Baiona

Wandering Dream
Steve Litson
Mon 14 Jul 2014 16:36
Awoke late - oh to be young again. Jason eager to get going and no hangover. We went for breakfast ashore. I tried to buy a postcard, but a lady customer in the shop insisted she buy it for me as it would bring her luck....no problem from my point of view.

Discovered in the pilot that I should have a copy of my boat insurance in Spanish and Portuguese. No one has asked for it yet. But just to be on the safe side, I phoned my insurers Pantaneus and arranged to have it emailed. It arrived but there were no internet cafes open and the marina office was unhelpful. Oh well, hopefully I won't get asked.

Steve Kershaw told me a story about when he bought a boat and relied on the fan belt that came with it...it shredded and he tried the spare, this was a cheap one which shredded too. He informed the coast guard who insisted as he had no engine he would have to be rescued. Luckily he was in British coastal waters. He was embarrassed but no harm done. Eek! Ok I've spare fan belts, but I've no idea how good they are and there may be no life boats where I'm heading....so off to the chandlers I dutifully trot and manage to buy one of the necessary fan belts. I'm still on the hunt for the other; my theory is, if I have it, I won't need it (or so I hope). I decided there was no point in checking out the genny until I had time to do something about it, so I would just believe all was going to good (after all I'm not called Lucky for nothing). Hopefully the thermal cut out worked quickly enough.

We all went to look over the Pinto a replica of one of Christopher Columbus' fleet. On their way back from discovering the Americas they were hit by a huge storm off the Azores. The fleet kept a sensible distance between them and the Pinto ran for Biaona which they knew was safe to enter in a storm, there the news quickly spread about their discovery and when Columbus made it to Lisbon, everyone already knew...I bet he was miffed!

The rest of the day Steve K needed more sleep so Jason and I headed for a swim on the local beach. It was cold, too cold, we did go in, but not for long...whimps? Perhaps a beer in the beach bar then, luckily Jason had brought some money.

Evening ashore at a local restaurant and an early night, we are planning for a 0600 start tomorrow.