Sonntag, 18. November 2012

Down the Shore of Portugal and 'Home' to Madeira

From Galicia, Taniwani headed south stopping in known places. New for us was Porto, in that we didn't go into the harbor of Leixoes this time around, but entered the river at Porto to check out the brand new marina on the south side of the river. It turned out a nice new experience, as we were able to launch our dingy and drive upriver for some ten miles - a very pleasant sight seeing tour, that one could imagine going on for much longer. 

With Taniwani we would only get as far as the pretty double deck bridge built by Mr. Eiffel, but the marina actually offers river boats for rent and one could easily leave the the own boat there and explore the river for a week or so. It is possible to cruise some 100 miles inshore. Maybe some day we try this.

We soon moved on south, stopping in Aveiro, Nazare, Cascais and finally Sines, before having a fairly comfortable and still swift 2 1/2 day sail to Porto Santo. A few more days of beach life and a final wonderful sail to  Quinta do Lorde marina in Madeira. There we prepared Taniwani for the winter and the haul out, and a few days later, Taniwani was back on the dry, again under the huge runway where we had started our 3600 miles round trip back in May.