So we were on our way, a 60 mile journey to Peniche which lies just past the Cabo Carveiro headland. We have to say the journey was horrible… yes horrible yet again. The usual big swell, rolly polly, wind all over the place. So we had to put up with that for 9 hours, plus nearing Peniche and a couple of offlying islands the sea became extremely choppy and rough. That plus the swell made for a very uncomfy last hour or so. Dean was amazing helming through it all and dodging lobster pots at the same time.
Tonight we are safely and happily rafted up against another boat in the marina at Peniche. It seems that if you are only staying here one night then there’s no charge. Brilliant as we will be on our way again tomorrow, destination Lisbon. Please let us have a good sail tomorrow.
Saffy’s having a special treat tonight…..asleep on the sofa. We are having a special treat also… Maltesers, yum yum.
Who's been a very good girl today?
Leaving Peniche this morning
Here it is.... Vive la Vie
Our berth
Sunday 12th August... Well we'd only been in bed for about 30 mins last night when another boat came alongside and rafted against us. Dean was up straight away to oversee what was going on.
This morning we had an 8am departure from Peniche. As soon as we left the harbour we got the mainsail up, but once again the sail was bashing about each time the swell caught us, so we took it down after only 10 minutes and just motored, putting up with the swaying about. Eventually after a few hours the ride started to become more comfortable. There was no wind until about 1pm when we reached the Cabo Roca headland and the wind started to build as expected. We rolled the genoa out being careful to constantly monitor the wind speed, and for the next two hours into Lisbon we had a great sail..... AT LAST!
We are now at Oeiras Marina, on the River Tejo in Lisbon. It's nice, in fact from the sea Lisbon looks surprisingly pleasant. We're just downstream from a VERY large bridge called of course - Pont de 25 April.... just like all the roads are called 25 April (The Carnation Revolution of course we all knew that). From where we are it just looks like the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco.
The Cabo Roca headland....just a big rock
Monday 13th August… Our first full day at Oeiras Marina and we are in deliberations over the cost they are charging us… up to 18 metres! Dean’s job of the day was teak oiling the cockpit table, and how lovely it looks now.
This afternoon we took advantage of the free access to the swimming pool next door, and spent half an hour or so having some fun in the water. Couldn’t stay too long though as we had invited friends from Perle, and Elos III for drinks aboard Thesee at 7.30pm. They were such good fun, and it turned out to be after midnight when we got to bed. Even our indoor/outdoor table lamp came into use for the first time as we can recall. Thanks to everyone for making it yet another really enjoyable social evening.
Thesee in Oeiras Marina
Looking the other way
Adonis
High Jumpers
Strike a pose
More posing
The gorgeous teaky table
Tuesday 14th August... So we decided to leave the marina today because of their unfair pricing policy (in our opinion), and paid up 104 euros for just two nights. Our next destination, and where we are at anchor tonight is in the bay at Cascais, only about 5 miles away from the marina, and yes it's FREE, ZERO, NO CHARGE 😊
It's a bit of a pain having to get the dinghy out to take Saffy ashore, but we had a good walkabout and it's definately buzzing, a real holidaymakers place. The view from Thesee is very good, being anchored just offshore from the 5 star Cascais Miragem Hotel. So far so good here.
First glimpse of Cascais
The town hall, beautifully decorated
Beautiful buildings everywhere
Wednesday 15th August… We took Saffy ashore fairly early this morning, before the weather and crowds became overbearing. First we headed to the marina to have a bit of a look about, and we found the surroundings very pleasant, right next to yet another fort. Then we went to the park, but amazingly NO DOGS ALLOWED in the park. How strange. Mind you it was quite fancy looking, but we were disappointed at that anyway. So we walked about town and found The Fonz and Elvis taking pride of place at the 50’s American Diner called ‘Happy Days’.
We carried on mooching about and stopped for a beautiful croissant and coffee at a small traditional backstreet café. Not wanting to go back to the boat we ended up having a small lunch snack right in town. So we got back to the boat about 2.30pm.
No sooner had we got back when our friends from ‘Bora La’ dinghy’d out of the marina and came to see us in the anchorage, to our great surprise. They stayed for a couple of beers then headed back. Just after that our other friends (in the anchorage this time) from ‘Silhouette’ dinghy’d over to us to have a chat about weather and plans. The forecast looks like it’s becoming extremely windy for the next two or three days, so we made the decision to pack away and get ourselves into the nearby marina (Cascais) for a couple of nights. It’s abit on the expensive side but we would rather be safe and secure. Plus, when we’re at anchor we have to think about getting Saffy ashore in the dinghy, and that’s not an easy task if the wind is making the sea blustery.
It was gone 7.30pm by the time we settled into our berth in the marina, and we didn’t eat until 9pm hence the blog didn’t get written. Sorry about that Thesee Followers. Here’s a selection of photos we took today in Cascais.
See the thick cloud layer over the mountains
The fort by the marina
Thursday 16th August… Not particularly windy this morning, but then again we are in a sheltered marina. However the palm trees are swaying about quite constantly. This marina can take huge superyachts and in fact one turned up this morning, called Vive La Vie…..60 metres long….very nice. We have a sneaky feeling we saw it when we were in Vilamoura four years ago, but will have to look back at the photos to confirm.
It was kind of nice to hang around this morning, and after lunch we left Saffy to snooze away happily whilst we took the chance to go to the supermarket. On the way Dean treated himself to a new pair of shoes. We got back at 4pm.
Love 😊
How cute are these?
It's windy now
Arriving home with all the shopping
Tomorrow looks like we’ll be leaving here and taking about a 4 hour trip south to the next headland and round the corner to Sesimbra where we intend to do some more anchoring if possible.
Friday 17th August… Yet another lovely sunny morning in Portugal, you’ve really sent the good weather over from the UK. But where’s all that howling wind we were expecting, and in the costly marina for?
Just before midday we cast the lines and left Cascais, to cross the bay as planned to the next port of call which was Sesimbra. Dean had his usual moan and groan for an hour, then the forecast started to come good and we got the predicted 16 knots of wind. By this time we were well into the bay and our friend Mr Swell started to rear his ugly head quite horribly. However we were sailing over it quite well, although towards the second half of the journey was a bit stressful.
Nearing Cabo Espichel, we were heading around the other side
At around 4pm we arrived at Sesimbra where there’s a marina and an anchorage. There’s pipelines and cables running from the shore along the seabed here and the anchorage is just a small strip in the middle of the bay really. We had already pinpointed our desired anchoring spot on the chartplotter, but when we got there the only other sailboat here was right on our spot, lol. We chose to anchor a little further out in 8 metres, a little deeper than we normally plump for but still OK. After we anchor we take transits off the land so we can monitor if the anchor drags. Today i also took a photo of our vessel position from the chartplotter.
The anchorage lat & long
Transit 1 - Red/White beacon in line with the left side of white building on hillside
Transit 2 - Yellow cone in line with the tall thin lampost on the esplanade
We noticed the other sailboat is a Brit, and when they came back from shore in their dinghy they came to say hello and have a chat. They had lots of interesting info and advice to tell.
Dinner was yesterday’s leftovers…. Chicken Casserole and Crusty Bread, it always tastes so much nicer the second day. The sea’s calmed down quite a bit now and all the fast show off’s have gone home with their speedboats. Should be a nice calm night at anchor, that’s what we like.
So yet another blog post comes to and end, having reached and now moved on from Lisbon. What shall we call the next blog post? How about Algarve Countdown?
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