39:35.012N 009:04.516W
Whisper
Noel Dilly
Wed 29 Aug 2012 18:32
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"Nazare - 29th August"
We set off south from Leixeos just before lunch. It
was such a glorious day with a gentle breeze that the sails were soon set, Windy
Bill was set to work and we enjoyed lunch sitting in the cockpit. Nothing
changed all day, we only saw three powerboats heading north as we weaved our way
through the never ending fields of lobsterpots, their markers of
varying coloured flags indicating different ownership and their patch. We saw
very few birds all day and no dolphins until early evening when I noticed a
large flock of gannets circling and diving not far from us, then the dolphins
appeared! The fish in fleeing the hungry dolphins had been spotted by the
gannets so stood little chance of not becoming part of the food chain. The
dolphins ignored us to begin with but once their supper was eaten they came back
to play with Whisper. They never cease to enthrall us as we crouch hanging
onto the guard rails on the bow whilst watching their antics below.
We had supper in the cockpit in the evening sun and
set ourselves three hourly watches so that one of us could
sleep whilst the other kept a look out etc. It was a beautiful clear
moonlit night, the stars were magnificent we were far enough off shore to
just be able to see the lights but not to have the black night sky polluted with
lights. The wind died during the night so the engine was started and Charlie the
Auto Helm was put to work.
We arrived at Nazare and literally surfed into
the harbour on the Atlantic swell. The beaches outside looked to be a surfers
paradise as the waves crashed onto the shore. The fishing harbour here is small
but very sheltered, one would never know that the waves were pounding
the shore outside, if we had not seen them for ourselves. Once the boat was
'put to bed' we decided to get some rest ourselves, it has been a very long
day!
The plan was to have one long hop here and
then a day or two shorter hops before the long passage to Madeira, but it is
possible that we might leave from here instead, it is further in distance but
the wind and currents are more favourable.
We are very happy to find one of the American
boats which was part of the OCC Rally here, so there will be an opportunity to
catch-up on our individual activities since the finish of the rally and plans
for crossing to Madeira etc. They are on their way back home to Maine, USA
having sailed around the UK and western coasts of Europe, so will also
be crossing the Atlantic to the Caribbean around the same time as
us.
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