Fw: Sun in Sines

ULA
John & Jackie Richards
Tue 26 Aug 2008 09:17
 
----- Original Message -----
Sent: Wednesday, August 27, 2008 11:02 AM
Subject: Sun in Sines

Position 037:57.047N 008:51.978W
 
The Ula roadshow has temporarily ground to a halt in Sines, a small Portugese town which is apparently the birth place of Vasco de Gama. Tom left us early yesterday in Cascais to get to the airport and we headed off around 7am. The wind was light and we ended up motor-sailing most of the way until the usual Portugese afternoon sea breeze filled in around 2pm and we ended the trip with a nice Force 5 downwind berthing in Sines! We were all fairly pooped after the early start which had not been helped by a hearty send off for Tom on his last night. Andrew booked a good restaurant in Cascais and managed to drown all our sorrows as he honourably picked up the tab following a Google confirmation that JR (aka Encyclopedia Britannica) had won our own on-board 'Battle of Trafalgar'.(see previous blog!).
 
We have been nautical couch potatoes today with a wander around the town, bit of shopping and in Laura and I's case, some sunbathing on the beach. Sines is a simple but pleasant place with great showers,a state of the art library with internet access in the town and a nice beach!  Having made full use of the shower facilities (ie been ages!) Laura and I were a bit surprised not to find John and Andrew back on board. They appeared about 15 minutes later looking rather happy having been allegedly 'drying their towels' (ie having a beer in the cafe next to the showers!) We have just had dinner in a traditional Portugese restaurant in the town recommended by an ex-pat 'live aboard' who spends his summers here. Simple but excellent food at amazingly cheap prices...we could be tempted! Nothing much else to report in the blog today - up at 5.30am to get to Lagos tomorrow!