“41:22.496N 8:45.887W”

1102 Miles since leaving Sandwich

We have arrived in Portugal –23 September 2022

After 12 days we have finally left Muros. That is not to say that Muros isn’t a lovely place because it is and well worth the stopover, but we have things to do, and people to meet so onwards and upwards (downwards actually). Our plan was to head for Bayona and stay at the RCYC club marina, but these changed as we motor sailed down the coast. The journey was taking a while and to be honest we were rather tense as the Orca situation was very much playing on our minds.

Even ex crew members were twitchy about the Orca sightings

We managed 3 hours of motor sailing, 2 hours of sailing (reaching 7 knots at one point), and 3 hours of motor only, which wasn’t too bad considering the weather forecast was for light winds from the south which should have made sailing impossible. We arrived just after 1800 and to be honest we were both pretty tired, as the plan was to head out early in the morning it didn’t seem worth paying for a marina berth just to eat dinner and go to sleep, and so plan B was enacted. Crossing the bay from Bayona we dropped anchor in 4 meters, just outside of the breakwater and mooring buoys of Panxon, after an 8 hour trip covering 42 miles, and what a good choice that was. No sooner had we dropped anchor and put the boat to bed than a passing paddle boarder called out “Loverley Wessel” as he paddled by which was a nice way to end the day. Point to note my attempts at providing dinner failed again and no fish were tempted by my alluring lure and therefore we had to raid the larder for our evening meal. Sitting at the back of Spectra we were treated to a spectacular sunset on one side and the panorama of a beautiful town on the other, life is sweet.

Panxon beach from our aft deck

Note I was still trying to catch supper as the sun went down.

The swell stayed slight all night, but the humidity was a bit of a problem resulting in me sleeping on deck under the stars and very nice that was too, even with a couple of mossie bites to remind me of the experience. The next morning with zero wind predicted and not wanting to motor for 50 odd miles we decided to blow up the dinghy and go ashore. No dramas, which is frankly amazing, the dinghy was launched, outboard installed and it started and ran very sweetly. Soon we were tied up to the concrete ramp inside the tiny harbour and eating Tapas at the nearest restaurant. Our choice of restaurant wasn’t only sheer laziness it also gave us a great view of Spectra looking rather resplendent at anchor in the bay.

Anchorage at Panxon

We had a good wander about and a rather pleasant lunch ashore before returning to Spectra in the early evening. Another peaceful night at anchor followed with us both up at 0700 for an early start. It was still dark outside and the first job of the morning was to make coffee and drink it on deck which was accompanied by the put, put, put of outboard motors from all directions as the small fishing boats went out to set their nets. Unfortunately, none, or very few of them, seemed to have any lights which was a worry as we could hear them but could not see them. A slow get the boat ready for sea was undertaken which we managed to drag out until 0800 when the sky was getting lighter. Good job that we did because by 0800 we could make out 30 to 40 small open fishing boats spread right across the bay, all busily doing their thing. I could have told them it was a waste of time as I had fished all day the day before and hadn’t caught a thing so there was obviously nothing out there. We picked our way through the fleet and within the hour we were leaving the Ria de Vigo and bobbing along in the swell. Unlike the day before there wasn’t a single opportunity to turn the engine off all day. The wind stayed in the 5-6 Knot range which just isn’t going to get Spectra moving, we did however manage to motor sail for about 4 hours but that was it, 52 miles under engine! Very dull.

But there were, as always, some highlights. Dolphins a plenty, no Orcas, and a very strange Gannet filled in the gaps between writing up the log, eating and drinking coffee. I shall take them one at a time.

Dolphins: All afternoon we were joined by small pods of dolphins who played around the boat for 10 to 15 minutes before heading on their way. One group in particular were very excitable and even did a synchronised jump out of the water as they approached much to Norma’s delight as she was making very excited noises from the foredeck.

Dolphins come out to play

Orcas: Didn’t see any. Not much of a report that, but it was of such interest to me I thought I would mention it again. What we did hear was that there have been several attacks up near La Caruna. One yacht, a 52 footer had its rudder chewed and has gone into La Caruna to be lifted and inspected for repair. Although personally relieved that they seem to have gone North at the moment I still feel for the people that are being attacked. The latest I hear from the various organizations is that they are going to tag them, well that will teach them a lesson and no mistaking it. Perhaps they should go the whole hog and insist they get a license to bite boats from the post office?

Gannet: Or at least I think it was a Gannet, I’m not very good with identifying birds. This white bird with a yelolow tint on the top of its head and a bluish beak swooped down and looked at my lure, the only thing that showed any interest all day I hasten to add. After dismissing my lure as a potential meal it proceeded to circle us and swoop down in front of the bow for 10 minutes or so. Then it swooped in across the bow and landed about 50 meters in front of us, and I mean directly in front of us. As we approached it got into a bit of a flap (couldn’t resist that) and paddled out of our way. No sooner had we passed him than he took off and after circling us a couple of times repeated the process. After doing this 3 or 4 times we took a bit more of an interest in its antics and watched it closely. As our bows got close it paddled just out of the way and then floated down the side of the boat about half a meter off. When the stern came level, it dipped its head under and had a good look around. I can only assume that it was looking for fish and not inspecting the condition of our antifouling or how good a job Piers’ robot scrubbing machine had done. The bird repeated this for at least 30 minutes or so before deciding that Spectra was an anti-fish magnet and decided to fly away towards a passing fishing boat.

We arrived at Povoa de Vazim and were moored up by 1630 so allowing for the clocks going back an hour as we crossed the Spanish / Portuguese border meant a journey of 9 and a half hours, 52 miles. Second new destination in two days. The only slight confusion on entry was that both my paper charts, electronic charts and pilot book hadn’t updated with the fact that the marina had extended to the North of the harbour and of course that is where they wanted us to go. After floating in the middle of the harbour for a couple of minutes a harbour launch sped out to us and in an extremely helpful and friendly way ushered us into our berth. His final comment was, “Proper boat, I like very much not like these Tupperware boxes”. A very intelligent and astute man I think.

Povoa de Vazim as we waited for berthing instructions.

After booking in and having a fingerprint taken, that’s a new one and for the security gate I’m told, I asked about a Freezer engineer to fit our compressor. The marina staff were super-efficient and very helpful, soon we were following their directions to the boat yard next door. The lady at the boatyard office also spoke excellent English and quickly called a man in town who has promised to come down today and fix things for us.

And that’s it really. We are now waiting for the freezer person to arrive while still trying to book into a marina in Porto. If we get the freezer fixed early enough today, we will head down to Leixoes and if no berth is available anchor off. If the freezer doesn’t get fixed until later this evening, we will head down to Leixoes first thing in the morning and likewise if no berth is available anchor off. When Tommy and Sue arrive we can go onto the fuel pontoon and board them there, we need to top  up the tanks before the next leg anyway.

The weather is ok for tomorrow but up to 30 knots on Sunday, coward/sensible chap that I am we won’t be heading any further south than Porto until Monday. Then it will be a long haul down to Figueira da Foz, or we will do something else entirely but more of that later ………