Day 53 - Porto

Silk Sheets
Ben Shute & Fiona Kennelly
Thu 18 Sep 2008 19:49

We pulled up our big Anchor Saturday 13th September at 10:31AM and motored off headed for Porto the town centre 41:08.40N 8:36.85W 

 

If anyone was wondering Porto is where Port comes from believe it or not, I guess it is similar to Scotch being from Scotland……. So Porto is where we went, after consulting all of our cruising guides and Almanacs we could not work out if you could actually get up the river and moor up, the only reference we had was a quote from a cruising guide that it was not for the faint hearted so we took the punt and it paid off. We carefully cruised through the tiny entrance being very cautious not to run aground over the bar. We actually had no idea where it was but that is why we entered on a rising tide and not a falling one. Imagining I was a little bit of water flowing through the channel on its path of least resistance I navigated Fiona through. Great we had made it and we were on our way exploring the river. The Photos speak for them selves, how beautiful and old the place is. The river itself reminded me as if I was motoring up to South Bank in Melbourne. As we found a wall suitable between many commercial tourist boats we pulled in and were immediately confronted by a policeman who wanted to see Fiona and I in his office right away with passports and the ships papers. This was actually the first time any authority had approached us after all we had just traveled through France and Spain stopping at fishing ports and anchoring so I guess that is fair enough. After sorting out the boat we locked up and went in for a chat (or lack of) with the local copper. He filled in ‘the form’ and said thank-you very much and off we went. That was it.

 

Back to the boat for a spot of lunch before we ventured out however it only took a few minutes for the charm of our wonderful Australian flag (Thank you Myles) to attract a couple of Aussies, Al & Em, they were on their pre wedding honey moon for a year traveling around Europe in a Ford Transit camper van in true style. We invited them on board and talked about our travels. It was great to have some company from back home. They both were from Tasmania but lived in Melbourne. We all went out for a Port Tasting tour and a look around town.

 

We woke up bright and early, well sort of, about 9AM after Fi, Al, Em and I polished off a bottle of port the night before and got ready for our trip back down the river, I ran off to get some bread which just so happened to be the most fantastic bread ever and a quick coffee, I could not believe it that a coffee (Café Late) was 55 Cents great value I say.

 

 

Special comments by Fiona:. Entering the River Douro in Porto was a bit daunting at first, only due to the pilot cruising books we’d read advising that most cruising yachts moor up in Lexios and take the bus into Porto.  The entrance to the river is notorious for being shallow in many area’s and careful navigation is required.  But of course this didn’t deter us!  And I’m so glad we chose to sail up the river because it was truly amazing.  I’m not sure if the photo’s do it justice though and truly capture the beauty of the city by the river.

It was great meeting fellow Aussie’s, which we hadn’t met any since living in the UK.  

 

Day 53

Destination – Porto

Traveling Direction –East

Wind Direction – No wind this fine morning

Swell – Very little!

Average Speed – 4.4 Knots

Top Speed – 5.3 Knots Through the water

Total distance – 5.84 Nautical Miles

Travel Time – 1.34 Hours

Temperature – 32 degrees

Crew     - Fiona (Loving the Sunshine and cruising up the River Douro)

Missing Work – NO

Expenses – Dinner Out €49, Provisions €5.3, 1 Bottle of Port €7.5, Beer €11.7

 

Next Destination – Avierio

 

 

PNG image

JPEG image

JPEG image

JPEG image

JPEG image

JPEG image

JPEG image

JPEG image

JPEG image

JPEG image

JPEG image

JPEG image

JPEG image

JPEG image

JPEG image

JPEG image

JPEG image

JPEG image

JPEG image

JPEG image

JPEG image

JPEG image

JPEG image

JPEG image

JPEG image