Monday 24^th September – Póvoa De Varzim – Figueria Da Foz

40:08.840N 8:51.595W

Today the fleet moved on…

There was a narrow weather window to make the daylight passage down to Figueria Da Foz, another 75 miles south, before wind and swell were forecast to build.   Figueria Da Foz is more sheltered than Póvao De Varzim from a north wind and so seemed a good option.

All three boats (German, Swiss and English) left at sunrise and were safely moored by sunset.  Although a considerably quieter passage on the wind front than expected (we donked all the way yet again), we had a fantastic visit by a large pod of dolphins in the afternoon; they played and jumped around the boat for nearly an hour (I’ve got lots of pictures of water to show you all where I’ve completely missed the show with the camera).

The entrance to Figueria Da Foz is a challenge.  The pilot book puts you off when you read it as there are lots of warnings about the bar (shallow entrance) shifting and heavy swell making the entrance dangerous and the fact that they close it in certain conditions.  You really think you should try elsewhere (especially as it’s pretty expensive as marinas go this side of Biscay- though far less than in the UK).

However, we crossed our fingers and made for the very narrow entrance and got slung through by a very large wave.  We then were protected by the entrance and made our way calmly to the marina with relief.

Arrival was not as smooth as I’d hoped.  Unlike Póvoa where there was an army of staff waiting to greet us, here there was no-one around, despite my trying to telephone them and trying to call them on the radio as we arrived.  Only the customs official and a security guard were around at 6pm.  I had phoned in the morning to say that we would arrive at 7pm so we may have been a bit earlier than expected.  However, when the harbour master appeared, he was expecting us, and he made up for it by being very friendly and flexible and we were all happily berthed and settled by 7pm.

A couple of drinks later and we were listening to Cat Stevens and planning a video club for tomorrow if the weather gets up.