The cloudy, windy and rainy trend continued on our tail from Spain to Portugal (until we finally reached Cascais!)

The Portuguese coast is exposed directly to the Atlantic Ocean, which is prone to weather systems that develop over the ocean, including powerful storms and swells, making navigation challenging.

We then learnt that pretty much all marinas except, ironically Nazare, shut during severe weather due to safety but the way the Marina in Nazare is built makes it safe to enter and leave on most occasions. If not completely shut, some marinas have rules in place on certain days on which sized boats are allowed to leave the marina depending on the weather - we did see boats who broke this rule and were immediately caught by the coast guards on their next stop!

All of this to say that our passage planning had to factor this in when we left Spain as we would need to account for the fact that we might not be able to stop along the coast…cue multiple night shifts until Lisbon!

Our first stop in Portugal was at Viana do Castelo. On an extremely windy day, we tried to stop in the small marina to rest for the night and food provision but the first challenge began. The Marina has a tight entrance and was quite full, the wind and swell was less than ideal and the river was bringing down large tree logs with it! After a few attempts struggling with the current, logs and wind, we managed to dock into the marina!

The next challenge - find a marina to stop at in Porto so we could meet some family and explore town a bit! Given the lack of anchorages along the coast and the weather, the marinas were all full but… we managed to get the last spot at Leixoes Marina! Porto was a much needed spot to catch up with family and load up on awesome Portuguese goodies at Pingo Doce!

After leaving Porto, our only option would be to stop at Nazare - with a bit of hesitation we entered the port and what a pleasant surprise! The marina was very well protected and one of the friendliest marinas we’ve been to until today! The town and beauty of Nazare also added to it and we were excited to finally explore the world famous wave surfing spot! Red bull jet skis dashed in and out all day and it was cool to watch surfers practice all though the big waves are usually starting to build at this time from Oct - March during the winter months.

Our last stop on mainland was in Cascais and it did not disappoint - we were so happy to reunite with friends we hadn’t seen in years and enjoy the beautiful weather, beaches and food! A few days later, it was time to leave, the forecast looked okay with 25 knots winds so we thought we’d take it! As soon as we left Cascais, the wind picked up hard and fast and before we knew it, a 4-5 days passage to Porto Santo turned into 2.5 days blowing 30-35 knots non-stop! The upside was, we celebrated being out of “Orca” waters and could put that anxiety behind us!

Porto Santo was worth the stop - if you’re provisioning, they have a massive Ping Doce supermarket, walking distance to the marina! We decided to get a tour guide to explore the island and it was the best decision. We had a full day packed with historical insights and amazing lookouts - it was also nice to finally see some sun!

We were starting to get tight on time so we weighed up dashing to the Canary Islands from Porto Santo but thought it would be a shame to skip Madeira! We’re glad we made it there in the end and signed up for a day tour tuk-tuk with a stop at the local famous toboggan ride! Unfortunately the line was a few hours long so we skipped it and kept exploring the town with our amazing tour guides!

After a busy day, it was time to leave for the Canary Islands - we couldn’t believe our “destination” since we left Denmark was soon approaching! This was our first very pleasant sail after months of battling strong winds, currents, storms and drastic tides! We started by celebrating with a trick or treat and Halloween dinner as the conditions finally allowed for a cruisey sail!