What a difference a few miles make. We arrived in sunshine and it has been glorious ever since.The Portuguese Atlantic coastline is awesome, the sandy beech goes on and on and on and the waves are spectacular. We braved the sea yesterday and the waves were exhilarating but exhausting so plan today, now that we've stocked up at Lidl (yes we found a Lidl with the backdrop of Palm trees and a massive sandy beach !!) is to swim at the tamer beach that is protected by the marina.

Ricky just about to dive down to check the prop because our engine is not as powerful as it should be and we may have collected some sea litter, like a plastic bag or lobster pot rope that may be slowing the propeller down. Be ironical if it was a Lidl bag, wouldn't it?
I'm guessing water cold as I can hear Ricky huffing as he gets in the water.
I await the news...
Nothing wrapped around prop , so back to the drawing board.

The marina here is friendly and the marina staff very knowledgable, especially the man who helped us tie off our boat.He told us about the history of the Portuguese alliance with Britain (the longest running one between two countries) - a fact that he is very proud of . The Duke of Wellington stayed in the town when he was ill and he got better eating the local Portuguese soup ! yes soup! Then after the soup , when he was better he helped the Portuguese defend their country by showing them how to build sea defences like Britain. So your mum was right all along "Eat up your soup and you'll grow big and strong "

We've met another lovely couple, Jim and Alison,who know the crew of Delphinus so came to say hello. They have a Hunter Legend yacht called Moonshine. They invited us and Jackie and Mike from Dreamcatcher, for drinks last night and were the perfect hosts as we left at 11 and they still hadn't eaten their supper but didn't complain ! They gave us some great tips about the med as they have sailed before. Apparently Corsica is a must as it was Alison's favourite.

Tomorrow we head further south to a place called Nazare, which if you google it - you will see that it had the tallest wave on record -100 feet so obviously I will be on the hunt for a pool to swim in when we rock up after lunch.

Toodle pips for now- take care ,
Donna and Ricky x