We left lovely Camarinas on Thursday 28th May for the 68 mile passage to Baiona. The wind looked perfect on the forecast but there was not enough to sail until 1300hrs. We put two poles up and flew twin headsails all the way to Baiona. We decided to anchor for the night off the beach at Panjon, which is just across the bay from Baiona.
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| The Pinter in Baiona, Spain |
The next day we contacted Baiona Marina to book a berth for one night. They no longer had a fuel berth, so we took on diesel at Monte Real Club de Latas de Baiona nearby. A famous person had been here before us and his ship, The Pinter, was tied up nearby. We returned to Baiona Marina and tied to their long pontoon for the night. We were surprised that there was no security. There were no gates requiring keys or codes for berth holders and the toilets and showers were always open.
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| Torn sacrificial strip |
Jeremy had researched bicycle shops, so we walked along to one that happened to be owned by an English speaking Belgian, who was also a sailor. He didn’t usually have parts but he did have a sprocket somewhere. He found it and amazingly, it was the right size for our anchor windlass. Back on Sal Darago, Jeremy took the anchor windlass apart again and fitted the new sprocket. Would it work this time? We wouldn’t know until we anchored. We provisioned and prepared Sal Darago for our next passage, which would be two nights at sea, and would take us to Cascais in Portugal.
I remembered in the morning that we needed to mend the tears in the sacrificial strip on the genoa. For non-sailors, this is a long strip of usually different coloured cloth sewn along the long edge of the genoa. When the sail is furled, this sacrificial strip protects the sail from sunlight and prolongs the life of the genoa. Ours needs replacing soon. In the meantime, Jeremy was able to stick spinnaker tape over the tears. Fortunately, there was little wind, so we were able to do this.
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| Passing Cabo Sao Vicente, Portugal, in rough seas |
We left Baiona at 0900hrs. By lunchtime we had two poles up and we were flying twin headsails. The northern Portugese Trade winds were helping us and we had current in our favour. The wind was cold even when it was sunny. The lumpy sea became a noticeable swell and there were a few breaking waves. At night, we had to watch out for fishing vessels as we passed Aveiro in Portugal. Towards the end of the second day the conditions were good. There were no strong wind warnings. We were near enough to mainland Portugal as we passed Berlenga Island to pick up a forecast from Windy on our phones. If we stopped at Cascais, we could be stuck there for a while as strong winds were coming. If we continued, we should be round Cabo Sao Vicente before they arrived. This was confirmed by a local forecast on Navtex, our weather receiver on board, which said “N/NW 5-6. Visibility good to moderate. NW waves 1.5m to ?”We were left guessing how big the waves were going to be.
We decided to continue and spend a third night at sea. It all started well until I had to make a course change at 0200. The small genoa I was flying suddenly backed and our wind pilot, Hydrovane, could not steer us back on course. I hand steered and tried to sail the course. I needed to furl the genoa completely but I couldn’t leave the helm. I called Jeremy up from his bed. This was too much for me to handle in the middle of the night. Later, on his watch, Jeremy took down the No.2 jib and steered by reefed genoa alone.
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| Alice and Zofia trying new dishes |
By 0800 we had 17-24 knots of wind behind and breaking waves. We broached. I furled the genoa more and took Stugeron. The barometer fell 4hps. Sal Darago continued surfing, swinging and rolling in the boisterous sea. Fishing trawlers were out in these awful conditions. The sun shone and the sky was blue, which seemed odd. As we approached Cabo Sao Vicente, the wind eased but the sea continued to be big and lively. We tied our companionway boards in place. I went down below to steer by auotopilot, Neco, as Jeremy had started the engine. Amazingly, there was a motor catamaran coming towards us steering into the wind! We steered to starboard and passed safely.
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| Alice |
Cabo Sao Vicente was impressive with its high cliffs and lighthouse. We altered course for Sagres Bay. We had one more point to go round. Henry the Navigator had his “school” on top. We could see the remains. At 2100 Spanish time, we dropped the anchor in Sagres Bay. It was still windy but it was calm and we were safe. The following morning the anchor windlass with it’s new sprocket lifted the anchor. Hurrah!
