South to Aveiro

The regular northerly winds, sometimes known as the " Portuguese trades" had set in with a vengeance and were blowing exceptionally boisterously in the afternoons reaching force 7 gusting 8. The marina was a bit exposed and there was a flurry of extra lines being put out by the boats already moored. In the dark of the night Dark Tarn was vibrating in the high winds,  a couple of yachts came in and after several attempts to berth in the high wind and a great deal of multi lingual ' help' from berth holders managed to secure in whatever upwind berth they could crash! We were stuck for a few days. The Portuguese coast is not particularly friendly, it is a long way between ports of refuge and a lot of those are subject to entrance limitations, usually consisting of a dangerous ' bar' which with high winds and the ever present swell can create conditions which have resulted in the loss of a few yachts over the years. We were headed for the next logical stop southward, which was Leixos, pronounced " Leyshoinsh" the day arrived when a lull in the wind strength was forecast. We were awoken by what sounded like a nuclear war siren wailing over the town, sleepily wondering what insanity Trump had been up to now I cracked the hatch and was greeted by the sight of a large fire to windward.



The siren was obviously summoning the volunteer firemen, however it did add considerably to my anxiety, I find constant high winds wearing and this last event just made me want to leave quickly!
We had a rolly sail the 30 miles or so to Leixos, the swell was quite large but luckily Leixos has an all weather entrance. The marina however was full so we were advised to anchor in the harbour. It was nicely sheltered and we settled down to watch the arrival of another dozen yachts and the anchorage though roomy was soon quite crowded. Leixos is also incredibly busy being a commercial harbour ships were coming and going constantly.



The following morning,a particularly impressive cruise ship had entered as  we prepared to leave very early at 7.30 .We had another 33 miles or so to go to the estuary of Aveiro, this is one of the dangerous entrances so we had planned our trip to arrive at high water and hopefully before the afternoon wind had built up.
We left in the pale morning light in the gap between ships entering.



The wind soon filled in just enough for us to raise sail and we had the company of another couple of yachts which were sailing parallel courses to us.



There were another couple of boats a few miles ahead of us which we could see on AIS. This really is a great system, we could call up the names of the boats and their speed, unfortunately AIS 'B' isn't as comprehensive as the commercial 'A' system so we couldn't see their eventual destination, we hoped it wasn't the anchorage we were heading for as we were hoping for some peace!



We had a very pleasant sail and arrived off the mole at the river entrance bang on time. It appeared that the other boats were on a different passage plan or possibly had read the fairly negative comments in the pilot.



We stowed sails as we didn't want any distractions as we piloted DT up the mile and a half to the lagoon at Sao Jacinto.
There were a great many small fishing boats frantically pulling fish from the bouncy over falls immediately inside the entrance and we took care to give them and their lines a good clearance as we tried to avoid the obvious banks off each of the breakwaters. Once in the river the last of the flood carried us quickly up to the well buoyed entrance on the port side.



It is essential to follow the channel markers as it is is very shallow in parts. We were soon anchored in 7 metres off the village of Sao Jacinto. There was obviously a festival of sorts happening, we were getting used to this happening by now.
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