There were strong winds as we left Porto at 09:00 and we were creaming along at 6-7 knots anticipating a great day's sail. It was cold, we wrapped ourselves in our warm stuff and our foul weather gear. In much of Galicia we sailed in shorts and T-shirts. It seems odd that as we travel further south it feels colder on the water then going ashore it soon feels hot.

Well our great start fizzled out as the wind dropped, it didn't get much warmer as we plodded on with some sailing and some motoring. Really cold today.

The coast line here is flat with mile after mile after mile of white sand beaches. There is a bit of a bar at the Aveiro harbour mouth which can get rough but we had lots of water and at 15:00 arrived in Canal da Embocadura, the gateway into the waterways and lagoons beyond.

Such an interesting arrival. The first wide span of water was full of small fishing boats darting about, it was really busy. We passed a nice sheltered beach and the grand light house which instead of being painted red and white is constructed of cream and red granite blocks. The whole place used to be river and marshland but has been drained and canalised providing full commercial port and recreational facilities. We motored on and found the lagoon at Sao Jacinto where we would have a very sheltered anchorage for the night in the company of a Finnish and a Danish yacht.

We wanted to see Aveiro, described as the Venice of Portugal, so next morning we had a very interesting foray up the river to the Avela yacht club moorings where we were able to leave Jobiska for several hours and walk into town. There was work going on in boat and small ship yards all along this river and there were two interesting vessels on our way. The first was a four masted job which could have been a sail training ship at some point in its career but it was in a very sad and sorry state. We had read that there is a company here that specialises in building replicas of old vessels such as the Pinta so this poor old thing could have been in for renovation.

The next vessel we saw was a large upturned foiling trimaran called Ultim Emotion which apparently had capsized off Porto a week earlier. All 5 crew had been rescued unharmed, it was a mess and in for repair. Looking it up on the internet it seems these particular boats are prone to 'falling over', however, it could be chartered for 34,000 euros a week (hopefully including insurance). Thanks but no thanks!

We found a place on the yacht club's extensive pontoon. A Polish yacht was already there and the crew helped us to moor up. They had an extraordinary anchor the like of which we have never seen before, we think it may be somebody's private masterpiece. Photo in gallery.

Walking into town we passed sea salt lagoons, drying and processing pans which had good information boards and made an interesting visit. The town is renowned for its sea salt some of which we duly bought.

Aveiro is a Portuguese holiday destination and justifiably so. Some of the colourful traditional old fishing boats, two of which we saw in the lagoon where we anchored, have been converted into gondolas which carry happy Portuguese tourists through the waterways. The town is lovely with its art nouveau verging on roccocco architecture and its black and white pavement art.

It is so lively, as we had our lunch we really enjoyed an excellent traditional street band with jugglers and dancers with castanets who were very good at involving the people around, it was great fun.

Anchoring back in the lagoon at Sao Jacinto we had another peaceful night and left next morning. We really enjoyed everything here, it's a great place.

See our gallery photos.