La Rochelle to Lagos

La Rochelle – Gijon

The installation of our solar panels were completed by Friday evening and the glue had barely dried, when we decided it was leave now or be delayed indefinitely. We had been watching weather reports for some days now and there was a small window of opportunity where we could round Cape Finisterre with winds around 25kts. We were expecting this to be the trickiest point of our passage

Feb 4: . Left La Rochelle the evening of Saturday Feb 4 after filling our diesel tanks.  That was a sticker shock! Having stayed in La Rochelle for almost two months, it was with mixed feelings that we set out on our sail. We had come to love La Rochelle and there was a sense of comfort being tethered to land. Now we were finally setting out on our adventure with all its unknowns.

Winter is not a good time to be sailing the Bay of Biscay. Because it was dark and windy we decided not to raise our sails. We motored through the night in choppy waters. On board we have Bojan, our sailing coach and safety expert – essentially our lifeline.

Our first sunrise and sunset in the Bay of Biscay

Our first night in the Bay of Biscay

Feb 5: Late at night our chart plotter started randomly rebooting which reset our auto pilot each time. A chart plotter is a GPS navigation system for the boat and controls the auto pilot which holds our boats heading.

Ours is a new boat and this was the very first time we had sailed her. It is not uncommon for new boats to have equipment failures or need servicing when they are put to the test in the initial days and months. Nevertheless this was an anxious situation for us.

The seas were still rough, and we received notification from the weather service that the wind forecast rounding Cape Finisterre had changed to 40 knots. Sailing through 40 knots is challenging enough but with our chart plotter problems getting worse, we chose to divert to Gijon which is on the North coast of Spain.

Gijon

Feb 6: Sunrises and sunsets are amazing to watch in open ocean. After a rough night with waves crashing on our beam and the chart plotter getting progressively worse, we were treated to a lovely sunrise. We arrived in Gijon late morning and docked in the marina which is right next to the old town. After completing the check in formalities we made a quick trip around town looking for a SIM card and a few other things. Gijon turned out to be an unexpected but lovely stay for us.

Gijon does not see a lot of foreign visiting boats especially in winter. Being the only catamaran in the marina we got the full attention of the customs agents and then the police. However, they were friendly and more interested in giving us suggestions on local specialties to try, during our stay. They encouraged us to try their world famous apple cider. “Not much alcohol and apple is good for health” is how he sold it to me.

The old and the new co-exist side by side in Gijon

Gijon main square – children returning from school in the afternoon and folks headed to bars/restaurants in the evening

Gijon has a long tradition of making natural apple cider, with the most cider houses in the region. Besides it has the unique distinction of holding the Guinness World Record for the maximum number of people doing a simultaneous pour of its natural cider.

Asturian (apple) cider and its traditional method of pouring

I was also introduced to the world famous Iberian ham – the Pata Negra – from 100% acorn-fed pigs. Bojan has a special liking for this and in his words – “the flavor dances in your mouth”

The world famous Pata Negra ham

Gijon to Vigo

Feb 8: Left Gijon for Vigo which is along the Atlantic Coast of Spain. Nautitech had scheduled a B&G technician in Vigo to service our unit. For all the fuss about Cape Finisterre, our travel around the Cape was relatively calm. The Cape itself is quite unimpressive with a small lighthouse. We were hugging the coast line where the wind speeds tend to be lower.

Cape Finisterre – or the end of the world as the Romans believed

The weather was warming up as we travelled south. We could spend more time on deck. In the evening we saw a small pod of dolphins at our bow. This became a frequent occurrence most evenings. No matter how many times you see dolphins on a passage, it is always exciting to have their company. Swagata loves watching them from the foredeck trampoline. She talks to them as they swim near the bow.

Swagata’s favorite time with dolphins most evenings

We reached Vigo past midnight and had a difficult time docking in a tight space near the mouth of the marina. Later the next day we saw ample space on another pontoon and we moved our boat. Arriving at a new port in the dark, is not something I would readily try on my own, but it is difficult to perfectly time arrivals and departures considering the winter weather.

While sailing from Gijon to Vigo we had a leak in our fresh water pump pre-filter. A bit of electrical tape was a temporary solution but it was added to our list of repairs needed in Vigo. Thanks to our dealer, and Nautitech’s quick response, we had qualified technicians scheduled with all the necessary parts. Both issues got fixed within a couple hours. With a functioning chart plotter and fresh water pump we set out for Lisbon which is further south along the coast.

Jajabor docked in Vigo Marina awaiting repairs and servicing

Vigo to Lisbon

Feb 10: Lisbon is located on the River Tagus several miles upriver from the Atlantic Coast. It is a busy fishing and commercial port. We were headed for Doca de Alcantara Marina past the 25th Avril Bridge and just past the commercial port. It is walking distance from the old city center. It was past midnight and we had to watch out for many small fishing boats without AIS. Despite the late hour, the waterfront was a beehive of activity with loud music and bright lights.

We spent 4 days in Lisbon which is not near enough to experience this city and all its cultural richness. We walked up and down many of the older neighborhoods particularly Alfama and Bairro Alto, just soaking in the colorful architecture and quirky streets. Sometimes we walked in circles before we could find our way out of the maze of tiny stepped streets on the hillside.

Classic Lisbon yellow trams

View from a Miradouro

Quirky streets of Lisbon

Music in the square

Any trip to Lisbon is incomplete without experiencing Fado. Fado is a type of singing, usually accompanied by Portuguese or Classical guitar, that is renowned for its expressive and profoundly melancholic character. In short it’s Portuguese Soul music. Tasca do Chico restaurant in Bairro Alto is especially popular with pictures of many celebrities on the walls. I noticed Anthony Bourdains picture among the many. Little did I know that I had landed in a place that was famous in Lisbon and I was in for a treat. After standing in line for 20 minutes before opening, we were treated to a captivating performance by a veteran singer and a new upcoming woman star with a powerful voice. We stayed for most of the evening and met quite a few interesting people who shared our table.

Fado at Tasca do Chico

Swagata gets hoisted up the mast to take care of some maintenance

Museum of Art, Architecture and Technology – MAAT

Designed by architect Amanda Levete, the MAAT structure is impressive!

Lisbon to Lagos

Feb 15: Our next destination was Lagos in the Algarve, less than a 24 hour sail away. However, recent news of Orcas in the area attacking boats, had Swagata on edge. We hoped not to encounter any on our short trip down the coast. On our trip from Vigo to Lisbon we had noticed that our AIS would stop transmitting at times. This meant that other boats would not be able to see us on their chart plotter. This is problematic especially at night. We will have this repaired in Lagos. All these repairs hopefully result in a less eventful Atlantic crossing.

We would reach Lagos the next morning. Bojan was to leave us in Lagos and make his way back home. The only thing that remained was to hoist and douse the Parasailor we had purchased from him. After a quick briefing, Swagata and I managed to get the Parasailor up and it was a beautiful sight. We hope to use this sail on our Atlantic crossing.

Hoisted our new Parasailor sail for the very first time. It is a thing of beauty!

Jajabor at Marina de Lagos

Given the wind forecasts across the Gibraltar Straits we decided that Lagos would be home for our boat for the next month before we head to the Canary Islands.