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Lisboa
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Lisboa

Readers are warned of a slightly longer text than usual. Lisbon, like Porto, is a melting pot of old and new, poor and rich. Like Rome, Lisbon is said to have been built on seven hills and is one of Europe's oldest cities with a history that stretches back long before the birth of Christ. The various districts have basically merged with the city center and to facilitate access to higher, resp. in ...

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Figueira and Nazaré
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Figueira and Nazaré

Anastacia was reorganized after our guests had left Porto and the next stop was Aveiro. We anchored together with some other sailors next to the beach at São Jacinto where there was a military base with aircraft and infantry. Small fast motorboats shuttled with what we believe were command transports. We were also soon visited by the Portuguese Maritime Police who inquired about who we were and w ...

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Porto
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Porto

To avoid killer whales along the coast of Portugal, the recommendation for sailors is to stay within 20 m of depth. The only problem is that in these shallow coastal waters there are many fishing buoys and fishing nets which must be avoided and which are not visible at night. We left Vigo with the intention of stopping and anchoring halfway before reaching Porto as it was over 60 nautical miles di ...

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Galicia
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Galicia

After La Coruña we sailed further south. With almost no wind we had to motoring for a while before the wind increased and we could set sail. We saw different groups of dolphins greeting us and unfortunately, we also came across a dead, younger dolphin floating in the water. However, a slightly larger group swam for a long time by our boat and surfed the waves after Anastacia. A British sailboat g ...

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La Coruña (A Coruña)
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La Coruña (A Coruña)

Finally, we got away from Santander. We had beautiful weather but unfortunately too little wind and a very bumpy sea and had to go by motor a lot. The plan was to anchor at some river mouth or sheltered beach on the way west but all the places we had planned for, turned out not to offer enough protection from the waves. We had to rethink and instead prepared to sail also at night. Later in the eve ...

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Santander and Altamira
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Santander and Altamira

We left the Basque Country and sailed further west, along Biscay towards Cantabria. The next stop was Santander, which is well protected in a bay. We anchored outside the harbor, opposite one of the beautiful sandy beaches that lie on either side of the bay. On the Spanish election day, we disembarked and, as we had previously seen in Getxo and in Bilbao, the election campaign was in full swing. N ...

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San Sebastián and Bilbao
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San Sebastián and Bilbao

San Sebastián was our next stop after sailing on the hottest day we've experienced during our sailing so far. The city welcomes its guests from the sea with a statue of Christ looking out towards the city from Mount Urgul. Incidentally, the name Urgul sounds like it comes from a Tolkien saga... The statue is not as magnificent as the one in Rio de Janeiro, but it was still visible from afar. Once ...

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Basque Country
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Basque Country

The 24-hour sailing from Île de Ré was tougher, rainier and bumpier than planned and what the weather forecast had promised. We certainly got our fair share of Biscay's infamous waves! It was difficult to get any sleep between the watch shifts, but otherwise the crew was in good spirits and mightily impressed with how well the self-steering windvane worked. Now we could set it for a specific win ...

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French Bay of Biscay
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French Bay of Biscay

When we left Bénodet, we accidentally ended up (again!) in the middle of a regatta. Many classic wooden sailboats of various sizes accompanied us a bit south escorted by a jury boat to the start of the competition. This time as well, the wind was non-existent and several of the boats were towed as they lacked engines. Many of the boats were very beautiful and resembled delicate seed pods with sai ...

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To Biscay!
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To Biscay!

We remained in L'aber Wrac'h for four days because of the fog. There were hardly any boats that could get out of the harbor but the more that came in and waited for the fog to lift. Perhaps not so much fun for all sailors, but the harbor master was particularly pleased with all the jetties and the buoys occupied. Once the weather cleared we sailed to Île d'Ouessant, a beautiful island off the nor ...

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" There are three sorts of people; those who are alive, those who are dead, and those who are at sea. "