Begonia is Getting a Little Cramped!

Nazaré, Portugal – One of the first questions people always ask when they hear or read about our trip is:  How is it living on a boat in such a small space, being all together 24/7?  Normally, our answer has been that in fact we are “very comfortable and by now we are used to the smaller living quarters.  And being together 24/7?  Well, that’s what this trip is about - family time!”  But since crossing the Atlantic and being in – unexpected – colder temperatures with days of wind, rain and fog…. Begonia is feeling quite cramped.  It’s not as if there will be a mutiny or anything like that… but we really need to get to the warmer climes of southern Portugal!

Not only does the weather affect us for prohibiting us from going off the boat to sight-see, but it affects how we are inside the boat as well.  It is sometimes difficult to stay warm on the boat at night, unless we have taken a hot shower.  We only have hot water on the boat if we have been sailing for a while or if we are in a marina.  But we have noticed most of the marinas we go to do not have great amenities, so even a hot shower can be difficult to come by… the temperature may vary, or the water is timed to automatically to go off after a certain time, etc.   We have come up with alternatives to this and very often will warm up the tea kettle and use this to pour water on ourselves, he old-fashioned way.  With the cold also comes the inability for things to dry out properly, so we have towels and clothes that are constantly damp and after a while don’t smell very nice.  Or cooking with the windows closed for the cold also makes it very damp and steamy inside the boat.  Bottom line: no sun = musty Begonia.

Most days we really like being onboard and we find things to do, but also the more we are onboard, the more messy things get, so we are cleaning and organizing constantly… much more than back home.  The kids always have toys all over their beds and clothes all untidy on their shelves.  They will organize, but it will get messy shortly afterward because their bed is there play space and sleeping space at the same time, there aren’t that many other places to play when the weather is nasty outside.

I must admit that as we are going along, I find myself wanting to get rid of things.  There is too much STUFF onboard.  I need to give Sebastian props for this, because he did warn me not to bring so much, but I really did not know how much or how little the kids would read or what they would play with, or when they would grow out of clothes. I am now giving away books we’ve already gone through, packing away  toys they no longer play with go swap out every once in a while.  I also keep putting fewer items of clothing on their shelves.  When there is too much on their shelves, it gets messy anyway and then difficult to see what is clean and what is dirty.  Forget about washing clothes after every wear like we are accustomed to back home.  We want the kids to use and reuse their clothes until they are almost disgustingly filthy.  So, now they have about 3 t-shirts and 3 bottoms on their shelves each that they just wear over and over again.  Sounds dirty?  But much easier for us! And less expensive – yesterday we paid 12 euros (about $18) to wash the kids sheets and towels.

Luckily, despite all this, we have met two other cruising families:  A British couple with children 10 and 8 whom I mentioned in the previous blog and a French couple with a daughter who is neuf ans. We have been loosely buddy-boating since leaving Bayona, Spain a week ago.  It is so great to compare notes and share strategies on homeschooling and keeping the kids entertained, but in reality, all the kids just want to PLAY.  And since we have been at a marina for the last three days all together, all five kids go back and forth seamlessly between the boats.

We have been trying to make it down the coast of Portugal for the last week, with the original idea of doing an overnight sail just to get there.  We had been planning on arriving last Saturday.  However, the weather has really taken a toll on our plans.  This coast is known for its strong N/NE winds, which when they are coming from behind is usually a good thing to push the boat along… but the gusts have reached up to 30 knots, and that plus the wave swell has made for very uncomfortable sailing.  Even Sebas was feeling icky, so we have been doing about 30-40 mile sails during the day, and tucking into the various ports down the coast.  I guess the annoying thing is that these are ports where we don’t really want to be necessarily, so getting “stuck” has been a little frustrating.

We even stopped at a port called Póvoa de Varzim, the first port in northern Portugal just south of the border with Spain.  It turns out that an old friend, Humberto, whom I met during my junior year aboard in Lisbon is now the Captain of the Port there.  We had wanted to surprise him, but unfortunately we arrived at about 4/4:30pm last Friday and while the woman working at the marina was trying to be helpful by calling his office on our behalf, she ended up misunderstanding and thought Humberto was coming to visit us right then and there.  It turns out he had told his secretary he was in fact “coming” – but TO THE PHONE, NOT THE MARINA!!!!!  The ironic thing was that his office was right there at the other end of the marina – we could see it from our boat - but we never tried to walk there since we thought he was coming to us, and by the time we figured out what had happened, it was after business hours and there was no way to get a hold of him. We ended up leaving the next morning anyway.  So close, but yet so far!  I guess we’ll have to try in another 20 years when we sail back through here.  ; )

