Wednesday -1 August 2018

I can’t say I exactly leapt out of bed when the alarm went off, but we slipped lines an hour later at 07.10, after waiting for a rather large ship to dock in the outer harbour.

As we exited the harbour there was quite a swell, with 2 metre waves. We had to get out to sea for a few miles until we had enough wind to sail and from then it was a cracking day. The wind was from the north, giving us down wind sailing, but it was challenging steering as deep as we could in the swell.

It was just a case of one tack south and we made the good speed we wanted to complete the 67 nautical miles in 10 or so hours. We opted not to put the spinnaker up as this would have been sufficiently demanding to be outside our comfort zone.

So we arrived at Figueroa da Foz early evening, following into the harbour a couple of fishing boats, similar to those we had passed during the day. They were accompanied by huge flocks of sea birds. They must be rich fishing grounds.

Figueroa looks really lovely as you approach from the sea. The relatively small commercial part of the harbour is well hidden. As we came into the harbour, there was a beach on one side, packed with holiday makers. On the other side are rather grand buildings.

The arrangement is that you have to first arrive at the reception pontoon, but this is also the fuel dock so we took the opportunity to top the fuel. We are delighted with how little we have used since leaving Lymington.

We are now sufficiently far south it was still hot in the early evening and we dined on deck. I an still sitting on deck, in shorts, as I write at 9.45 pm: heaven.

I am pinching myself we are doing this. It has been a brilliant day out on the water and we are also rewarded with a serene scene in a beautiful harbour. It couldn’t be better.

Distance covered today	69.3	nautical miles
Trip distance covered	972	nautical miles
Distance covered 2018	1692	nautical miles

Tricia (and Steve and Teresa)