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Day 53-55: Reaching Portugal

Day 53-55: Reaching Portugal

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We said goodbye to our first onboard guest (Warren) on day 52. Just 1 more week until our second guest (Daisy) will also be departing.

It turns out writing blog posts with so many people onboard and also sailing most days is quite hard, hence a bit of delay in these posts 🙂

Baiona (continuing south)

After spending a few weeks in the rivers of western Spain, we needed to continue heading south and into Portugal. We headed to Baiona to provide a good staging area for our next bigger sail. We would be mostly out of the Vigo river and set up ready to head to Portugal.

We tacked all the way out of the river, sneaking through the Islotes Las Estelas in order to get into Baiona earlier than planned. This was quite a busy anchorage, with probably 20 boats or more all anchored up. Once again we found ourselves in the same anchorage as Sailing Vessel Zoe!

The anchorage was alive with fishy activity.

Entering Portugal

Next stop, Portugal!

The next 26 or so miles took us out of Spain and into Portugal (just).

We aimed for Caminha, and a small anchorage on the river that holds the border between Spain and Portugal.

The wind was frustratingly light throughout the sail. But toward the end, we did manage to get onto a straight downwind run and tried out the Ghoster for the first time!

Due to the slow first half of the sail, we came into the river mouth an hour or so after high tide and there was about 3-5 knots of tide flowing out of the mouth.

This led to us motoring in at probably the highest RPM we have had the engine at, doing only 2 knots over land, but 7 knots through the water!

We anchored mostly out of the river flow near the beach on the Portuguese side. The maritime police soon showed up to check us into Portugal. They also advised that we move slightly, so once again up with the anchor to move a few 10s of meters.

We spent 2 nights in the Caminha anchorage, as it was rather lovely, protected, close to shore, and we wanted to break up our sailing.

On night 2 we tried out the boat BBQ for the first time and made some rather tasty burgers.

Day 51 & 52: Goodbye Warren

Day 51 & 52: Goodbye Warren

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We headed back to our favorite, and the cheapest marina in Vigo (Liceo Marítimo de Bouzas) the day before Warren needed to catch his flight.

Land chores were the theme of the day with showers for everyone, multiple loads of washing at the launderette nearby, and a big boat clean.

For Warren’s last night, we headed for a fishy meal out, and boy were we in for a treat.

The next morning Warren headed off. We will miss him, his cake baking, and also his wonderful readings of The Hobbit.

Chapter 5 of The Hobbit, read by Warren.

We ended up servicing the engine, all filters, belts and an oil change. A job well done! 🧑‍🔧

Engine oil being pumped out into a bottle

We also went to every chandlery we could find in Vigo, only to find that the only money we spent was in the very first one. We managed to pick up a few small items, but not the large haul of deck caulking that we really wanted.

Leaving the marina we spotted Blue Note and passed the bag they left aboard Hannah over with a boat hook as we passed by.

Conveniently the fuel barge on the way out of the marina, outside Marina Davila Sport was still just about open (it closes at 10pm) so we topped up the tanks.

We sailed for about 5 minutes but had to motor most of the way across the river to another of our known anchorages, the same anchorage as Day 46 for some shuteye before trying to get down to Porto in a week. At least it was flat and pretty.

Day 50: Tack, tack and tack again

Day 50: Tack, tack and tack again

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Waking up in our anchorage, we found ourselves rocking violently from side to side after 10am. (This was due to all of the large ferries speeding past the area).

We had a little bit of this the night before, so we’re already expecting it. A quick spot of breakfast, and off we went.

We let captain Warren take command for the day, which lead to quite an interesting initial route. (Hence the name of this post).

A few wiggles, and a few accidental tacks, and we were out in the wind again, heading south toward Vigo.

Dolphins were quite a feature for the sail.

As was fishing, but once again no fish were caught (not having much luck this past week).

We headed to an anchorage on the north side of Ria de Vigo that we had spotted both Zoe from day 43 and Blue Note from Day 48 at on Marine Traffic.

We made a tasty egg fried rice on the way into the anchorage, so we’re eating moments after the anchor dropped

Zoe invited us all over for some drinks with Blue Note also attending.

We chatted late into the evening, even popping back to Hannah to continue until around 3am! All in all a very fun day, night and into the early morning!

