39:35.012N 009:04.516W

Whisper
Noel Dilly
Wed 29 Aug 2012 18:32
"Nazare - 29th August"
 
We set off south from Leixeos just before lunch. It was such a glorious day with a gentle breeze that the sails were soon set, Windy Bill was set to work and we enjoyed lunch sitting in the cockpit. Nothing changed all day, we only saw three powerboats heading north as we weaved our way through the never ending fields of lobsterpots, their markers of varying coloured flags indicating different ownership and their patch. We saw very few birds all day and no dolphins until early evening when I noticed a large flock of gannets circling and diving not far from us, then the dolphins appeared! The fish in fleeing the hungry dolphins had been spotted by the gannets so stood little chance of not becoming part of the food chain. The dolphins ignored us to begin with but once their supper was eaten they came back to play with Whisper. They never cease to enthrall us as we crouch hanging onto the guard rails on the bow whilst watching their antics below.
 
We had supper in the cockpit in the evening sun and set ourselves three hourly watches so that one of us could sleep whilst the other kept a look out etc. It was a beautiful clear moonlit night, the stars were magnificent we were far enough off shore to just be able to see the lights but not to have the black night sky polluted with lights. The wind died during the night so the engine was started and Charlie the Auto Helm was put to work.
 
We arrived at Nazare and literally surfed into the harbour on the Atlantic swell. The beaches outside looked to be a surfers paradise as the waves crashed onto the shore. The fishing harbour here is small but very sheltered, one would never know that the waves were pounding the shore outside, if we had not seen them for ourselves. Once the boat was 'put to bed' we decided to get some rest ourselves, it has been a very long day!
 
The plan was to have one long hop here and then a day or two shorter hops before the long passage to Madeira, but it is possible that we might leave from here instead, it is further in distance but the wind and currents are more favourable.
 
We are very happy to find one of the American boats which was part of the OCC Rally here, so there will be an opportunity to catch-up on our individual activities since the finish of the rally and plans for crossing to Madeira etc. They are on their way back home to Maine, USA having sailed around the UK and western coasts of Europe, so will also be crossing the Atlantic to the Caribbean around the same time as us.