Boat Hair, Don't Care

Vessel Name: Ocean Whisper
Vessel Make/Model: Jeanneau Sun Fast 37
Hailing Port: Fleetwood
08 September 2019
07 September 2019
06 September 2019
03 September 2019
29 August 2019
27 August 2019
24 August 2019
23 August 2019
04 July 2019
24 June 2019
23 June 2019
20 June 2019
16 June 2019
27 May 2019
21 May 2019
Recent Blog Posts
08 September 2019

Sines

Our anchorage had turned out to be a bit lumpy as the wind changed to a light southerly during the night, it meant we didn't get much sleep but meant we saw the amazing sunrise and were ready for an early departure.

07 September 2019

Cascais to Sesimbra

A leisurely start to the day meant a 11am departure. We were berthed opposite 2 Scottish boats who we had also seen in Figueira de Foz and they looked like they had a heavy night and were nursing hangovers as we left.

06 September 2019

Cascais

Up early for an 8.15am departure to Cascais. We left without disturbing our friendly French neighbours, who were gearing up for a trip to the Canaries and then the Azores.

03 September 2019

Engine Failure!

Up early for a 7am departure from Figueira de Foz for Peniche, a big fishing harbour and home to Lagido Beach, which is the setting for the major world surf championship, Rip Curl Pro Portugal. There was a beautiful sunrise and fishing boats coming in from their nights' work. We motored for a couple [...]

29 August 2019

Figueira de Foz

Up fairly early to depart at 10.20am, Glorious sunshine for departing but not much wind so we motored for the first 3 hours. We had decided to do the 24 hour journey to Figueira de Foz as the forecast was good. Visibility was good and the wind was a WSW F2 so we managed to sail the afternoon which was [...]

27 August 2019

We arrive in Portugal!

We left lovely Baiona at 8am, just after our French neighbours, with a glorious sunrise. Within an hour we had dense fog which lasted for the next 5 hrs so we didn't see any of the Portuguese coast until we were nearly at Viana do Castelo, We had a light westerly for the first couple of hours but that [...]

25 August 2019

How do you get a drink in Baiona?

Arriving in Baiona was easy as there is wide access. Within seconds of calling up on the radio one of the marina staff had hot footed it down to the visitor pontoon on his bike to help us moor up. We could easily see him as the visitor pontoon is at the closest point to the marina entrance, in other [...]

24 August 2019

Ria de Vigo

We had a lazy start to the day and departed Ribeira at 10.30am in glorious sunshine. Today's destination Ria de Vigo and the bay of Barra for another anchorage. With our long term destination in mind we decided to miss out Ria de Pontevedra, frankly we could happily have spent months cruising round the [...]

23 August 2019

Ria de Arousa

After 2 months away from the boat we are very happy to be back onboard and ready to continue our journey.

04 July 2019

Santiago de Compostela

It seems unbelievable that it was only a week from Jon's admission into hospital until he was discharged. It was certainly a roller coaster of a week during which time his mum, brother Chris and sister-in-law Jenni had flown out from the UK and our good friend Pete had driven down from the South of France [...]

Sines

08 September 2019
Karen Hunnisett
Our anchorage had turned out to be a bit lumpy as the wind changed to a light southerly during the night, it meant we didn't get much sleep but meant we saw the amazing sunrise and were ready for an early departure.

It was quite a swelly journey and we saw no wildlife, just a couple of dolphins in the distance. The wind was a light F1-2 so despite having the main sail up we basically had to motor the whole 30NM. There were one or two other boats around and the cliff views were amazing but approaching Sines all you can see is the huge oil refinery, not a thing of beauty. We arrived in Sines at 17.00 and moored up on the fuel berth, only to discover that there is no fuel on a Sunday. We had thought we would leave the next day for Portimao but the forecast was not great so we decided to stay. The Scottish boats also rocked up not long after us and stayed a couple of days.

The marina is really nice and new, the facilities are excellent as is the WIFI but the town is nothing to write home about. It is a long walk to the nearest supermarket along deserted roads with no pavements. There is an impressive castle and old town streets but beyond that it is a ghost town.

The weather has been a bit lively and as we need a good window for our next leg of 83NM we have been here for 3 days. Quite rested all is looking good for a 3am departure tonight for Portimao. Looking forward to turning the corner into the Algarve and away from the Atlantic swell.

Cascais to Sesimbra

07 September 2019
Karen Hunnisett
A leisurely start to the day meant a 11am departure. We were berthed opposite 2 Scottish boats who we had also seen in Figueira de Foz and they looked like they had a heavy night and were nursing hangovers as we left.

