were coincident with a
music festival being held a few miles away at Praia Formosa....Beautiful
Beach. So a few of us (Veikko and Hanna from Canace and John from Raven)
hooked up to underake the nearly 3 hour walk along the coastline from Vila do
Porto to see what the fuss was about. The walk was as character building
as it was spectcular in the afternoon heat, and many beers were imbibed on
arrival at Priaia, to rehydrate, of couse!
We found an inexpensive restaurant just off the
beach to restock energy levels and enjoy a good conversation; Canace is headed
south, Persephone going east and Raven en route back to the east coast of
England. Then the fun and games of booking a taxi back to Porto....the music
event was scheduled for a very late start, after 10pm, which as all cruising
sailors will testify, is well after bedtime..many say past midnight, which
traveling types reposition at 2100!
Back to the yacht club bar in the marina for a
cheeky nightcap just before the real midnight, concluding a lovely
day.
The town of Vila do Porto is attracive, though
small and linear. To visit it from the marina inolves an initial vertiginous
climb up an ancient cobbled road, but the effort is worth it. The views over the
marina are impressive.
The shops are adequate, with competing supermarkets
facing each other across the main street as ift locked in a duel. I even found a
DIY shop and purchased sandpaper to continue work on the continual maintenance
and upgrading of Persephone; this weeks project has been to remove the stained
teak oil finish to the cabin top grabrail handls, and renew with varnish,
inspired to some extent, by the fantasic presentation of the various American
yachts we have encountered, all with magniicent varnished teak. P now looks
almost as cherished!
As I write, we are basking in summer sunshine,
waiting for a weather "window" to comfortably sail the 800 miles to Lagos in the
Algarve, just around the corner of Cap St Vincent, at the south western tip of
mainland Europe. We need about 5 or 6 days, and I promisd Karen no gales on this
trip, and there look to be feisty conditions there next week, so we wait.....and
enjoy the summer.
I think Canace will leave today, going south east
to Madeira.
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