Finally on the move!

On Tuesday the 4th of October, we finally set off for Lagos on the south coast of Portugal to pick up my uncle Gerry before heading for Morocco. We had a good sail overnight with calm weather and a sunny sail the following day. It is clear however, that I need more practice at eating dinner in the dark, which sounds easier than done especially when sunset is at 7pm. We had a nice time in Lagos and set off for Morocco on Saturday afternoon.

It was a beautiful sunny day with a steady wind. We were lucky that a few dolphins came up to the boat and were dancing around the bow. It was so lovely to have dolphins come up like they are joining you on your journey. We started our night watches with a pattern of 2 hours on and rest for 2 hours with 2 people. This helps break it up and gives you some company in the middle of the night! We started this around 8pm after dinner and continued it for 12 hours. This takes some getting used to especially going to bed at 8pm. I did from 10-12, 2-4 and 6-8 with 2-4 definitely being the worst shift as it is in the middle of the night. The moon also disappeared in the shift making it much darker but we still had the stars to gaze at and entertain us. It makes you realise how much light pollution we have on land. Our AIS system allows us to detect and view the details of ships nearby which is great for keeping you awake as its quite fun to look at their name, length, speed, type etc. They are usually just cargo ships, which are fairly dull, but we saw a passenger cruise ship heading for Lisbon which was decked out in fairy lights which was quite exciting. As I sat there rolling around in the sea gazing at the stars and getting excited about seeing a cruise ship I couldn’t help but think what a contrast this was to my life a year ago when I was stressing about UCAS and dissertations!

We arrived into one of the most impressive marina entrances on Monday morning with huge waves crashing over the breakwaters in the foreground of a huge fort looming over us. I must admit there was a few fishing boats out at sea and I did think they could be pirates which alarmed me slightly! We made our way down the river marvelling at the old town whilst dodging both rubbish and fishing boats. We then waited with apprehension for customs to come, which can take hours, and often people have trouble with diving tanks (which we had). After an hour of waiting about 6 men boarded the boat with a sniffer dog and multiple forms to complete. Thankfully there was no problem so we were allowed in despite our pigeon French! Overall we had a good passage arriving at one of the most exciting locations I have ever been on a boat and I can't wait to explore the land.