Wednesday 31st October 33:03.56N 016:19.39W

 

We arrived in Porto Santo early this morning and stayed for a rest, but there is a heavy surf running onto the beach making landing almost impossible except in the shelter of the harbour, which is a long walk from anywhere.  So we spent the day recovering from our journey, which had included the seemingly obligatory strong headwinds (38 knots,gusting mid 40s) for a few hours when the wind direction went around the whole compass.

 

Safely anchored in the lee of Porto Santo with the sun shining, that was all forgotten.  A swim to check the bottom of the boat in warm clear water was sufficient exercise. We shall make the 30 miles passage to Madeira tomorrow, then spent a couple of days being tourists.  We have finally caught up with our original schedule and now have a day in hand thanks in large part to the efforts of Kevin and John on extended “catch-up” passages.