We Finally left Bayona at 6-45am on Thursday 25th June and once again headed down the coast to our next destination that was Leixoes in Portugal. The trip down was again a hard slog with the wind directly on our nose; this did get better by the afternoon when the wind changed direction and finally we managed to have a good sail. Throughout our trip we have seen many dolphins but on this particular passage and at one particular time our boat was absolutely surrounded by them, we have never seen so many dolphins in one place at one time, what a sight. When we finally arrived at Leixoes we were both quite tide after a long trip and when Young Debs tried to jump from the boat to the very short pontoon she missed the pontoon but managed to still hang onto the shrouds with her feet dangling in the water, she was ok but with some nasty bruising. Leixoes is a large commercial port and not very attractive but the beaches all along this coast are spectacular and Leixoes is no exception. Leixoes is quite near Porto so we decided to get the Metro to Porto and spend the day sightseeing. Our last night in Leixoes saw winds get up to 35 knots and although this is a well protected harbour we still felt like we were on a rollercoaster and it also felt like our little pontoon would not hold us. The boat that was moored next to us was out during the day training would be skippers. When he returned to his berth that evening, he managed to hit our boat with an almighty bang, this caused our flagpole to snap in half but we don't think this caused any other damage. The skipper was an English lad so although he was willing to pay for any damage we shook hands, had a drink and forgot about it.

We left Leixoes on Sunday 28th June at 1pm for our next destination Nazare, is about 100 mile down the coast so the trip took about 20 hours and on this trip we travelled through the night. We both love travelling at night but travelling alone the coast with hundreds of fishing nets and fisherman who do not understand the give way rule makes night travelling a bit hazardous to say the least. It seems to be getting a hobby of ours to drag fisherman's nets from one town to another. Nazare is a very small marina within a commercial port, there's not too much there but a small shop come bar that sells very little in the way of groceries. There is a great local chap who runs it and loved practicing his limited amount of English on us. Within the town there is a great open market where the produce is very fresh and good but even better it's so cheap. Like most other places we have been to along this coast the beach is outstanding and we did manage to spend a day enjoying it.

We left Nazare very early on Tuesday morning for our next destination which was Cascais, the trip took about 13 hours and we managed to sail about half of the way which is not bad considering we normally have had to motor most of the way. Cascais is a more upmarket marina, very expensive with lots of bars and restaurants, but it has a lovely town with many nice buildings so was worth paying the extra marina fees, we only stayed here for 2 nights although we did enjoy it there.

We left Cascais again quite early and headed further down the coast to our next destination which was Sines, the trip was about 10 hours and we motored most of the way as the wind never got up until we were close to our destination. It was a beautiful trip as the sun was shining the sea was like a mirror and it was very hot. We were lying back enjoying the trip and we kept hearing this message over the VHF radio from the Portuguese authorities asking listeners to turn to another channel for more information regarding a warning message. At first we took no notice as you get a lot of these messages, they are normally to warn you that a certain navigational buoy has been moved, so as normal we took little notice and were just lying about on the boat sun bathing with the CD blaring away and then we noticed this Portuguese warship sort of following us at a distance. After some time we thought we better listen to the message as this warship did not seem to want to leave us. The message was that the Portuguese military were having firing practice and letting off live missiles from their warships in a certain area and at a certain time, it just so happens that we would be passing this area very close, so I suppose the warship was making sure we did not enter the restricted area. From now on we are determined to listen to all messages on the VHF radio. When we arrived at Sines the wind was picking up and we were glad to get moored up and have a beer. Over the next 5 days it was very interesting watching the boats come and go trying to battle the heavy winds in the marina. We spent 5 good days in Sines, done a bit of sightseeing here and relaxing on the lovely beaches. There was a festival going on all the time we were there with processions and music all along the promenade, they had bands playing the loudest music ever, there was stalls each side of the road selling all different types of food and drinks and the centre of the road was completely full of tables and chairs where you could sit down and enjoy your meal. There is a lovely traditional town in Sines with lots of interesting shops and restaurants scattered along the narrow cobbled streets. Most people here must be into fishing as there are so many tackle shops.

We left Sines on Wednesday the 8th July for our next destination which was Portimao in the Algarve. The trip took about 13 hours and we experienced some very high seas on the way, but as these were mostly behind us it caused us little problems. When we arrived we decided to anchor for the night in s bay just outside the marina. It was an absolutely beautiful spot with a traditional little Portuguese restaurant opposite on a small beach and some other beaches to one side. We sat on deck with some cool beers just admiring the view and thinking how lucky we are. The next day we went into the marina as we needed some supplies, it was a very nice large marina but also very expensive. Throughout this trip whenever we have gone into a marina we have perhaps met one or two English yachts, however here I though I was back at Brighton it was full of English. Once we had finished with the formalities of filling out paperwork and restocking the boat we headed for the beaches. Once again we were amazed by their beauty, the beaches were backed by different coloured rocks and were full of caves, some of these caves you actually walk through and this then brings you out to the next part of the beach. That night we decided to splash out on a meal in the beautiful surroundings and the next day we was up nice and early and back down the beach again before our departure. That day we left about 2pm for our next destination which is Cadiz SW Spain and this was an overnighter. We had some really good times in Portugal and we have visited some amazing places and after Portimao we are quit sorry to be leaving, we both know that there will be more adventures and more beautiful places to visit on the way.