Blog 30: Round Cape St Vincent to Lagos

We had a surprisingly windy trip from the boatyard at Tagus Yacht Center to Oeiras Marina, halfway between Lisbon and Cascais.

Even though we are quite a long way up the River Tagus the sea is quite choppy with ‘white horses’ on the crests of the waves! A nice view of Lisbon in the background.

I like the dolphin murals on the bases of the Ponte 25 de Abril

We passed the famous Padrão dos Descobrimentos (Monument to the Discoveries) which celebrates the Portuguese Age of Discovery in the 15^th and 16^th centuries with explorers like Henry the Navigator at the very front and Vasco da Gama a couple behind him.

This is the Torre de Belém, a 16^th century fortification that served as a point of embarkation for Portuguese explorers as well as a ceremonial gateway to Lisbon. It’s built from limestone in the sumptuous Manueline style which incorporates maritime elements and representations of the discoveries made by explorers like Pedro Alvares Cabral, who discovered Brazil, and Vasco da Gama who was the first European to find a sea route to India.

The other famous thing from Belém is the delicious Pastel de Belém, a small custard tart known the world over as Pastel de Nata, but originating from the Belém area of Lisbon.

We arrived at Oeiras (pronounced 'O-oi-rash') Marina in such a strong, gusty wind, but the following morning you could hardly believe it was the same place as it was so calm – calm enough to get both sails re-rigged after the winter.

We spent a week at Oeiras Marina waiting for the right conditions to set out into the Atlantic, particularly a low enough ‘swell’. Every afternoon the wind got up due to the Nortada (Portuguese for ‘North Wind’) which is created by pressure and temperature differences between the land and the sea. It’s a surprising effect – the wind can be tremendously strong, particularly in the afternoon!

Here is a lovely old wooden local boat taking advantage of a calm morning – she was back in the marina by lunchtime before the Nortada got going!

We had plenty to keep us busy, cleaning, repairing and replacing things and doing other jobs around the boat that are more easily done once she is back in the water, such as servicing the generator and trying to get the water maker to work!

But it was also a relaxing time in between boat jobs …

… we had free access to the Piscina Oceanica, a lovely sea water swimming pool

… we had pleasant walks along the promenade – past the massive whale tale – Oeiras’s logo

… to one of the lovely local beaches Praia do Moinho

Back on board – I look like I’ve really relaxed into the beach life!

We ate out at several nice restaurants with sea views.

When we finally got a favourable forecast, we left while it was still calm at dawn to get to our destination before the Nortada wind set in.

This is our final glimpse of Lisbon and the Tagus River where Astraia has been for almost a year due to the Covid-19 lockdown

We actually had a very easy, calm trip seeing nothing much more than a few dolphins, a handful of lobster pots, a couple of other boats and the ever-present seagulls. The Atlantic was almost like a millpond with little wind and hardly any swell.

We did manage to sail for a while, but it wasn’t long before we had to resort to motor-sailing. Motor-sailing is better than just motoring when there is not enough wind to sail properly – the sails provide some power so the engine can be just ‘ticking over’ quietly.

This is the distinctive headland of Cabo Espichel seen from the sea

We arrived at Sines about 2:00pm. There are few harbours for shelter along this part of the Atlantic coast. Sines is a large commercial harbour and the guidebooks imply that you would only go there for shelter, not as an interesting or attractive place to visit in its own right.

However, once you are inside the marina breakwater you can’t see the commercial port and are hardly aware that it’s there – this is a view of the pleasant marina and adjacent beach in the evening sunshine.

In fact, Sines is a pleasant town, with a fortress, some interesting old streets and several gorgeous beaches. We ended up staying two days in Sines.

I visited the fortress …

… which affords wonderful panoramic views along the coast

… and over the old town

It is also the place Vasco da Gama lived when he was a child. His father was the Mayor of Sines and was provided with accommodation within the fortress …

Vasco da Gama’s home was the white building on the left in this picture - it’s now a museum.

Here is the statue of Vasco da Gama, who was a great Portuguese explorer and navigator and discovered the first ocean route to India and thus the first link by sea between Europe and Asia.

This is Praia Vasco da Gama – a beautiful beach named after Sines’s most famous son!

Some of the typical blue and white buildings in the old town.

Yellow and white is also a popular colour combination - we had a delicious platter of local cheese and chorizo at this café in the square.

Rather more modern – a quirky little mural on the side wall of one of the old houses.

We waited for a reasonable forecast of not too much wind or swell to get round Cabo de San Vicente, the south west tip of Portugal. It was the scene of the Battle of Cape St Vincent in 1797, an early British victory over a larger Spanish fleet in the Anglo-Spanish War. And a bleak, inhospitable bit of sea it is!

We left before dawn while the moon was still as bright as the lights of Sines …

The moon sinks as the day dawns …

And by sunrise you could begin to see the Atlantic swell getting going – but not too much yet!

The forecast was correct about the wind – there was hardly any – and the day turned very dull, so we motored into the greyness …

What was not forecast, however, was the fog! We kept expecting it to lift, but in fact we could hardly see a thing all the way down the west coast of Portugal. We had to keep a sharp eye on the radar and AIS (Automatic Identification System which shows us the position and speed of most other vessels) as well as a keen lookout – and even then a fishing boat with no lights on appeared suddenly only 100 metres away!

There was only enough wind to motor-sail most of the way but the swell increased and was far higher than predicted at about 2 metres. This picture is trying to show a 2m wave bearing down on us from the starboard side. It was quite a rolly and lumpy motion and it was only possible to make cup soup for lunch! But Astraia rode the waves well and we always felt safe.

It was very cold and damp in the fog and we were wearing warm jumpers, oilskins, hats and scarves. Again we only saw a few dolphins, lobster pots and seagulls through the murk – this is such an empty, inhospitable bit of sea!

Then suddenly the greyness turned to blue and the visibility improved though we could still not see the coast – this is Cape St Vincent as we approached it.

This is Cape St Vincent as we passed it – just appearing out of the murk

And this is looking back at Cape St Vincent a few minutes later – you can still see the grey fog beyond that we’d just come through!

It was extraordinary – as if a line had been drawn across the sea – the visibility improved dramatically, the swell completely died away, the sun came out, the sky was blue and we were in the Algarve!! And literally 5 minutes earlier we had been in thick fog!

This is Cape Sagres, with Cape St Vincent to the left and the fog in the distance and the Algarve stretching off to the right with blue skies and sunshine!

The rest of the journey was in hot sunshine on a totally flat calm sea – it was like another world!

We changed back into shorts and T-shirts and sunbathed the rest of the way to Lagos Marina. All we had to do was avoid a couple of lobster pots – we still saw hardly any other boats.