It was one of those “what did I
sign up for” moments at 3AM, the 24th of April when we were beating
against force 6 wind amid an army of fishing vessels who have no particular
direction or trajectory accept to move about in Brownian motion trailing
fishing nets too close to SaltyPaws.
Neither seen on AIS or the radar, they are only conspicuous by their
original, non-standard light arrangement.
We were thankful to be only 36 nm away from the save haven of Viana do
Castello, a beautiful town on the north Atlantic coast of Portugal. We entered the port around 2PM after lunch
when the sun was shining and a strong Atlantic swell was pushing us about 30
degrees off our compass bearing. The
entry into the harbor was, according to the skipper, one of the most difficult
he had ever done, but pass through it we did.
Navigating currents, swells, and shallows we finally found the tiny
entrance to the marina to find no available mooring places accept alongside
another catamaran, a very cool Lagoon 400 who takes kite surfers on
adventures. We were of course very eager
to speak to the skipper about the kiting experiences. And so with the help of the friendly port
captain, we found a safe spot to weather the storm.
On our rainy and windy day off we
made a tour through the town which also included a pilgrimage to the church on
the hill which was our passage aid into the harbor (keep the church at 008
degrees on entry). We strolled through
the beautiful Portuguese town admiring the colorful façade of the buildings on
our way up to the mountain top. We weren’t
sure exactly where we were going and found our way to a path to some beautiful
and fragrant botanical gardens. Roses,
lemons, and other tropical flowers lured us to the estate of some beautiful cottages
where you can (for probably 1000 euro per night) find rest. They had an exotic collection of birds end
even had some black swans of which I had never seen before. Eventually we found the entrance to the
tramway which takes us up the mountain to the church of St. Luiza. It was well worth the hike as we were
handsomely rewarded with a view of the open sea, the town, and a free tour of
the church. We lit a little candle and
paid our respects to St. Luiza for our safe passage to the next port Cais Cais
where we needed to have some repairs done on the boat. We are now sailing without a spinlock for the
topping lift, or a way to turn off the water maker without going to the front
hatch and turning off the circuit breaker.
But thanks to our Portugese friend we now have the door repaired.
Tonight its early to bed. Tomorrow we have an early start to sail 140
nm down the Portugese coast on our way to Cais Cais (near Lisbon).
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