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| Kathy, Alice, Zofia and Jeremy at Chipiona |
After a good night’s sleep were set off for Portimao at 0800. It was a short trip of only 18 miles and we were there by lunchtime, having sailed with 2 reefs in the mainsail and a small genoa on a beam reach (said to be the fastest point of sail.) As usual, we checked in, found somewhere for lunch, shopped at a supermarket and had showers back at the marina. We couldn’t do our laundry as the facility was closed at 1830.
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| Alice and Zofia |
Our next destination along the beautiful Algarve coast was Faro, 34 miles away. The winds were generally light, so we motorsailed. We anchored in a tidal lagoon behind Ilha da Culatra for the night. Faro was about 5 miles away. On checking the engine, Jeremy was shocked to find oil had sprayed all over one side. He cleaned it up but it was a mystery as to where it had come from and why it had happened. This anchorage was our last destination in Portugal.
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| Approaching Gibraltar |
At 0605 on Thursday 4th June, we prepared to leave Faro. We had a long day ahead of us. It was 67 miles to Chipiona in Spain. We had arranged to meet out great niece, Alice, who was studying at the University of Seville, and her friend, Zofia, the following day. The winds were variable in strength so we were sometimes motoring and sometimes sailing. There seemed to be ships everywhere. I passed five drifting or at anchor, another crossed our bow and another passed close to starboard. The swell increased as we approached the harbour making it challenging to take down the mainsail. It was a relief to enter the harbour and tie to the fuel dock behind the Guardia Civilia. They were not looking forward to going out in the rough seas we had just encountered.
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| Passing ships in Gibraltar Bay |
The next day we moved to a berth. I had a shower and did our laundry while Jeremy walked to the nearest supermarket for provisions. Alice and Zofia arrived about noon. Alice is now a fluent Spanish speaker, which was very useful at lunchtime interpreting the menu! We had a tapas lunch and tried new dishes such as fish eggs and fried cuttle fish. Afterwards, we walked along the beach and promenade to a lighthouse and on through the town to the bus station. We were sad to say goodbye after we’d had such a lovely time chatting, eating and walking.
Our next destination was Barbate. We were now close to the orca danger area, where most attacks and sightings have been recorded on the www.orcas.pt website. The advice was to keep in water no deeper than 20 metres if it was safe to do so. We followed the advice. Sometimes we came across tuna nets stretching out from the shore for as much as 5 miles. We had no choice but to follow the net round before returning to shallower water. We did not see any orcas although Jeremy was close to having a heart attack when he saw a pod of dolphins! He also heard a Mayday call on the VHF radio. A yacht was under attack by orcas. We later learned that the boat was not damaged and the couple on board were all right. They had been further out to sea and coming from the opposite direction. We spent two nights at Barbate to allow adverse winds to ease down.
On
Monday 8th June, we set sail for Gibratar, avoiding tuna
nets and the tidal race off Tarifa. We had booked a berth at
Queensway Quay Marina 24 hours before our arrival, as advised in our
cruising guide. The Rock of Gibraltar is impressive and dominates the
landscape. We dared not look for too long as the large bay was busier
than the Solent in the UK with all kind of vessels, the scariest
being fast passenger catamarans. We managed to avoid moving ships,
anchored ships and a massive bunkering barge. We took down our sails
in the bouncing wake of a fast ferry. Peace returned as we called
Queensway Quay Marina and followed their clear directions to our
pre-booked berth, where a friendly member of staff took our shore
lines and made sure we were secure. Berthing was stern or bows to a
pontoon. We chose to be stern to.
Jeremy and Kathy on the Rock
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| Gibraltar from the Rock |
We spent 3 nights in Gibraltar, speaking English, paying in GB pounds and feeling very much at home, except for the 28-32C daytime temperature.