Day 49: Another day full of food

Day 49: Another day full of food

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As well as being full of food, day 49 was also still full of fog.

We woke up in the anchorage after a fairly rockey night’s sleep. Although the swell was from the west, and we were well protected from any direct swell, it seemed to rebound from the land and hit us from the other side too. This was particularly noticeable from 6am onwards. And after our late night, we were all quite hoping for a lie in.

I enjoyed this morning, but I could have slept longer.

Warren, 2022

Pancakes were the first order of the day. (They were all as healthy as the one below, honest)…

Kathryn and I decided to let Daisy captain us to the next anchorage, we set the target in Navionics, sat back and watches the chaos ensue.

With Daisy at the helm, Warren and Andrew were left to pull the anchor up on her command and get us moving along.

We were motoring until we came close to the mainland due to lack of wind, but it was enjoyably flat, and fun getting others to do all of the work.

Warren and I started fishing part way through the hop, ultimately unsuccessful, but Warren did snag the world, resulting in us doing a little loop to get uncaught from the bottom.

Shortly after, we headed to the anchorage.

We finally got the relaxing day we wanted as Warren read us 3 chapters of The Hobbit.

Warren reading some of The Hobbit

Dinner followed, and we used leftovers with many additions to make some cheesy enchiladas.

Following that we had a delicious meringue victoria sponge with hand whipped cream.

Mmmmmmmm aahhhhhhh mmmmmm oohhh yeaaaaa mmmmmmm oh god it’s ssooo good

Adam, after eating Warrens cake

This really was a day of food…

Time for an early night, finally. Let’s just hope the ferries that keep driving past causing chaos wake do actually stop at 10pm.

Day 48: Feelin foggy

Day 48: Feelin foggy

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We all woke up a little late, and a little tired after our previous long day of sailing.

But wanting to make the most of the morning wind, we set off within the hour.

We wanted to move anchorage to avoid the changing swell and wind, and had also recently acquired a navigation permit for the nearby islands that are nature reserves, which we wanted to get a little closer to. (Guide for how to get this permit coming up soon).

As we sailed we applied for an anchorage permit which was approved instantly, so our anchorage was set :). (Also guide for this coming soon)

We considered looping the island, but this may have taken too long, so instead sailed across the top and back again.

We lost sight of the island half way through the sail due to the fog.

But thankfully as we neared the beach we wanted to anchor at we were actually in a nice and sunny hole in the fog. So after anchoring we headed to the beach.

Warren was cooking for the night, and we had a delicious Fabada cooked in the pressure cooker.

Suddenly, a knock a knock on the hull! Our neighbours from Blue Note had come over to see if we fancied a drink.

We took them up on their offer, suggesting they come back in 45 minuites after we had finished with food and packing things up.

A drink, or 4, were had.

We exchanged stories, and it turns out they had seen us at our previous day’s anchorage, and watched us picking Warren’s hat out of the water prior to anchoring.

Hopefully we will see them again soon as we all plan on being in Vigo on the 9th.

Day 46: Late night paella for 5

Day 46: Late night paella for 5

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For the first time there were 4 of us aboard for the morning breakfast routine. Everything is different with more people, new spaces need to be found, more seats needed and extra beds created.

We got a taxi to see some of the city, aiming for some sort of festival, but we were a bit early for the party with the stage and fair still being set up. The views at the top of the hill were great, however.

The only sensible thing to do after being up high is to head back down low, so we walked to the closest beach which was in some sort of old military area where we saw the acronym ETEA everywhere.

A few ice creams and drinks later it was time to head back to the marina to prepare for our final guest arrival, Andrew.

As with Daisy and Warren, Andrew was flying to Porto, getting a coach to Vigo, followed by a taxi to the marina, arriving at 8:45pm ish.

We had prepared a grand paella feast for Andrews arrival and the completion of the crew for the next week.

Image of paella, courtesy of Daisy

Wanting to not spend a second night in a marina we also hopped across the river to an anchorage not too far away for the night.

Image of night sail, courtesy of Daisy

And to bed we went, for quite a peaceful night.

Day 45: A Warren and a Daisy

Day 45: A Warren and a Daisy

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We woke up especially early today with the plan of getting to Vigo and a new marina early to prepare for our guests.

