We are here in Lagos, Portugal - October 3rd

Sorry I didn't get this posted earlier, but we are safely settled into the marina in Lagos, Portugal.  We had a fabulous day yesterday, Oct 2nd with great winds and with a hull speed averaging at 6 knots.  The sun was out and we knew this was our final day before reaching land.  About 4PM we were welcomed to the Portuguese coast by a pod of dolphin.  They gave us a great show for about 15 minutes - what a treat going under the boat and jumping all around us.  Just a few minutes later we could see the coast of Portugal.  What a welome!  Just because we could see the coast however did not mean that we were getting to land soon as that happened around 4:15PM and we didn't arrive into port until 1:30AM.  The seas calmed down as we were coming into the harbor which was helpful and we had a beautiful full, orange moon to guide us in - what else could you ask for!!

 

As soon as we got tied up to the reception dock we got some sleep - we couldn't believe how calm it was and how the boat didn't move at all as the marina is located up a river and away from the movement of the ocean.  Hard to believe the boat could be so still. 

 

This morning, October 3rd we had another treat in being able to see our friends, Kay and Dan from Ithaca - we had been hoping that it would work out to see each other and it did - we are so pleased.  Again, another great way to come into a country.  We went out to lunch with them which was a treat as it was definitely more than a one pot meal that we have been eating on the crossing.  Getting together again tonight as they leave this area to explore more of Portugal.  We will then take our time to explore Lagos and get some of the basics done like laundry and turning the boat back into a home for the time that we will be here. 

 

We will be returning to our regular blog and will not use this one again until another long crossing which won't be until next year.  We will be here in Portugal until mid-December when we will be flying back to the US for 3 months.  We are looking forward to getting a chance to seeing some of you when we do. 

 

Take care and best wishes to you all from both of us!  Hard to believe that we are finally on mainland Europe and got here by our own sailboat - quite amazing if we do say so ourselves!

 

 

 

 

Day 7 Report

Well, day 7 ended at 10:30AM on October 2nd with 149 nm traveled. We have been flying at 6-7 knots. The wind has not changed much in that it is still about 15-20 knots, but we have changed angle with the wind which increased our hull speed. We had to be sure that we were north enough before turning southeast in order to round the southwest point of Portugal. It is currentl 1:30PM on October 2nd and we are at 37.06N, 9.47W getting near to the traffic separation lanes. These are lanes that are used by the large freighters which we as a private sailboat need to cross at right angles. These lanes are about 10 miles across and fortunately as we have AIS we can easily see where the freighters are located. More importantly using that same technology they can see us! We had hoped to cross it at night as it is easier to see the ships with their lights, but this will be fine.

At our present speed it appears that we will probably get to our destination of Lagos at midnight or after. We usually like to get to a harbor during the day, but this is a wide open one so should not present any problems. We have been in contact with the marina as well to let them know we are coming late.

The sun is out and the moon has been full which has made the night duties very pleasant. Last night we had our full genoa and 1 reef in the main out, but as we were heeling at 20 degrees all the time it was difficult to make dinner,etc. As a result we took in some of the genoa but with our change of angle we didn't slow down. It is amazing how your speed can change based on the angle to the wind and waves. We have had a few waves come over the bow and into the cockpit - that definitely gets our attention, but fortunately it isn't too much.

First thing when we get to Lagos after the official business of checking in will be getting a shower and then giving Tsamaya a fresh water bath as everything is covered with salt.

All in all it hasn't been a bad passage - a few days rougher than others but not bad. We will be glad to get our feet on terra ferma again for a while however and explore a new place. This definitely reminds us that the Azores really are out in the "middle of the Atlantic" - really about 985 miles off shore!

Will let you know when we get there and then will change back to our regular blog. Hope things are well with everyone - best wishes from us both.

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One Day Closer

It is Monday, October 1st which means that we have been "at sea" for a total of 5 days now. We had a good day yesterday with a total of 125 nm traveled. This is good news! We had heavy cloud cover with a few bits of blue sky and no rain so things are going well. We have been using "monty" (our wind vane monitor) and "otto" (our autopilot) for steering. It is sure nice to have them as extra crew members as we do not have to hand steer. The wind has been much steadier now running between 14-18 knots out of the north/north east. We are starting to see more large ships out here and have talked to a few of them. One that just passed us is headed to Turkey and came from Charleston SC. He wanted to know if we wanted him to adjust his course for us as he was close to us. We are always surprised when we see these large ships adjust for a 40 foot sailboat, but very glad that they do!

We figure that we have about 231 miles to go. If we can keep the pace that we have been for the last couple of days, we should be in Lagos, Portugal on Wednesday, October 3rd. We are keeping our fingers crossed that the winds stay with us and that will be the case.

Our friends, Kay and Dan are in Portugal right now on vacation and they fly back on Oct 9th so hope to catch up with them before they leave - it sure would be nice to get together with friends from home.

Our position as of 12:00 noon (UTC) is 37.18N, 12.52W with a hull speed of 5.5-6knots. Winds are running 14 knots and our heading is 108 degrees. Keep your fingers crossed for us that we can stay with 125 nm days so we can make port on Wednesday. It will be great to be able to sleep in our own bed again, cook a meal without strapping ourselves in at the stove and have a decent shower! We have gotten into the routine however and the days are flying by which is good. We are both getting some reading done and between naps during the day and our 4 hour on/4 hour off duty schedule the days blend into one another. At least trying to update this daily keeps us on track of what day it is!

Take care & will keep you posted.

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