As we were only going 22.5NM we had decided to try and sail the whole trip and we did pretty well with a dead spot only for the last hour. It was glorious sunshine as we left Cascais and within 30 minutes we were surrounded by loads of friendly, playful dolphins. They were with us for about half an hour jumping and playing under the bow, it really was amazing to watch and I took as much video of them as I could. It was awesome.

Not so awesome was the plume of smoke coming from inland Portugal where the wildfires were burning, we could see the smoke for miles.

Around 3pm when Jon was fishing we saw what we thought was a couple of dolphins but turned out to be a Basking shark, another wildlife first which was amazing to see. Another first, Jon actually caught some fish, 3 Mackerel! Admittedly they were tiny and we would have needed something of a miracle to turn them into a meal, but nonetheless.

As we rounded the headland towards Sesimbra, the wind picked up off the land and we had a fast sail down the coast. We anchored off a secluded beach which for the land goers to reach involved a steep climb down (and then back up). There were quite a few other boats there but they all left as night fell. Some hardy campers set up their tent on the beach for the night. As the sun set a small boat arrived with a bride and groom having their wedding photos taken against the dramatic backdrop, it was very surreal.

As our fish tally was still only 3 we kindly fed the local birds as the sun set on a perfect day.

Cascais

06 September 2019
Karen Hunnisett
Up early for an 8.15am departure to Cascais. We left without disturbing our friendly French neighbours, who were gearing up for a trip to the Canaries and then the Azores.

As we were tidying away all the ropes and fenders we noticed there was a piece of the trim loose on the swim platform so Jon climbed down while we were in relatively calm waters and pushed it back on, it will need a proper fix when we stop for a longer period, it looks as though it has been reattached at some point with silicone sealant which hasn't done a great job. One for another day.

For most of the day the wind was a light NW F1-2 so we motor sailed most of the journey. The swell was about 1-2m but the waves were from behind so we gained about half a knot from surfing down the waves.

We sailed past Cabo de Roca, which is the most westerly point in mainland Europe. Dramatic cliffs and a good wind coming off the land meant we could sail most of the last few miles to Cascais. We also spotted a Pilot Whale which was pretty amazing to see.

The large harbour entrance to Cascais has a big anchoring pool straight ahead and a visitor pontoon by the office to the left, ordinarily we would have anchored but we needed engine spares from a Yanmar dealer so opted for a berth.

The first thing you notice about the marina at Cascais is a giant motor boat at the entrance which has been plastic wrapped in Gold, with the branding of Bellami.com. Tasteful. The second thing is the immaculate office and facilities. The third is the cost of the marina, an eye watering 46 euros for the night, just the one night then. I couldn't fault them on the marina and the helpfulness of the staff (although the WIFI was rubbish), the marina was jam packed with large, pristine sail boats, which looked like they barely moved and I couldn't help but wonder, as we found our berth, what the marina fees were like for them.

All moored up (next to a pristine Hallberg Rassy), Yanmar dealer located, we decided to find a supermarket and have a beer (not necessarily in that order). Town was very pretty, packed full of bars and restaurants and pretty streets. Much of it reflected the high marina fees but we found a bar with a good view over the anchorages which did us 2 beers for 4 euros.

We had already decided we were going to do a short hop tomorrow to an anchorage at Sesimbra, 22.5 NM, so an early start was not required. So supermarket located we returned to the boat and had a relaxing evening, listening to the local marina bar play 80s pop at high volume.

Engine Failure!

03 September 2019
Karen Hunnisett
Up early for a 7am departure from Figueira de Foz for Peniche, a big fishing harbour and home to Lagido Beach, which is the setting for the major world surf championship, Rip Curl Pro Portugal. There was a beautiful sunrise and fishing boats coming in from their nights' work. We motored for a couple of hours until the wind picked up. It was coming from SE despite a forecast of NW. At about 9am we had a little furry hitch hiker who landed on one of the sail lines and rested for about half an hour in the sun. We offered him some of our oaty bread but he wasn't hungry. After that we had dolphins playing around the boat and lots of sea birds. It was a great morning sailing.

With wind on the nose we had to motor sail for most of the afternoon. Both taking it in turns to get a couple of hours sleep. We headed towards the Berlengas archipelago, about 8NM west of Peniche, the Islands are designated nature reserves and the laregst, Berlenga Grande has an impressive fortified monastery perched on the rocks, Fort of São João Baptista. With the sun setting we had thought we could pick up a mooring buoy in the east bay by the monastery and spend the night, continuing our journey south in the morning. The sun was setting and the bay was busy and there was not an obvious mooring we could pick up so we aborted and turned east towards Peniche marina about 8NM away.

