After 13 days in a wonderful city called Ayamonte, in Spain,  including spending 4 of these days preparing the boat again for sea, with me stripping off all the old varnish, sanding off my fingerprints,  getting the wood ready for new varnish, And Robert finishing the new mizzen cover, we left the comfort of the dock and motored the 20 miles up the Guadiana River.  (my 23 year old Ryobi sander finally stopped working after a full rounds of  80 -120 grit on both rub rails.  Good news is it CAN be fixed, but needs a part)   We were told to leave one hour after low tide, so we did, which was an easy 11:30 AM.    The trip was uneventful, but going under the suspension bridge, no matter what they say,  is nerve racking because we SWEAR the top of the mast is going to hit.  What makes this all the more scary is in the marina office when talking about going up the river, they ask, “How tall is your mast?”.  If they have to ASK it means we could hit it.   So we held our breath and made it through just fine. It’s times like these I just close my eyes.

  Portugal is on one side and Spain is on the other.    There were several moments when our boat’s port side was In Portugal and our starboard side was in Spain.   So we had to speak the correct language depending on what side of the cockpit we were on!!

     Both sides look pretty much the same.   Rolling hills, not quite mountainous, grass,  trees, green marsh right to the water’s edge and   LOTS of singing birds..  A farm house or small villa  pops up now and then, there are  a few villages on the Portuguese side, with anchored and moored boats In front. Some of these boats look as if their owners gave up boating and left them there to sit. Sad.  Then we arrived to the two towns of Alcoutim, Portugal and Sanlucar, Spain.  The current is strong, and so is the stiff 20 knot breeze. But the boats lay into the current.  So we need to hang out on Anchor watch  to see how we are holding.

There are many boats here from all over the world. But only a few look inhabited. We recognize one British catamaran that was in Olhao when we were there. But no sign of our  Swedish/Norwegian friends Ola and Torren who showed up last week next to us in Ayamonte.  After a few days and some good visiting, including them buying one of my paintings, they headed up the river.   Maybe they went further up.  They say we can go pretty far up, but we want to check out the little towns here.   I am finding that one of my favorite parts of this trip is seeing the towns, the cities, the villages, the cats there and the people.   Not to mention that I have to hold true to my Grocery Store to Grocery Store Great Atlantic Tour schedule.   I wonder what they will have here in the way of grocery stores!

One of the best parts of going to a grocery store, is we are not treated like typical tourists. And the cashiers, and the butchers and deli people don’t always speak as much English, as in, say,  restaurants or hotels.  So we need to try to communicate in their language, which has resulted in making friends with these folks.  Especially since once we plop ourselves in a town for multiple weeks at a time, we become regulars in the grocery stores.

So here we are up the river for several days.   But soon we will be heading back down the river, back to Ayamonts, and then back to Vilamoura  to pick up crew before we head back to sea to the Azores.  Even though we have a lot of sailing to do before we return home to Annapolis, I feel like this is the beginning of the end, because we will be leaving the continent.    Still, we look forward to the June Festivals in Terciera, and then the rest of the Atlantic Islands. Meanwhile, we will soak up as much of Acoutim, Sanlucar and Ayamonte until it is time to head away. 

Let’s who we meet at the grocery store this time!