38:41.6N 09:24.1W

Caiscais 13 Oct

We had an eventful couple of days in and around Nazare and Lisbon, for which I will have to be brief as I'm still in catch-up mode with the blogs. Firstly a relaxing day in Nazare with the outgoing crew, a very memorable lunch in a real 'locals restaurant' at the top of the cable car followed by a long, hot walk back to the boat. The Marina proved OK although we were rafted outside another boat, but it was a long hike to town. The next day (11 Oct) and started with all of us getting the bus to Lisbon seeing a few of the sights and meeting up with my scientific colleague, the delightful Ana Nobre. She drove us up to Sintra and we had refreshing and pleasant visit there (apart from some very expensive beers) then she kindly drove us back to Nazare where we had meal and Ana stayed with us on Whitemeadow.

The next day was change-over day, with Ana again providing a wonderful taxi service, taking us all to the airport, where we did a 3 out and 3 in exchange, and they actually met up briefly in the airport. Ana returned to ferry the next lot to a great 'local' restaurant in Lisbon before dropping us at the bus station, sorting out our ticket problems, and off we went back to Nazare. Thanks Ana, your a star - when are you actually coming sailing with us?

Decisions? Do I break the new crew in gently? Of course not - on the boat for a couple of hours then off on anight sail to Caiscais. It was actually quite a pleasant night, variable winds, moonlight, dolphins, 71 NM in 13 hours, tied up in Caiscais before 10 am. We set about a busy day with shopping, washing clothes, the new recruits did some sight-seeing and I prepared an evening meal of Espada (Scabbard fish). Another scientific colleague, Joao Ferreira, the famous EU Project Co-ordinator and local to the area, joined us for the meal, armed with pressies as usual. A memorable evening after a night-sail and a long daywhich eventually took its toll on me and I had to check the inside of my eyelids. Eventually the sleep of the innocent (and slightly pissed) sailor. More fun tomorrow (yawn). Photos to follow.