With 2NM to the harbour entrance smoke starting bellowing out of our engine bay, the over heating alarm went off and some quick investigation discovered the alternator belt had snapped blowing the lid off the coolant tank showering the engine with coolant. We immediately turned the engine off although the smoke and alarm continued.

We were just off the rock walls which fortify the edge of Peniche and drifting. The sun was just about down, Jon was trying to see into the engine bay through the smoke with the head torch and I was trying to keep us from drifting towards the rocks with no engine power. We radioed an approaching fishing boat who told us to drop our anchor and they would be able to assist once they had finished their fishing. Being right in the harbour approach this was not a great prospect.

Jon decided to replace the alternator belt with a spare, it seems that the other spare was a smaller belt so in order to get it on Jon had to move a bracket. I could hear some swearing and see lots of smoke. It took about 30 minutes to do this, luckily the swell was only about 1 metre and most of the fishing traffic had already left the harbour for the night. We started the engine again and set it at about 2kn, the over heat alarm was still going and there was a huge amount of steam coming out of the exhaust and smoke was still coming from the engine bay.

I reset our course for the harbour entrance, we had drifted and now had 2.4NM. As the smoke got worse we reduced speed to 1-1.5kn, both worried that the engine might catch fire as it was so hot down there. Fortunately there was no wind and the current wasn't pulling us off course and we slowly limped into the harbour and headed for the visitor pontoon detailed in the Pilot book. We had to raft against another yacht as it was full. We finally arrived at 22.20, 2 hours later than planned.
It was very stressful and we were both more than a bit relieved to arrive. The cabin stank of smoke and the engine bay was very hot but it slowly cooled down with all the hatches open.

In the cold light of day it seems the spare belt we put on in Figueira de Foz was the wrong size belt, it had been in the spares box that came with the boat, which in hindsight we should have checked more carefully. We got about 16 hrs out of it, when it blew it dumped all the coolant in the engine bay which caused the smoke and the engine to overheat. The belt we put on at sea last night seems to be a good fit and having cleaned up and replaced all the coolant today as well as changed the oil filter and oil the engine seems to be running much more smoothly. We spent a large part of the day looking for a Yanmar dealer to get a spare belt, to no avail and eventually found an excellent car spares shop, JL Neves, that had one the right size.

Happy to be in Peniche, grateful for Jon's cool head under pressure. Next stop will be Cascais in a couple of days.

Day 2 in Peniche we decided to explore the old town. The Peniche fortress is right next door to the marina and although quite a few of the ruins are closed to the public, what is open is fancinating and well documented. In 1934, until 1974, under Portugal's facist rulers it became a maximum-security political prison for anyone who opposed the regime.

We also stopped at a fantastic little restaurant called Pedro's in the old town, mostly because it has a window garden and birds outside but we were greeted like members of his family and had the most amazing dish of clams in Portuguese sauce and wine.

All in all a very pretty old town with plenty of beautiful vistas out to sea.

Sleeping was a little lumpy as we were rafted and exposed to the constant stream of fishing boats so we decided to continue on to Cascais the following day.

Figueira de Foz

29 August 2019
Karen Hunnisett
Up fairly early to depart at 10.20am, Glorious sunshine for departing but not much wind so we motored for the first 3 hours. We had decided to do the 24 hour journey to Figueira de Foz as the forecast was good. Visibility was good and the wind was a WSW F2 so we managed to sail the afternoon which was great. We had dolphins around us very early on after which the day went pretty quickly. It was a cloudless sunny sky and before we knew it it was starting to go down about 9pm. We decided to take it in turns to get 2 hours sleep each and I wanted to see the sunset so Jon got his head down. As the sun was setting the birds swirling round the boat were incredible and I had a huge pod of dolphins playing around me for about 10 minutes. I was in awe.

As night fell and I went to get some sleep a very excited Jon came to wake me up with news of dolphins swimming through the phosphorescence of the boat. I should have got up but being very lazy I just asked him to take some pictures. They didn't come out so I missed the highlight of the night. The other highlights for me though were seeing schools of fish jumping through the phosphorescence and seeing a proper movie style shooting star, bigger that any shooting star I have seen before. The stars were awesome and all this made the night go pretty quickly. Jon had also adapted the 'Finger of Fudge' advert tune and replaced it with 'Figueira de Foz', which I still find myself singing days later.

The least enjoyable part was that it was a moonless night and the sea around us was full of pot marks, in the pitch black they were impossible to see so how we managed not to hit one is a miracle. The small fishing boats darting around also kept us on our toes. Sunrise was hidden by the fog that had arrived and we motored to Figueira de Foz in flat calm foggy conditions.