The highlights of this past week are that there were a couple of sunny days which allowed for some interesting “field trips.”  One was to the city of Oporto famous for port wine.  Of course we had to tour one of the more well-known “lodges” – perhaps you’ve heard of SANDEMAN?  This is the company that has the logo of a man in a cape that resembles Zorro… but never say that to the people who work there because the logo was very well thought out as it took the “cape” that has been used throughout centuries by the university students in Coimbra, Portugal to represent the port wine, as well as the “bolero” hat used in Southern Spain, to represent the sherries this company also makes.  In fact, the Sandeman logo, which was created in the late 20’s is said to be one of the first internationally recognized brands that still exist today –or at least that’s what they tell you on the tour.

All the kids were fascinated by this tour and the logo especially.  Sofia kept calling him “Sandy-man,” and insisted that he was a super-hero along the lines of Batman, or Superman, or Spiderman.  She declared him her new invisible friend, and now has added him into her repertoire of characters that she dresses up as and makes up stories about.  “But what does he do with the sand, Mamá? Is that his power?” she kept asking.

The tour ended with a wine tasting, of course and many bottles purchased to now add to our collection on board.  I must tell you as of this writing, we have already gone through a couple of those bottles with our fellow seafarers.

Speaking of “seafarers,” the second big field trip was visiting the tomb of “Henry the Navigator.”  He was the son of King João and Queen Filipa (of Lancaster, England) and is famous for being the very first person to embark on a journey out to sea to start the Portuguese legacy of “The Discoveries.”  During his life (before Columbus) they still believed he Earth was flat and all journeys had a religious purpose, not a commercial one, like Columbus who wanted to reach India for its spices.  The idea was to spread Christianity throughout all the lands visited.  Henry started with conquering Ceuta, on the northern tip of Africa.  I recall in my studies in here, reading copies of some of the original manuscripts of these first voyages.  The reaction was strong to seeing people who live in such a different fashion than in Europe at the time.  It’s difficult for us to fathom such a reaction today. 

Portugal is a small country which you rarely hear about, except recently with its economic and political turmoil.  But in its heyday, it was a very strong empire, with colonies in Ceuta, Madeira, Cape Verde, Guinea-Bissau, Mozambique, Angola, South Africa, India (Goa), Indonesia (Timor Leste), China (Macau), etc.  I have always found it interesting to note that Portugal has discovered most of the world, but most of the world has not discovered it.  I am truly enjoying being back here after so many years.

Lisbon and the warmer weather await us, and the weather forecasts all show that tomorrow, Saturday, is the window to sail.  We will all caravan down the coast for the 60 mile or so voyage and hope to arrive late in the day.   The further south we get, the less cramped I will feel, I am sure.

NEXT STOP:  Cascais, Portugal (just west of Lisbon).

Did we mention it has been foggy???

Only the kids would be tempted to try to swim in the ocean.  This lasted about 15 minutes!

Peter giving the kids a tour in his boat.

Benj later sailing the boat himself.

He works the outboard too!

Typical "azulejo" tiles line the walls of the Porto train station.  Beautiful!

The Begonias on the Rio D'Ouro

Portugal of today:  look at all those satellite dishes!

But still the Portugal of yesterday is more beautiful.

Mom and Daughter just hanging out.

Now for the wine tour...

These barrels are full of wine...

Absolutely enthralled.

Tour guide dressed as the "superhero."

Sampling the goods wih Dave.  We liked the tawny port better than the aperitiv, white one.

The Gang.

Typical scene along the river.

Seeing the city from an overhead tram.

Up, up and away!

Sofia and her bro, the superhero.

IT'S SANDEMAN!!! Ta-da-daaaah!

Cathedral at Batalha.

The gang after our picnic in the park.

All these cruising kids really like their nautical paraphenalia.

Just playing in the plaza...

Inside the cahedral.

The Two Navigators:  Sebas and Henry

Tinfish on the water....

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FOUNTAINE PAJOT ATHENA 38 CATAMARAN FOR SALE – After our wonderful experience, BEGONIA is ready for its next sailing family – with or without children!  Please contact sebastiankoziura@hotmail.com for more information.