Some call it a milestone, rounding Cape Vincent, aka Cabo de Soa Vincente, when heading to south along the Atlantic coast of Europe.  It is the lower left  corner of Europe, where  Portugal’s Atlantic coast becomes the Algarve.  Cape Vincent, and the next point, Ponta de Sagres have been referred to as a “formidable pair. wild and windswept. Sometime seem for miles, even in Summer, sometimes heard  before seen.”  What we saw was a big cliff with an old lighthouse on top,  and what I heard was Robert putting beers in the fridge.

We have been watching the weather very closely now that we are moving once again. Portugal has been experiencing one of the, if not THE coldest and driest Winter.  We haven’t seen the infamous Southerly storms since November.  And there has been no rain.  The winds have been Northerly for the most part, and light. But the air has been cold.   So  we’ve been aiming for relatively short day trips so we can avoid sailing in the night, when, many times now, the temperature has gotten down to freezing, literally!  Once in Sines, (pronounced SEEnsh, sometimes SEEnish) we needed to plan for  good day to make the 57 mile trip around the cape to this somewhat protected anchorage off Ponta de Sagres.  So averaging 6 knots, it’s easily a 10 hour day. And another 12 miles to Lagos, the next stop.  When we first arrived in Sines, the days barely had  12 hours of daylight, and it was freezing. Literally.   So we hung there a while, enjoying the town, the cobblestones, the new people and the Carnival.  Just three weeks later the days are noticeably longer.  But it is actually colder today than it was in the  last few days, but the wind forecast was good so we took off this morning at 5:30 AM.  Pitch dark and freezing.  But calm and quiet.  later the sun warmed things up enough that I didn’t need gloves, and what breeze did fill in was from the North so it wasn’t in our faces.  Even with clear sunny skies, I never took off my coat, over two layers of fleece on top of Under Armor long underwear.  (still wish I had bought Under Armor stock when that company first went public. oh well.)  As we did approach the cape, the breeze filled in nicely and we had a delightful sail around it and into our anchorage.

Besides the weather, we have been monitoring the fuel filter like a hawk. After sitting so long hunkered down in Oeiras, “stuff” may have had a chance to settle in the tank.  We have a much loved pressure gauge in the engine room and a good view of the glass bowl on the Fuel Filter. We chose to motor sail to make at least 6 knots, and for most of the day the wind was too light for that.  And as the hours clicked by, the dark region of sludge was increasing in the glass bowl.  It was like a game, to we keep going at this good speed motor sailing, or turn the engine off, just sail, clean the bowl and lose time?   Then the wind filled in to a nice 15 – 20 knots. It’s a good thing the wind came because we both heard the slightest change in the engine’s “tune”, and turned it off before it shut down. Letting it shut down due to lack of fuel could let air into the fuel line, which would mean we’d probably have to bleed it which is a pain in the butt.  Although, there was a time that I could bleed a 4 cylinder diesel in less than 8 minutes.  I was thinking of starting the East Coast Diesel Bleeding Championships but never got around to it.

Anyway, we had a delightful sail, maintaining a good 6 knots,   and we were still able to start the engine to maneuver into our spot and drop anchor.   Then we cleaned the gunk out of the bowl and we are good to go tomorrow, but not at dreaded 5:30 AM.    It is very odd, however, to be anchored here, with a town right in front of us, up high of the cliff,  and wide open Ocean directly behind us. Would not want to be here in a South wind.

Tomorrow we are heading to a town called Alvor.  The cruising guides say there are two good anchorages there, a nice little town and short bus rides to Lagos and Portimao.  We really  want to see Lagos, but would prefer to go by bus while anchored for free somewhere else. Lagos has a very nice marina and it is quite pricey, and no where to drop the hook.  Alvor may be tricky to get to due to shifting shoals, and unmarked channels. One fellow sailor told us it may be best to follow some one in.  So if it looks too weird, plan B is to continue up to Portimoa, where we can also anchor.  But we’ve heard so many nice things about Alvor, we hope to be able to get there safely.  And we already plan to leave here at low tide, so we’ll be entering at half tide and rising water.

It’s nice to be on the move and seeing new places!