From Ilha da Berlenga, Portugal

Oct. 14Th, position 39°24.496N/009°30.260W; Ilha da Berlenga, 4nm NW of Peniche

We left Leixoes Oct. 12th, around 5 pm heading for Ilha da Berlenga about 115 nm SSW.

Ilha da Berlenga is a group of 3 [very] small islands which according to the pilot book were worthwhile visiting. The trip was okay but we had to motor a lot. Twice the wind picked up enough to set sail. We even hoisted the spinnaker but that didn't last long as the wind died again. For downwind sailing we need at least 10 kts with the swell, even if it's a mild swell.

Anyway we arrived around 3 pm next day and dropped the hook. It was indeed worthwhile :-) The 'main' island has a lighthouse and is inhabited by a handful of  people. The islands are a national park/bird sanctuary with trails for walking. Also there is an old monastery which seemed still in use according to the lights that were on at night...

We launched the dinghy, went over to a small beach and walked around for a bit. We didn't see that many birds but for the rest the view was great. Rutger walked over to the monastery were Monique and I picked him up with the dinghy later. We did a short tour around the cliffs in the dinghy and went into a cave that was in fact a tunnel. `The steering was a bit special because of the funny waves and eddies but we managed to avoid the rocks and the walls :-)

We had a very nice barbeque that night and stayed for the night. The wind had picked up a bit, so we hoped that we could have a nice sail to Lisboa the next day. Actually, we'll be heading for the marina in Oeiras at the entrance of the Rio Tejo. From there it´ll take about 40 minutes by train to get to the center of Lisboa. The plan is to visit Lisboa on Saturday.

The marinas more upstream are very crowded and don´t have any berths reserved for visiting yachts, according to the pilot. Only in high season there might be some spaces open from boats that are away. Cascais is the marina where most passing yachts go to, but that is a pretty long ride to Lisboa - and also very expensive.

Anyway, when we left the beautiful anchorage at Ilha da Berlenga this morning, the wind had died again so at the moment we are motoring, hoping the wind will pick up later ….
However, since we left Scheveningen, we have had no rain, apart form a few lost drops, only sunshine and starry nights and that´s really nice, too! :-)