Seaduced's Web Diary - Viana do Castelo

Viana do Castelo

Seaduced

John & Jane Craven

Sat 24 Jul 2010 08:07

Following our restful few days in the Vigo area we set sail today for Portugal in brilliant sunshine. The winds however were not favourable, they were light and inconsistent so we ended up motoring on. As we are still on the Atlantic coast the swells out here are quite large, and also there are regular morning haze, which eventually blows away when the wind picks up in the afternoon, so boats are difficult to see so we had the main sail up as well to make us good and visible. The wind here is very predictable, light in the morning, 15-20k in the afternoon, 1pm-6pm and after that anything from 5k - 30k is normal!! Portugal's Atlantic coast is again very green, supposedly because it rains at lot here, although we have seen little evidence of rain and there is certainly no hosepipe ban - they water the public gardens constantly.
When we arrived the temperature seemed to go up by about 5 degrees and today we have been treated to about 35 degrees all day, even the evenings are warm here.
The marina here is very small, I am not sure if I have said this but we have the most up to date cruisers guidebook, which is about 9 years old and most of the marinas didn't even exist when it was published. There was a footbridge over the entrance so we radioed in to ask them to open it and if there was room. We were told that they needed to re-organise the marina but no problem - reorganising meant moving one boat out onto the waiting pontoon outside so we could get in! However the boat that came out was about 30ft long maximum and we had to fit in his space which was interesting, the marina chap helped us but it took a while and we are about half in the berth, the access gate on our boat is no where near the jetty so you have to climb on and off - fine for me with long legs, but trickier for those of the crew who are somewhat challenged in this area!! Also we are squeezed against a motor boat and I think getting out will be like squeezing a bar of soap through your hands - we will just pop out!
We spent last night and today exploring the town which is lovely and drinking the local brew - vinho verde which is young wine, very cheap and tasty, the bottle of house special wine in the restaurant was €9 and very nice. The food was good as well, it is also very fish based here the same as in Spain, with a few meat dishes on the menu but not much.
Having been told the town was quiet, we expected a good nights sleep, which we got until about 6am when we were woken up by 80s classics at full volume from the new bar across the marina, having eventually got back to sleep, we were woken at 8am by the seaplanes landing just outside the marina collecting water to put out the forest fires. Tonight when we have a 4am start tomorrow - long hike down coast - they have a live band! Who needs sleep anyway?
One thing that is fab about Portugal is that they are friendly, and speak English - the Spanish refuse to so that makes life easier although we intend to learn some Spanish by the time we hit Spain again further round.
The marinas here teem with lively fish swimming just on the surface - nobody fishes then out here unlike in Spain where everyone has a fishing rod set up on the harbour wall. Wouldn't fancy eating them myself, lots of boats have toilets which go straight out!! On that pleasant note.....