But looking out of the windows, we were met with walls of fog.

We waited a while, but set off in fog anyway with the fog horn at the ready, lights on and a lookout on the bow.

The fog continued to be patchy until we reached Vigo.

There are many ports in and around Vigo, and we went for the cheapest, that we could also book through the Navily app, to make things easy.

Guests

Warren and Daisy arrived in Porto last night, stayed in an AirBnb for the night and will be in Vigo after a little coach ride for noon and a short taxi trip.

The coach was €30 for both, and the taxi ride was only €12 + tip. Not bad considering the change of country due to our plans changing.

Soon after they arrived we headed to stock up with provisions for the coming week or so.

This trolly picture was either taken by Warren or Daisy, you pick, they both look the same

Relaxing was done and @wozzletron made a delicious grilled nectarine feta cheese Mediterranean salad for dinner, on the side of Kathryn’s fresh sourdough loaf for dinner, with a spot of wine.

Day 43: From Zoe to Nude in a day

Day 43: From Zoe to Nude in a day

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Many more jobs were done in the morning, more shopping, stowing, cleaning, deck scrubbing, washing etc.

From Zoe

We made some friends on Instagram who we then also met in real life as they were moored just a few boats down. Introducing @sailingvesselzoe. Also planning on making their way toward Canada on their Hallberg Rassy 36 called Zoe. We should be continuing to sail around the same area for the next few weeks, so hopefully we will cross paths again.

To Nude

As we said yesterday, we are now aiming for Vigo for the 3rd of August (2 days time), so want to progress down the coast a little more.

We already looked at some anchorages a few days ago, so continued down to the south, and headed to the last on the list.

We both also managed to squeeze in some time for work during and just after the sail. (Adam will talk about the internet setup in a blog post soon)

We arrived at the anchorage surprisingly early given our track record for the last few hops. So we headed on to the beach (Praia de Barra).

Oh wait, it’s a nudist beach!

Day 41: Escaping a rockey anchorage

Day 41: Escaping a rockey anchorage

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As said at the end of day 40, we were in a new anchorage with only 1 review. It turns out it was a bit rubbish for the conditions we were in, and it was a bit of a rockey night.

Moving anchorage

You can see in the picture below, these were not exactly glassy conditions.

Choppy water in the anchorage

We were up early because of the rocking, and decided to head off before breakfast in the direction of a shortlist of better anchorages based on the conditions.

The wind was having quite a “mad one” and flipped the dinghy over while we were beating through wind waves that were breaking over the deck.

Dinghy upsidedown out of the back cockpit window

We sailed using a mixture of Genoa and mizen, leaving the main down, and the first anchorage we passed looked great so headed in.

Much more pleasant location in these winds, I expect we will be here for a day or 2.

Boat jobs & relaxation

Let’s skip the boat jobs part and just say that Adam managed to drench the inside of the boat with salt water while trying to wash the deck (the window was open)…

We tried out the water, it’s still quite cold, but went and found the anchor with our wetsuits on.

A collection of underwater pictures

Oceanopolis, Brest

Oceanopolis, Brest

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The marina that we moored at when arriving in Brest gave us a free ticket to Oceanopolis, a nearby Aquarium.

We took this opportunity to have a day out on land.

The aquarium was about an hours walk from the marina, so we stocked up on icey cold water, and started walking amidst a bit of a heat wave (around 30 degrees Celcius).

Our walk took us along the rest of Brest harbour, then along a busy-ish road with a cycle path, and eventually through an industrial area until finally reaching Oceanopolis.

The aquarium is split up into 3 main different zones. Tropical, Polar and a zone for the local area.

There were penguins.

Lots and lots of penguins.

Seals.

The cutest of sea otters.

And of course, small fish pretending to be Nemo.

While browsing the shop we found a very cute seal which is now part of team Hannah Penn (also known as Team Saily Mc Sail Face).

Keep an eye out for this cute one in photos to come.

On the way back we tried out a french bike rental app called Donkey republic.

Not many bikes available that worked, most parking places would generally have 5 or so bikes, but only one that wasn’t broken / that you could unlock.

This shortened the trip back quite a bit. Very glad the bike was electric assist.