100NM later we were both relieved to moor up on the visitor pontoon in glorious sunshine. We looked a bit dishevelled and ridiculously over dressed from our cold night at sea. Formalities over, we could choose a berth on a large pontoon which was perfect.

I know I always mention the marina facilities and these were very good, however they were about half a mile away. You could see them from your berth but to get to them you had to walk the length of the marina to get out and then the same length again to get back to the facilities. Planned ablutions would obviously be necessary.

The town is split into new and old with the small cobbled hilly old town streets full of lovely buildings and the new town with its sympathetically refurbished buildings and long sandy surfing beaches. Long promenades and lots of street cafes and bars meant it had everything we needed for a couple of days. Not to mention 5 litres of wine for 5.95e!

On arrival we had discovered a small leak from the engine gearbox, nothing much to worry about, just to keep an eye on. More worryingly the alternator belt was pretty much worn through so we replaced it with one of the spares that came with the boat.

It's swell

We set off 2 days later at 8am for Nazare, around an 8 hour journey south, and one of the world's best surfing destinations. Once we had left the safety of the harbour, despite the wind only being F1, the swell coming across the Atlantic was 2m+ making the trip very uncomfortable as we had to keep steering into the big waves. We gave it 90 minutes and it got slightly worse as well as fog descending so we decided to turn back to Figueira de Foz. Back in the harbour they looked at us a bit strangely as we reappeared back on our berth. Usually we just check the weather and the wind, next time we would also be checking the swell.

We actually ended up staying there for a couple more days, because although the weather was sunny the swell was forecast to be 2-3m.

We arrive in Portugal!

27 August 2019
Karen Hunnisett
We left lovely Baiona at 8am, just after our French neighbours, with a glorious sunrise. Within an hour we had dense fog which lasted for the next 5 hrs so we didn't see any of the Portuguese coast until we were nearly at Viana do Castelo, We had a light westerly for the first couple of hours but that turned into a flat calm so we motored the rest of the way.

When the fog finally lifted we saw the long sandy beaches for which Portugal is famous. The approach to Viana do Castelo is about half a mile down the river Lima. We radioed the marina and there was someone very friendly and welcoming waiting for us on the visitor pontoon when we arrived at 15.00. The pontoon is outside the marina which has an impressive swing bridge entrance which sends a huge steel spike into the river when the gate is opened. Impressive and slightly daunting as there is a strong current in the river.

As we had only planned on staying one night they left us on the visitor pontoon which was fine. The marina facilities were a bit of a walk but were otherwise excellent. You have to walk under the excellent Ponte Eiffel to get to the facilities so that made the journey less onerous. That and the huge number of friendly marina fish.

We went for a walk around the old town which is stunning. Lots of narrow streets and beautiful tile fronted buildings. As we were in Portugal we felt it only right to support the local economy by buying some port. Back on the boat we sunned ourselves in the cockpit, did The Times crossword and got very merry on Port. What an excellent country this is.

The following morning we did make the effort to get out of bed to depart but our hearts weren't really in it and we were both a bit hungover, not to mention that the fog had descended again. So we decided to stay another day, visit the castle, wander round the town and obviously restock on Port. We also found an excellent little curry house and had our first curry in over 6 months, it was ace! Very sensibly we got an early night ready for our departure to Figueira de Foz.

How do you get a drink in Baiona?

25 August 2019
Karen Hunnisett
Arriving in Baiona was easy as there is wide access. Within seconds of calling up on the radio one of the marina staff had hot footed it down to the visitor pontoon on his bike to help us moor up. We could easily see him as the visitor pontoon is at the closest point to the marina entrance, in other words, the furthest point from the marina office and the facilities!

There are actually 2 marinas in Baiona, Porto Deportivo and Monte Real Club with a rather impressive looking yacht club, which according to our Pilot book, expects you to dress in a way fitting a yacht club. As we have been on a boat for the best part of 2 months, our clothes are so faded by the sun that it is hard to tell what colour they started, our home yacht club doesn't have a dress code, oh and because we are cheap skates, we chose Porto Deportivo.

As it turns out the facilities were in a porta cabin which were also pretty much open to the public so having a shower was not going to be something you took your time over! Perhaps if we had shelled out for the more expensive Monte Real Marina we might have been able to shower with our dignity intact. On the upside the long walk to the facilities meant time to ogle the impressive boats moored there and the excellent and many fish that drifted near the surface.

It was our first port of call where our standard 16 Amp plug wouldn't fit the electric points on the pontoon, we needed 32 Amp. Our option was to hire an adapter from the marina office at 50 euro or buy one for 30, we bought one.

