(No 11) Towards Cape St Vincent
Catou
Paul and Sylvie Tucker
Sat 31 Jul 2010 20:50
Wednesday 28th July (Sesimbra -
Sines) After the gale of the previous evening it
was difficult to imagine that it was the same place when we awoke the next
morning. After breakfast I had a job in the chain locker to
complete. The anchor chain guide below the windlass was badly mauled and
damaged, so I had to get some tools out to unbolt and remove it, which also
meant taking out all the anchor chain and then re-stowing it afterwards.
It wasn't a very arduous job, but with the early morning heat, I was soaking wet
with sweat by the time I'd finished, so Sylvie took the marina hose and washed
me down on the pontoon! I felt much better. We went ashore to pay the dues
and use the wi-fi, which meant a visit to the restaurant for a coffee, but we
met the Dutch couple again, so after a couple of beers with them we decided to
sail at 1300 - before the wind got up again ( we were warned that
it started after about 3pm every day). The Dutch couple had driven
down from Holland and were borrowing a boat from some Dutch friends of theirs
who lived in Portugal. I jokingly suggested that maybe they had brought their
own bread with them, since they had brought their car - and they
had! (I haven't explained before, but the Portuguese bread is grim -
whatever sort of bread you buy, and however fresh, it seems stale and
stogy). Can't wait for fresh bread at home in a week!
We set off south for the approx 30' trip to a port
called Sines. We were only going to sail under genoa, but a French yacht
(under full sail) overhauled us, and it was more than I could bear! We
heaved up the main and set off in pursuit. We did gain on them, but never
managed to overtake them. In the end the W'ly wind died on us, and we had
to start the engine. We rounded the breakwater at Sines at 1900
and discovered that it was a huge port. The pilot book advised that it is
Portugal's 3rd largest port - I'd never heard of it before. There were some very
large ships anchored off and a huge container ship alongside the container
terminal as we entered. The northern approach looks very commercial with
large chimneys and refineries to that side, but none of this can be seen from
the yacht marina. We tied up alongside another Malo yacht ('Catou' is a Malo,
built in Sweden). Our neighbours were a Danish couple - who we have
already met several times during the last 2 weeks. They asked us over
for a drink, after which we had supper on board, and at 10.30pm we went ashore
to register at the marina office and then have a late shower before turning
in. Unfortunetely our arrival has coincided with the start of the Sines
music festival, and a strange combination of local, reggae and rock music was
blaring out across the bay from huge speakers that would be the envy of any West
Indian band!
Today we have passed the 1000 mile mark. Our
arrival in Sines has clocked up 1039 miles from Tamar River.
Thursday 29th July (At
Sines) Amazingly we were not too disturbed by the music on
the first night. We had a washing day at the marina launderette, and then a walk
up to the town of Sines. The town's claim to fame is that it was the
birthplace of Vasco da Gama but, other than a street named after him, they
didn't seem to publicize the fact too much - or shout it from the
roof-tops. It is dominated by a huge Moorish castle - that we couldn't go
in, because the festival was being held there. We passed all types of folk
on the way up the hill. There were hippies and rastas, tattoos and pierced
lips and noses everywhere! People were sprawled about sleeping on grass
(probably after smoking some first!) but when we arrived in town, it was
rather pleasant - 'unspoilt' I think would sum it up best. A rather
sleepy, peeling sort of place. We shopped, and then found a busy pavement
restaurant for lunch where we could sit and watch the influx of music
lovers. Most of this lot had certainly missed the 1960's and were trying
to re-create it in 2010 in this small Portuguese seaside town. It must
have been grim for the locals!
