Tuesday 24 september 2003.

Hi there! Elvina with crew has moved on south from La Coruña. We have day-hopped along the coast and above all been into several of the "rias" (bays) in Galicia (NW Spain). There are a lot of boats around and many are doing the same thing as we are so we have met several boats and crew more than once, which we enjoy. Some we have become good friends with. Since all other friends and families are far away it means a lot to meet people we know. Even though it's simple meetings we can almost call our selves "buddies" after only the second or third date, apart from home where it takes somewhat longer time.

Kerrie's bar

Our boat has gotten a lot of appreciative words and looks and a lot of people want to know what kind of boat we have. From the OE yacht club we got a book about Olle Enderleins boats as a goodbye gift and it's been very handy, especially when the language barrier gets in the way. Elvina parts from most of the other cruising yachts. She's smaller but all boats have to be maintained and when maneuvering in small harbors a bigger boat is not to its advantage.

In Portugal we have met a lot of friendly people. They speak English a lot better than their Spanish neighbors. There are hardly any islands, or as some Norwegians put it; "Portugal is just a long sand beach". Not quite true, the high lime stone cliffs we got used to in France are here too. On the Algarve there are magnificent rocks in beautiful colors and white beaches in between. We are in Portimão since a week and we have decided to stay here for 6 months. Partly because we haven't completed Elvina and partly we want to take a break to relax and think about the future sailing. Portimao is conveniently situated whether we decide to sail south to Madeira/Canaries or east towards the Mediterranean.

After La Coruña we have mainly had company by other cruisers. They present different plans but more often we have come across people who, like us, have changed their route. Our plan A doesn't exist anymore and we have started to realize that everything doesn't have to be planned from home. What we couldn't foresee was how all the meetings with other sailors affect our lives and how we think thereafter. Sometimes we get inspired to explore new things, sometimes we are horrified over people's experiences.

Sines marina, Portugal

We choose to stay in Portimão for several reasons. Apart from the already mentioned Portimão is a very nice town. The marina is new, has good facilities and is well protected, ½ Nm from the sea. We got a good deal for a 6-month contract; 1146 €, equivalent to 6.37 €/day. Otherwise it's expensive in the marinas, one night here during high season costs 30.94 € for a 10-12 m boat. The marinas are generally of good standard, in Portugal several are no older than 5-6 years.

It's been hard to find protected anchorages so the marina fees becomes a great expence. On the other hand electricity is always included and it dosn't cost extra to shower. The washing machines cost 2-5 € so we have started to handwash. Krilla has gained a lot of popularity among the ladies on our pontoon after 3 days in a row with washing! It's quite rare to see men on other boats doing laundry. Maybe we can teach them a little bit of Swedish equality! We cook/do the dishes every other day and that's a system that fits us well. We are starting to find ourselves in this new sailing life and we are looking forward to exploring this part of Portugal. We now have a Portuguese dictionary and even if we won't learn to speak fluently maybe we can understand more about the life around us.

Christer with the morning coffee in Portimão