Port Naos Aricife, Lanzarote, Canaries Oct. 30, 2005 Hi Folks, We are at a pleasant anchorage in Port Naos, a sheltered cove across from the big commercial port with two sandy beaches ringed by sharp edged lava rock on one side. On the other side we have a view of the container port with its large fixed and mobile cranes to handle the multi-coloured containers, providing us with an interesting opportunity to watch the loading and departure of container ships as well as the gigantic cruise ships which also use the port. The opening of the cove gives us a view out to sea where we can watch the pilot boats meet incoming vessels, and down the shoreline into the old fishing harbour. We have a few neighbours, another Canadian boat, a catamaran from the US, and three Australian vessels; we all had an enjoyable beach party last night. It is summer again, happiness for Judy, as when we get up in the morning all we do is put on our bathing suits. All is well with us and Veleda. Doug will be leaving us tomorrow, the 31st. It has been a pleasure having him on board as he is an experienced sailor with his own Nonsuch 30 at the RCYC in Toronto. He is able to stand a watch at sea, and he has undertaken to get coffee and tea for us first thing each morning, and demands the right to do all the dishes after each meal, - these uppity crew! Farewell Doug; maybe next year in the Caribbean. The volcanic Canaries are quite a geographical contrast to Madeira. We will stay in them for part of November and then off to the Cape Verdes for December before setting off to the Caribbean in late December or early January. All the best, Aubrey ······································································································································ Log #37a Into Portugal We left Bayona, Oct. 14, 2005 motoring down the coast, out of the Rias Baixos of Spain, and 20 miles later changed time zones, putting our clocks back an hour as we entered Portuguese waters. Another 15 miles and we Med moored at Viana do Castelo Marina (41 degrees; 41.62’N, 008 degrees; 49.33’W), a mile and a half up the river just before another girdered road/railway bridge built by Eiffel of Eiffel Tower fame. Other than having to use lazy lines (slime lines) to Med moor, the pontoons were reliable with water and power stanchions available. The personnel were friendly and helpful, and entry formalities were completed at the marina office using just photocopies of our passports and ship’s papers, with no specific check in with the police or maritime immigration or customs officials. The cost for Veleda was moderate, in the 10.00 Euro range. Something else I noticed was that the marina had a concrete drying area that could be used at low tide to scrub the boat’s bottom or do other below the waterline repairs economically. It was a rather long walk around the pontoons to get to the marina office, but the town was then only a few minutes walk from there. Our first trip took us up the docks to tour the Gil Eannes, the retired fishing/navy hospital ship that provided on-the-job medical care for the fishing fleets off the Newfoundland coast from the 1950’s to the 70’s. It was interesting wandering through the bowels of the ship, including the engine room, bridge, radio, and navigation areas, the living, kitchen and dining facilities, as well as the hospital, dental and surgical compartments. There was a good poster display with pictures and commentaries (in Portuguese only) of the fishing fleet activities off the Newfoundland coast. The ship is named after Gil Eannes, one of the early Portuguese explorers in the era of Henry the Navigator in the 15th century. Wandering over town, we enjoyed the old world atmosphere of narrow cobblestone streets and baroque architecture on several public buildings, especially around the main town plaza with its ornate fountain splashing diamond sparkling water to create a cool oasis around it in that warm, sunny afternoon. There are many good shops, butcher shops, hardware stores, and a couple of large indoor shopping malls with modern facilities. In addition there are several large former palaces and a monastery that present imposing grandiose structures for this town, their whitewashed facades adorned with wrought iron balconies, and baroque window, dormer and roof architectural flourishes with profusions of full blooming flower boxes, armourial shields and stanchions bearing colourful flags of Portugal, and other local and family standards. We found a Vodaphone store to buy a chip for our mobile phone, and were delighted to find out that our Vodaphone Connect Card would work here in Portugal, thus allowing us to connect our laptop up to the internet and to send and download E-mail from the boat! Happiness is…! However, it did not work at first, so next day we spent 90 minutes at the store trying to get it to function. We finally realized, with the help of the clerk, that we had to remove the original programming we installed in Italy and re-install using the Portuguese format contained on our original disc. It seems that this procedure (to de-install and re-install) will have to be used in each country which permits this Vodaphone Connect Card to be used without a contract. This is the first we have been able to use it since Italy, as France and Spain would not permit data transmission without a European contract. We do not know what countries of the Caribbean will permit this Vodaphone Connect Card to be used or whether Canada or the US permits such. We will see when we get over there. We were favourably impressed with this unpretentious old town, and would recommend it to other boaters entering or leaving Portugal from this area. Next day we left at noon hour to go the 22 miles to Povoa de Varzim (41 degrees; 22.29’N, 005 degrees; 45.90’W) where we were to base ourselves for three nights to explore Portugal’s second largest and second most important city, Porto. The port of Leixoes is closer to Porto, but all the information we had indicated it was closed for repairs to yachts. However Povoa was a convenient place from which to take a bus for the half hour ride into downtown Porto. This is a new (since 1999) marina with good pontoons, power and water stanchions, good security, moderate prices (11.50 Euros per night including power and water for our 10 metre Veleda) and a yacht club restaurant for which we received a free drink voucher with our registration. We took advantage of the free drink and went another night for a pleasant meal there. The marina is a fifteen minute walk from the main plaza in town, but is also in earshot of the loud music from the casino and another disco bar over town. We found out there were buses about every hour; however some were express and others local. The cost one way to Porto was nominal, about 1.70 Euro per person per trip. When we arrived at the bus terminal, we had to figure out where we were. We found the information bureau, got the maps and info on the “Hop on Hop Off” buses. The first stop was across the Douro River (Rio Douro) to Vila Nova de Gaia, the port wineries area, where we went through the Ferreira port winery and had an opportunity to taste their products. Mmmmnnn! We bought two bottles of each of the Tawny and Ruby ports for 7.00 Euros a bottle, only to find the same ones in local shops at about 5.50 Euros each. This winery, known as a lodge, was beside the Sandeman factory, a more common brand in Canada. After the tour, Judy and I went to the waterfront to see the small boat yard where the wooden shallow-draft flat bottomed boats known as “barco rabelos” were built, to transport the young port wines in wooden barrels from the estates up the Douro following the autumn harvest to the lodges across from Porto. It was pleasant to smell the sawn timbers, the fresh varnish, the tar and hemp, the wood shavings a soft carpet beneath our feet and to see these sail-powered vessels being handcrafted. Sadly, now they are not used for their original transport purposes, only for advertisements for their respective lodges, featuring periodic barco rabelo races up and down the river. Now the wine is brought down from the upper estates by tanker truck and train to be stored and aged in large wooden barrels before being put on the market. Incidentally, Porto is known as Oporto only in foreign countries, and port wine is only from Porto, the same way Champagne is only from the Champagne area of France. Porto is the “Portu” in Portugal. More about Porto in the next log taking us from there to Lisbon.   Next log