Sao Martinho do Porto to Cascais

We left Nazaré on August 17, around 2pm, the wind is rather W-NW. We have to tack against the wind to get out of the bay, and then steer for Cascais. After 4 hours we have done only 5 miles, the wind drops from force 2 (being generous) to nothing. Sao Martinho do Porto seems suddenly attractive : why stay all night immobile in front of it, let’s go there and get a good night sleep and start again tomorrow. This bay is really exceptional, perfectly circular, but the entrance is very narrow in between two steep cliffs against which waves break. We’ve already read navtex messages saying the entrance was closed because of big swell, not surprising when you see the place. Ata Jata is the only visitor anchored there... in 2m of water. The weather forecast announces quite serious swell for the next day which means we could be trapped in here for some time.

The next day by midday we get off. Small waves are breaking on both sides of the entrance but we sail through it without problems. We’ll hear that the entrance has been closed only couple of hours later. Wind is NW force 2-3 but we know it will freshen up to force 5 in the afternoon and especially i between the capes Cabo da Roca and Cabo Raso. The waves will also become bigger and bigger up to 3.5-4.5 meters in the night. Approaching Cascais was a bit confusing, among weak lighthouses, lights of anchored huge cargo boats (waiting for a pilot to sail on the Tage up to Lisboa?) and all the lights of the city, hard to say where the mooring zone is. Coming closer, things are getting clearer and we drop the anchor east of the very posh marina around 3:00am. The wind is now blowing hard and there are nice waves breaking on the shore. Will the anchor stay in place? Three days later and with gusts more than 35 knots, it’s safe to say the anchor is holding good, maybe even to good…
Thursday morning we saw the Greenpeace ice breaker Artic Sunrise passing by on her way to Lisboa.
Our next sailing (well, if we manage to get the anchor out of the rocks) will make us pass the 1.000 miles threshold, since we left Pontrieux in Brittany. We’ll have to celebrate!