Raffaellesco - Bill and Suzette's Sailing Adventure

 10/19/22 Barbate, Spain The weather man said that the winds and waves in the Gibraltar strait would be 15 knots and 2 feet respectively, but not until midday. We departed at 0900 and motored south staying shallow as we were still on Orca watch. The wind built to 20, as predicted, as we made our way south to the straight. The swell was not noticeable, but the wind wave was building to an uncomfortable 3 or 4 feet. The wind peeked at 25 on our nose. We tucked in as best we could, but it was a crashing roller coaster ride. We took a couple of waves over the bow that found their way into the companion way. Old look out tower As we rounded Tarifa into the strait the wind did subside, but the sea was still was rough. Having cleared the safe water marker, we headed to the northern shore and calmer water. The boat settled, we could see the Rock of Gibraltar, but we could not see Moraco south of us. We were relieved to see our final destination in sight. This was a busy port, ships, bo...

 10/11/22 Portimao, Portugal The anchorage off Ferragudo was a bit busy with tour boats and fishing boats, so the Admiral dictated a move to the anchorage near the harbor entrance. After a load of laundry and me finally finishing my electrical conversion, we pulled anchor. There were a lot of boats in the new anchorage, but plenty of room left for us. As we settled in, we witnessed a Sea World quality dolphin show as a very active pod swam through the opening to the harbor. With the boat resettled we did a tour of the anchorage checking out some caves, the beach and all the fabulous boats around us. We returned to the boat in time for a thunder storm to rumble through and drop a lot of rain. It was beautiful watching the storm pass from the cockpit. It rained off and on until dark, then a big bright moon came out from behind the clouds. The tourist boats gone, back to a quiet anchorage. 10/12/22 Portimao, Portugal Sunshine and calm in the morning as we motored out heading West ...

  10/8/22 Setubal, Portugal The day started with the usual planning and Orca checks. Some new Orca activity west of us, but we were headed south today. I did take the time to post our progress on the Orca Tracking site, happy to post progress and no interactions. We were underway by 0830, it is staying dark longer in the morning as fall approaches, now that I think of it, fall is here! It was a 2.5 mile run west just to get past the shallows outside the river mouth and turn south. We stayed under the 30m contour as this was the most active Orca region so far. The wind and sea started out calm, but the swell built to 1-2m and the wind picked up to 15 behind us. We motor sailed for about an hour before the wind died off. It is amazing how many fishing boats there are; big ones, small ones, commercial, personal, nets, traps, rods, hand lines…you get the idea. The priority in every port is given to fishing, understandably. Being close to shore we had to constantly dodge boats and...

 10/4/22 Cascais, Portugal A lazy morning as we enjoyed coffee and breakfast with our guests. We called up and Uber and made the drive to Sintra, about 15 miles north of us up the mountain. Sintra being a high peak on a point was the home to several castles. We started with a tour of the Palace of Pena, an old castle with a more recent history, a few hundred years, of being renovated and added to. The result is a colorful and unusual mix of architectural styles. From there we hiked across the small valley to Castelo dos Mouros, this was a much more traditional fort like castle dating back to the 12 th century. We made the climb along the castle wall to the highest lookout tower. The view of the sea and the valley told the story of why it was located here. There was a museum with relics dating back to 5,000 BC. At the entrance to the castle we tried to get an Uber, but no one wanted to take the journey up the mountain to pick us up. Harris found a foot path down to town on Google...