Holy moley, we have now been living abroad on board Let’s Dance for more than a month and we haven’t had time to scratch ourselves let alone write a blog – this cruising thing is busy. Busy doing what I hear you say; well we will do our best to fill you in.
We flew out of Sydney on June 21, via Dubai into Paris, jumped on a train and headed down to La Rochelle. Some 38 hours later, and an unexpected bus trip for the last hour due to railway track repairs, we were met by our kick-ass broker, Nod, from Multihull Solutions and his lovely bride to be, Rach. They got engaged just prior to our arrival.
No time to rest, we were straight off to the marina to set eyes on Let’s Dance for the very first time – we were both knackered but adrenaline is an amazing thing. The moment we walked within eyesight of our brand new home we were ready to party. Out came the French fizz and we kicked on well into the night celebrating our new home/boat, our new life and the impending marriage of Mr & Mrs ‘Nod’.
An Awkward Dip
The next day was a slight shock to the system - we were straight into it after waking up at 4am. We had a whole boat to fit out, 3 bedrooms/bathrooms, saloon, cockpit, galley – she’s not massive but it was a bit like fitting out a three bedroom apartment, plus all the tools/items required for maintenance and troubleshooting of a sailing boat.
Our next 2 weeks were spent running all over La Rochelle shopping, shopping and more shopping. Not a pastime we enjoy at the best of times but we certainly had some laughs….and a few differences of opinion as well! We shopped by hire car, we shopped by public bus, we shopped by push bike, we shopped by foot - and every time we thought we’d finally finished shopping we would go through our ‘to do’ list and find more things we needed to buy. Not to mention all the goods we had to take back or exchange because they weren’t what we thought they were or they didn’t fit or they weren’t quite right. So many little things and quite a few big things, we searched for in aisle upon aisle, store upon store, in a blur of French shops.
We have to say a big thank you to Nod and Rachel from the Multihull Solution team for being there for us during this delivery stage – this task would have been marriage testing for sure without you guys around.
Marita Setting Up Her Galley
On top of making Let’s Dance liveable, we also had to prepare her and us for our maiden voyage across the notorious Bay of Biscay, a three day, two night passage – just us two and a hell of a lot of water.
We invested wisely in professional sailing lessons and got to know Let’s Dance and how she handles around the friendly waters of La Rochelle. As we write this we now have over 900 nautical miles under our belts and we both agree the sailing lessons were money well spent. A big thank you to Alain Girard Sailing – we still have, and will always refer to, your notes.
Sailing 101
It hasn’t been all work and no play. We did manage to sneak in a few nights out, the occasional afternoon bevy and of course the all important naming ceremony for Let’s Dance. Nod did a fantastic job as MC, Rach captured the whole affair on film and of course Champaign was the refreshment of the day.
The Blessing Of Let's Dance
The Bay of Biscay
After getting about 85% of the boat ready to go, a great weather window opened up for our bay crossing and as we had already spent over two weeks in La Rochelle preparing and hanging out with our new friends Martin and Soni from Reflexion (Lucia #22, they picked their new boat up at the same time we did ours) we thought it was time to untie the lines, raise ours sails and get the party started.
Being only my third open water passage and Marita’s first, the crossing went really well. We both helmed and honed our sailing skills during the day, and at night we did three hours on helm and three hours off.
By far the most exciting thing to happen during the passage was the hooking up of four tuna. We hope to release a video down the track of the three that got away and the one that made its way into the freezer and onto our dinner plates for the next several weeks. The slabs of meat that we got out of that one big fish were amazing. It’s a good thing we didn’t land all four – you can only eat so much tuna. We’ve had some incredible tuna meals lately – tuna steak with white bean and almond puree, tuna cerviche, tuna pasta bake, BBQ tuna with funky herb sauce, tuna sashimi, tuna and coleslaw burgers (yum). There’s more tuna in the freezer but right now we are having a break from it for a week!
Our First Fish Onboard
Our Course Thus Far
So, from La Rochelle we cruised to A Coruna in Spain, a lovely port and city where we had planned to stay just two nights and ended up staying five – if we keep that strike rate up we will never make it home! Great place, lovely people and the food was absolutely fantastic. One of the highlights of our stay was when we met a lovely local lady who we just happened to sit down next to at a bar one afternoon and she put together our coastal Spain itinerary over a few drinks (thank you Mavi - we stopped at most of your suggested locations, ate at your recommended restaurants and visited your friend’s alborino vineyard).
Next stop was Muros; another two night stay in a great little marina right in the heart of the township and alongside a gorgeous little beach. The sun goes down here around about 10.30pm and the beaches are at their busiest at about 7 – 8pm. We gave the water a try because the locals said it was far warmer than normal and it was a ‘pleasant’ 18 degrees or so.
Muros to Carril/Vilagarcia and our first night at anchor just outside the marina. We were expecting a nice quiet night in what looked on the map like it should have been a lovely sheltered position but instead got howling winds the whole night – very pleased we up-specced to the Rocna 25 anchor. She stuck like you know what to a blanket.
