Tuesday/Wednesday 5/6th July

Whitesatin
Wed 6 Jul 2016 12:20
Tuesday 6th July
 
We left Porto at around 08.00 to catch the tide, we woke to thick fog but it seemed to be lifting so we decided to press on. We were expecting a day of motoring as no wind was forecast but we didn't bank on thick fog until 4pm in the afternoon. Anyway with radar and AIS we coped fine but we did keep a constant lookout as well all the time.
 
We sadly saw a dead dolphin surrounded by a huge flock of birds, hopefully it was old age and not us humans!! This was made up for by seeing a huge school of dolphins pass us later in the afternoon, they didn't stop to play round the boat but we must have seen at least 20 or 30 surging past and leaping into the air.
 
Apart for no visibility it was a very tedious day, no chance of even trying to sail as we had a long day to cover so engine all the way. Sadly it looks as if this will continue the rest of the week and, as we have to get to Lisbon, we will be doing more motoring.
 
Fuelled and tied up in Figueira da Foz marina we met a very friendly German single hander (we had spotted him in Porto) who is also doing the ARC this year.
 
Wednesday 7th July
 
Figueira has a famous covered market so we headed off there to provision, it was indeed full of fantastic fresh produce, including loads of fish stalls. We looked for some fish for tomorrows meal and Vicki spotted some octopus legs she fancied. She indicted to the lady on the stall that we would like some of these so the lady picked up a whole octopus, well Vicki shrieked like a banshee and ran away. It did look a bit like an alien!! Anyway I bought it anyway so we now have several meals of octopus.
 
We met another English couple who have been done here for a couple of years and are now heading back to the UK. Unusually I spoke to the strangers not Vicki – I am learning from her. It is these chance meetings which are a great part of sailing.
 
Only 30 miles today to Nazare which is apparently famous for Portuguese fish stew.
 
David