Culatra to Ayamonte, Spain Log
We don't believe it, we've woken to fog again on a day where we are on a time schedule as far as the tide is concerned. The saying that 'time and tide wait for no man' is so true!
We decided to delay by an hour as we watched the fog drift around us, one minute we could see the island the next minute it had gone. The waiting wasn't ideal as it now meant that the tide had turned and would be coming back in. Having experienced the current when we entered yesterday, we certainly wanted to see the entrance upon leaving.
Just after an hour the fog looked to have lifted and from the anchorage we could see the island and marshlands. We decided to 'go for it', weighed anchor and headed towards the entrance in the hope that we'll be out to sea before the fogs shifts. Hanse followed closely behind.
However, nature had other ideas as visibility dropped literally within minutes of us arriving at the entrance - it could not have been timed better. Suddenly we could barely see more than two boat lengths in front, let alone see the breakwater! This challenged the nerves and with the current running in at a rate of knots we had yet again another one of those 'quiet moments' as we both concentrated solely on what we could see in the distance and around us, avoiding small fishing boats drifting across the entrance and a rather close encounter with a large fishing vessel coming in. For added entertainment, the current was pushing us towards the breakwater. For a split second we thought about turning around but felt that it would be safer to continue.
We increased speed and literally fought our way out of the grasp of the current, continuing into deeper water at which point both of us breathed a huge sigh of relief to be out of the current, albeit still in fog.
We decided to stay in deep water mainly to avoid lobster pots and tunny (tuna) nets and artificial reefs that exist along this part of the coastline. Our plan worked as we didn't have to adjust our course. The sea was mirror calm, almost oily in texture. At one point we couldn't differentiate between the sea and the horizon as it was all the same!
Thankfully by mid afternoon a variable wind arrived and the fog disappeared allowing us to see the coastline and Hanse who appeared on our port side about a mile away. Given that we needed to make up some time we continued to motor.
Our pilot book recommends arriving at mid-tide or above at Ayamonte to clear the sand bar that lies near the entrance. We arrived just before HW expecting the river to be relatively calm so we were surprised to see that we still had quite a current running in with us which certainly had the potential to make berthing interesting!
With a choice of two marinas available to us, Vila Real de Santo Antonio in Portugal and Ayamonte in Spain we decided on Ayamonte on the basis that it's supposed to have less cross current in the marina. Having had enough excitement for one day we decided to phone ahead to be allocated a berth rather than arrive at the reception pontoon and then have to move again, potentially with a challenging current.
Total distance this season: 1206.83 miles
We decided to delay by an hour as we watched the fog drift around us, one minute we could see the island the next minute it had gone. The waiting wasn't ideal as it now meant that the tide had turned and would be coming back in. Having experienced the current when we entered yesterday, we certainly wanted to see the entrance upon leaving.
Just after an hour the fog looked to have lifted and from the anchorage we could see the island and marshlands. We decided to 'go for it', weighed anchor and headed towards the entrance in the hope that we'll be out to sea before the fogs shifts. Hanse followed closely behind.
However, nature had other ideas as visibility dropped literally within minutes of us arriving at the entrance - it could not have been timed better. Suddenly we could barely see more than two boat lengths in front, let alone see the breakwater! This challenged the nerves and with the current running in at a rate of knots we had yet again another one of those 'quiet moments' as we both concentrated solely on what we could see in the distance and around us, avoiding small fishing boats drifting across the entrance and a rather close encounter with a large fishing vessel coming in. For added entertainment, the current was pushing us towards the breakwater. For a split second we thought about turning around but felt that it would be safer to continue.
We increased speed and literally fought our way out of the grasp of the current, continuing into deeper water at which point both of us breathed a huge sigh of relief to be out of the current, albeit still in fog.
We decided to stay in deep water mainly to avoid lobster pots and tunny (tuna) nets and artificial reefs that exist along this part of the coastline. Our plan worked as we didn't have to adjust our course. The sea was mirror calm, almost oily in texture. At one point we couldn't differentiate between the sea and the horizon as it was all the same!
Thankfully by mid afternoon a variable wind arrived and the fog disappeared allowing us to see the coastline and Hanse who appeared on our port side about a mile away. Given that we needed to make up some time we continued to motor.
Our pilot book recommends arriving at mid-tide or above at Ayamonte to clear the sand bar that lies near the entrance. We arrived just before HW expecting the river to be relatively calm so we were surprised to see that we still had quite a current running in with us which certainly had the potential to make berthing interesting!
With a choice of two marinas available to us, Vila Real de Santo Antonio in Portugal and Ayamonte in Spain we decided on Ayamonte on the basis that it's supposed to have less cross current in the marina. Having had enough excitement for one day we decided to phone ahead to be allocated a berth rather than arrive at the reception pontoon and then have to move again, potentially with a challenging current.
Total distance this season: 1206.83 miles
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