Carril to Sanxenxo: another day-hop on the water and what a lovely place Sanxenxo is. Again we anchored instead of paying for a marina berth, this time about 150m off the main beach. This place is like the Surfer’s Paradise of Australia. It was a hot day, great swimming weather with crystal clear water. We dived off the back of the boat expecting a balmy 18 degrees but instead got 14 at best. Ouch! I am buggered how these people swim in these temperatures, but they do. Two nights here, just because the place was so beautiful and our spot was …… lets just say postcard perfect.
Our Beach House In Sanxenxo
From Sanxenxo to Viana do Castelo in Portugal. It is always exciting, that first visit in a new country that you’ve never been to before, and even more so when you’ve sailed in under your own steam. Our Australian flag and the new model Lucia 40 seems to attract its fair share of attention everywhere we go and our first port in Portugal was no exception. Only a couple of nights here at Viana do Castelo; we really do need to push on if we are going to get into the Mediterranean this summer.
Marita has always wanted to visit Portugal and if the rest of it is like Viana, I think we are going to like it. We explored the town by foot and hiked our way to the top of 672 steps to a stunning old cathedral overlooking the town and bay - just in time to see our friends aboard Reflexion cruise through headland. Unfortunately the marina was full so they had to push on to another port further south and we missed them yet again.
In Viana we were lucky enough to catch the start of the second stage of the Portugese National Cycling Tour. All the big names were competing and Michael got his cycling fix, up close with Contidor et al.
Next stop, Porto for two nights and you know what they say about when in Porto - you must do a port wine tour of course. Not usually the touristy types but who are we to break hundreds of years of tradition. So off we went tasting ports and yes a couple of bottles made their way on board for the colder nights down the track. A cracking place to visit and probably one of the prettiest thus far. We loved it.
The next few days were spent sailing from morning to night. Portugal is a long country when travelling at about 6 knots. We headed further south from Porto to Figueira da Foz for a night and finally caught up with Martin and Soni from Reflexion who we hadn’t seen since leaving La Rochelle. We have really stepped up the pace now so that we can spend as much time on the south coast of Portugal as we can – we have heard it is amazing.
From ‘The Foz’ to Peniche and once again we spent just one night at anchor and didn’t even go to shore. So that’s about all we got to say about that, as Forest would say!
From Peniche to Cascais, a nine hour day sail and a cracker; right up until the last five nautical miles when a monstrous front rolled in. Then it was down sails, motors on and get the #@% outa here, all under complete control of course (no need to worry mum).
Cascais is a beautiful and popular waterfront city on the outskirts of Lisbon, and a great little stopover for us. We spent two nights at anchor off the main beach and just outside of the Cascais marina where they wanted 69 Euros per night. Not for us thanks, not when we can anchor for free, tender into the marina, leave her there for the day, go sightseeing, do our grocery shopping and spend our saved euros at a local café or bar.
We caught the train into Lisbon and did one of those double decker bus tours of the city which actually ended up being quite good for our purpose (because we arrived completely unprepared; no information on what to see or where to go in Lisbon, no map – and couldn’t seem to find anyone who could give us one, no information centre cause we were in a local type area). We were standing on a street corner wondering which way to the CBD when a big gaudy yellow double decker bus full of people with cameras went past, so we ran after it like desperate tourists. It sufficed to see the main sights of Lisbon, which are actually quite spread out and not really do-able by foot, but ultimately we preferred to just meander the streets of Cascais, do coffee or drinks and just hang out with the locals trying their cuisine.
From Cascais to Sines, we are making pretty good time (Paula and Andy) and we type this blog whilst on the water for this leg. We set the sails this morning at 9.30am, a late start because we had to duck into town and pick up the last two pilot books we need to cover our entire Med travels. Have been looking in every port since La Rochelle for English versions of these pilot guides and finally hit the jackpot. Should be about an eight hour day on the water, but we are currently averaging 7 knots – a cracking sail and at this pace we should be knocking the top of a cold one a little earlier than planned. We are sailing with company today as Reflexion met up with us again last night – it’s always nice to have friends off your port side.
No real plans in Sines, but may have to bunker down there for a while because the weather looks like taking a turn for the worst and we don’t really fancy bashing into a head wind for the next three days; will have to see what happens tonight.
Well, that’s about it for this blog, hope you enjoyed the read. Thanks to those who have comment/contacted us via this blog, email, Facebook – it’s nice to hear from home.
Our 'Nauti Facts' as at 06/08/16:
Nautical miles – 936
Maximum speed – 16.6 knots
Country tally – 3
Port tally - 13
Fish caught – 1
Nights in marina – 11
Nights at anchor – 7
Monthly spend – TBC!!!
Stay safe, cheers
M&M
Let’s Dance
PS: Got up early this morning in Sines to a clear day and virtually no wind so we are going to head south with Reflexion for what promises to be a long motoring day. A nasty head wind is supposed to arrive tomorrow so we have this one day of blue skies and flat seas to plough south by engine and finally get around the bottom corner of Portugal – some 80 nautical miles to Lagos.
It sounds ridiculous but we are both excited to hang a left and not travel south anymore! It also marks a bit of a milestone for us – we have sailed the entire length of Portugal. We will spend some time exploring the south of Portugal over the next week or so and we have the perfect excuse – the weather is changing and won’t be suitable to continue on to Gibraltar for at least the next four or five days. Time to relax for a bit.
The little gap, bottom right is the Gibraltar Straight – just what you don’t want 35 – 40 knots on your nose.