We had spent nearly exactly a month exploring the 5 major Azores islands and had departed Sao Miguel 3 days earlier to explore Santa Maria and wait for favorable weather. The forecasted conditions for the stretch between Santa Maria and the mainland had been in the 30 plus knot range and ahead of the beam for a week, doable but we waited for better as we were in no hurry to leave the islands. For some reason this last stretch had caused me some angst and for no reason that really made sense, we had already sailed close to 3000 miles since leaving St Thomas over a month ago but this last bit in my mind was anything but anticlimactic. I have sailed maybe 16 times across the Gulf Stream and around Hatteras, too and from the Caribbean as well as Bermuda, several of these trips single handed. But the weather had been well, shitty and the Orcas were scoring daily hits on sailing Yachts off the Portuguese and Iberian Coasts and on to Gibraltar, plus did I mention we didn't know where the hell we were going….east. So yeah a bit of angst.
The morning dawned with a gusty norther near 30 said the weatherman but we were shielded by the island and few signs of the wind, only a piercing morning sun. frosted cobalt waves and sidelong shadows retreating over the craggy beach. The wind tomorrow was supposed to abate some and then a few days of decent conditions. Waiting until 10 or so to let the worst blow out we pulled the hook and slid down the beautiful southern coast to open water.
I, initially picked Lisbon as a notional destination because it was midway between Galacia and the southern tip of Portugal, above the worst of the Orca activity and… you have to point the boat somewhere. When we cleared the eastern tip of Santa Maria the wind went from a variable 10 or so to gusting 30 in an instant, compressed a bit as it rounded the island. We dropped the traveler and ran a bit south of course at 12 to 13. In a few minutes the wind dropped and steadied and we came up to course for Lisbon.
After sailing an uneventful but boisterous couple of days, it became clear that the best winds as we closed the coast were going to be well north of Lisbon, this became the decision maker, sail north or motor south, an easy decision for Parallax. I always wanted to sail the Rias of Galacia so a few degrees north dialed in to the autopilot put us on a course for Vigo, at last we had a destination. I still had some angst with closing with the Spanish coast at night because of the fishing fleet which we found soon enough a far piece offshore, but well lit and most if not all broadcasting their position, it wasn't too hard to stay oout- the- way. We slowed a bit to wait for dawn and a bit of fog but we sailed into the Ria just past first light and found an anchorage off the beach near the quirky little town of Cangas. That first foggy sight of the point at the entrance to Vigo gave us chills more than the foggy morning warranted. We had crossed an ocean. Trips to the Caribbean and South America weren't middling at all and all told near the same distance but this was different.
All that angst wasted, now I could spend it on figuring out how and where to check in. As we soon learned, waltzing with the 90 day Schengen limit for foreign travelers to the EU made good use of the angst wasted on the crossing. It would be a constant dance until we reached Gibraltar
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