Aleria's Adventures

Clammers in the anchorage at Muros. We sailed lazily at least part of the way from the Ria Arousa to the Ria Muros y Noia. It was a beautiful day again, and there were loads of fishing boats out. Lazy relaxing sail. We arrived at Muros in the late afternoon and spotted a yacht with an OCC Associates burgee. After wandering around the town, stopping for a beer, and finding a stall selling bread on this holiday feast day, we headed back and stopped by to meet Ian Moors, Caroline and Charlotte on the Beneteau Silhouette . They are new members of OCC en route to the Caribbean with the ARC this year. They were so excited to be qualifying as full members of the OCC. Nice bunch.

Customs boat approaching We were anchored alone in Salvora last evening. The other two boats had departed a short while before. When suddenly, the Customs boat made a bee line to Aleria . They pulled alongside and asked to board. We quickly deployed fenders and two men hopped across. Pretty good as it was blowing about 20-25 at the time, and kicking up quite a chop.

The bar with h órreos  to sit under.  We’ve been to Combarro a few times now, Once anchored off the marina, once in the marina, once anchored off Ilha Tambo, and once anchored off the mole. We’ve loved it every time.  So when we raised anchor in Aldan, we chose to return again. Lots of birds were fishing as the fish rose all around us. Dolphins were feeding and porpoises jumping for joy at their find. Fishermen were actually catching lots of mackerel not just fishing. It was the most wildlife we had seen in our time underway and it was encouraging.

We were treated to an unusual sight yesterday. As we cruised from Ria de Aldan to Combarro in the Ria de Pontevedra, we noticed a helicopter hovering over a boat in the distance. We wondered if the chopper was chasing a drug runner. But it turned out to be the Policia Maritima practicing dropping a crew member onto a vessel at sea and then retrieving a person from a boat in a basket. Cool. They did this right in front of us as we sailed slowly along the Ria. The maneuver was perfectly executed. It's nice to know that there is such skill and bravery out there.

Fishermen off Barra Enough of marinas. Our next few days are meant to be swinging on a hook. On our way out, we buzzed by the Ilhas de Cies and saw Celtic Spirit anchored there. Michael hailed us on the radio and Alex chatted for a while. They were on their way to Porto in Portugal and would be back in September. We vowed to meet up then.

Tim and Cath Bridgen in Baiona The weather forecast had suggested that it would be flat calm for two more days, after which time the Nortada – northerlies blowing 20-25 knots – would set in making any northern progress difficult and uncomfortable. So we bit the bullet and decided to push north from Cascais to Baiona, a distance of about 220 NM. If we left in the morning, we’d arrive the next day in the evening before sundown. We thought that would be perfect. We calculated the fuel it would take to motor all the way and concluded that we had enough to go all the way with enough to spare to make it a comfortable margin. We did not refuel in Cascais where it is very expensive.

Haha, Alex and Daria on the tour boat trip to the sea caves with Reiner We were anchored in Portimao again. The last time we were sorry we had not availed of the tour boat trips to see the sea caves along this section of the Algarve. It's apparently one of the most extensive cave systems in Europe. We saw the way the tour boats went in and out of the caves as we had sailed along the coast. We knew it wasn't something we could do in our own dinghy. So we went ashore and signed up with a small boat operator, one that did not take a whole busload o f tourists at once. Okay, so we were in Portugal and our operator turned out to be a German from Berlin named Capt. Reiner, but he was married to a Portuguese woman, had a grown Portuguese son and had lived here for 27 years. And he was entertaining. I think we actually had the best experience.