Still in Figueira da Foz
Rainmaker
Donald Macdonald
Thu 29 Oct 2020 16:16
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Yesterday evening a lot of excitement. The big waves at
the entrance causes a surge coming into the port and up the river so we often
see the see the same piece of seaweed going by. When a bigger surge happens
you can hear the extra noise of ripples against the hull. Last night not
long after dark the ripple were heard then sounded more ferocious and
boat bouncing a bit. Took a look outside saw that the jetty next to ours had
bent parallel to the pontoon and the pontoon in front of our boat was under
water. The pontoon outboard was bent up on the pillar. General consensus is that
the surge was nearly 2 meters and may have (not confirmed) caused by dumping
water out of a reservoir and the storm surge at the entrance.
It was not long before the Maritime Police and marina
personnel checking on things. As we had a working engine were asked to move to
the other side of the marina entrance. With the surges still going backwards and
forward, probably 4-5 knots this was not a straight forward task and we did
collect a gouge along starboard aft quarter, not seen until the
morning.
This morning on the maintenance front checked for water
in the bilges, all clear. Emptied and cleaned/dried fridge out. Data transfer
from broken tablet ongoing. We wondered off to see the bigger waves at the
entrance. Nature is a powerful thing. 3 ships now outside doing dog tracks until
they are allowed in, probably not today. After that went shopping for net
curtains and nail varnish.
The Marina staff and the harbour pilots have been
working on all the damaged jetties and pontoons which have now all been removed
and taken for scrap or repair. The advantage of moving last night we were able
to get electricity the other side did not get it back until
recently.
Looks less and less likely we will be able to escape
Friday due the swell, Saturday is looking fine just no wind so a day of motoring
in prospect.
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