Logbook – Figuera da Foz to Peniche 23 Aug 19
It was a great night’s sleep and we rose early to prep for our trip towards Peniche. We needed both food and fuel so Andy went in search of an open market and I pulled Eclipse alongside the fuel point ready for opening time.
Just ahead was a Dutch family on a yacht called ‘Free’. They were home schooling their children as they sailed to the Caribbean. A great experience for both children and their parents. And very brave.
Apparently there are some challenges to home schooling in Amsterdam and so the family were bold enough to change Nationality to French to allow themselves the opportunity.
After refuelling, we slipped again for our trip South and as we proceeded to sea, the fog descended and left us with very limited visibility.
With visibility reduced to less than ¼ mile I checked the radar frequently, but the mist had forced many folk to stay ashore and there was very little traffic for us to avoid.
The mist cleared at 1430 and the weather improved as the wind increased with the diurnal changes.
We arrived in Peniche at around 1800. Some reports suggested that the local maritime police would not allow anchoring outside of the harbour, forcing folk to use the marina. But as we arrived, we saw another yacht already at anchor and so we dropped our hook in the shelter of the harbour wall and settled down for the night. Peniche is a very active fishing port so there were quite a few boats heading into the harbour but the wake and swell was minimal and the anchorage very restful.