In the late afternoon we walked back up to town to see
what was happening, and have an early meal. We tried to get away from the
crowds and as we were standing on a street corner saying 'don't think
there's a restaurant up here', an elderly man turned and asked us in perfect
English what sort of food we were looking for. He led us to an excellent local
seafood restaurant that he knew well, telling us that he had lived in
Canada for 40 years, introduced us to the proprietor, wouldn't accept a beer and
was gone to watch a football game on TV! We sat with the locals
(who, I suspect were also escaping the music festival) and had a great meal
of sardines and a bottle of wine for little over 20 euros.
We were back on board in good time, since we had decided
to leave at 0600 in the morning - for a long day's sail around Cape St.
Vincent. We turned in at 2230 with the music really starting to warm
up!
Friday 30th July (Sines - Sagres (just round
Cape St. Vincent)) We managed to get some sleep for a few hours -
but at 3.00am the show REALLY started! An American group started - it was
beyond sleep! We tossed and turned in the forepeak and kept wondering what
the time was. I got up at 0430, and thought about leaving at once, but a groan
from the forepeak told me otherwise! At 5.00 am - IT STOPPED (the music,
not the groan!) But it was immediately followed by an applause and then a
rendition of bongos and drums (I know not why!), closely followed at 0530 by my
alarm going off !! I was quickly up and peered out of the saloon
porthole - to see fog - and very thick fog it was too. I couldn't see
the other side of the marina!
But - we had a good radar set - and it was
impossible to stand another night of this misery! So at 0600 we slipped
mooring and left in dense fog. The marina was the last thing we saw for
hours.
We never saw the
breakwaters on each side of us as we went out - or the navigation lights and
buoys. We 'felt our way out' with the radar and chart plotter. We
crept past some anchored ships beyond the harbour and set course for Cape St.
Vincent and the south (Algarve) coast of Portugal. It was a dull morning,
heavily overcast, drizzly, foggy and generally a bit like the English Channel in
August - and no wind to sail, so the donkey was on all the way! The visibility
was between 100 - 200 metres for hour after hour. I didn't even see a
lobster pot in 3 hours - but we did have several visits from dozens of
dolphins, and they were great to watch, showing off around the boat. Quite
often they will shoot vertically out of the water as they approach the boat,
then turn and swim around the bows, rolling over and over. They are always
great fun to watch - you never tire of them.
Finally, by lunchtime the viz did start to improve and
as we approached Cape St. Vincent at the SW corner of Portugal, the viz was up
to about 2 miles and we could see the headland clearly as we approached.
The wind picked up and we were soon around the Cape and heading east along the
coast. We had wanted to go into a little bay just around the corner from
the cape, but it was very gusty, so we turned about and continued on for another
couple of miles and entered a bay called Bay of Sagres where we dropped the
sails and found an anchorage just off a beach at the head of the bay.
Very international it was - including us, there were five yachts all
together - 1 British, 1 Dutch, 1 Spanish, 1 American and 1 French.
Saturday 31st July (In Sagres
Bay) A lay-over day we decided. After breakfast,
we rowed ashore in the dinghy, to the already crowded beach. As
we were landing, a man kindly came to help pull our bows up the
beach - and he was English. I'm sure that didn't happen to Columbus or
Vasco da gama! After carrying the dinghy up the beach, we walked to the
huge old fortress high up on the limestone cliffs to the western side of the
bay. It was originally Prince Henry the navigator's school of
navigation. I have to agree with the pilot book whole-heartedly
here. " You may be disappointed that, with the exception of the small
chapel, little remains. (Sir Francis Drake must take a share of the blame,
though the final havoc was wrought by the 1755 earthquake which devastated much
of the Algarve") We paid only 3 Euros to enter - much more, and I
would have felt 'ripped off'. They were offering a guide book for 1 euro,
but they only had them in Swedish ! The new buildings within the old fort
were ugly and completely out of step with the fort - and they were locked
anyway, so we were not sure what they were supposed to be there for!
Disappointing 2/10. Anyway, it was a good walk, and we
eventually arrived back near the beach at about 1.30pm, so we had a lovely lunch
in a restaurant, and rowed back to 'Catou'. |