The marina is bang in the centre of the town which is jammed full of restaurants, bars and Spanish tourists. It also has an excellent castle next to the Monte Real Marina, fantastic architecture, free concerts pretty much everyday and a couple of supermarkets so we decided to stay a couple of days.

Baiona is on the Portuguese Way path of the Camino de Santiago so around 30,000 hikers visit each year. The port was also the first to receive news of the discovery of America in 1493 as the Pinta, one of the ships from Columbus' voyage to the New World returned here.

We are both well travelled so we like to think we are pretty good at ordering a beer in most countries. Our experience of Spain is table service, not so it seems in Baiona. We tried a few bars where we dutifully sat at a table and looked longingly at the waitress carrying drinks to every table around us. The only way to get a drink it seems is to go inside the bar order (but not pay) and return to your table to await delivery of the drinks. The same when we went for our restaurant of choice that night. The food and drink options are amazing in Baiona, just don't be in a hurry.

Despite all this we loved Baiona, it is very pretty with great architecture and views out to sea. Our pontoon neighbours were an excellent French couple who were also heading south on their giant Cat, along with, it seemed, half of France and gallons of wine.

Ria de Vigo

24 August 2019
Karen Hunnisett
We had a lazy start to the day and departed Ribeira at 10.30am in glorious sunshine. Today's destination Ria de Vigo and the bay of Barra for another anchorage. With our long term destination in mind we decided to miss out Ria de Pontevedra, frankly we could happily have spent months cruising round the Rias, some of the best waters we've sailed in.

We had a light W/NW so were able to sail a lot of it. Visibility was good and again we were surrounded by beautiful scenery, dolphins and plenty of yachts. After a very picturesque 16 NM we arrived in the Ria de Vigo. The banks of the Ria are much more built up due to the huge port and city of Vigo. We chose the first sheltered bay on the north shore of the ria to anchor in, Enseada da Barra. It was already pretty busy with boats when we arrived at 16.30 so we chose a spot just off the central beach. It wasn't long afterwards that we realised we were anchored just off the nudist beach.

We had a very peaceful night, sheltered from the westerlies and a very lazy morning. Partly because we had been joined by a couple of large motor boats, one of which was almost over our anchor and partly because we were only going 6 NM to Baiona. We left at 12.40 and made the short hop to Baiona, through the rather narrow Canal de la Porta, arriving at a very civilised 14.50.

Ria de Arousa

23 August 2019
Karen Hunnisett
After 2 months away from the boat we are very happy to be back onboard and ready to continue our journey.

We said an emotional farewell to Muros this morning and especially to Klaus. Despite all that has happened here Galicia, and particularly Muros, remains my favourite place we have visited on our journey so far.

So today we set sail for Ribeira in the Ria de Arousa. Only 15 NM away, we were taking it easy for the first leg. The weather was perfect, visibility good and light winds meant we could sail much of the trip. A group of dolphins were waiting just outside Muros harbour to bid us farewell which was an auspicious sign.

We had a good journey in beautiful surroundings, saw lots of dolphins and other yachts and arrived at our anchorage, just off the beach in Ribeira at 17.35. There were a few other yachts already anchored so we picked a spot just ahead of them and anchored in 7m of water.

The sun was glorious and the beach was packed, we were surrounded by kayaks, paddle boarders and swimmers, and a group of dolphins were playing off our port side, it was pretty much perfect. The customs boat came over to check us out but carried on and instead boarded the Spanish boat just behind us. Jon ventured onto the swim platform but, this being the Atlantic it was still pretty nippy so he decided against a swim.

We had a quiet night on board with little swell.

Santiago de Compostela

04 July 2019
Karen Hunnisett
It seems unbelievable that it was only a week from Jon's admission into hospital until he was discharged. It was certainly a roller coaster of a week during which time his mum, brother Chris and sister-in-law Jenni had flown out from the UK and our good friend Pete had driven down from the South of France to be with us.

The hospital were clear, he needed to stay nearby, and that meant not on the boat, so they could monitor his progress.

Chris had rented an apartment in the centre of Santiago and so we moved there for a few days until they flew home. Jon and I then moved into a smaller apartment in the heart of the old town of Santiago for a week.

It was actually a nice restful time, for once Jon listened to advice and took care of himself, eating, even though he had no appetite and sleeping a lot. I spent a good amount of time wandering around the beautiful old town, visiting the Cathedral, marvelling at the architecture and generally being happy Jon was still alive.

After a week, and a hospital check up, the doctors gave Jon the all clear, but told him in no uncertain terms to rest and not even to consider going back to sailing for a few weeks.
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