We leave Spain to progress down south, towards Porto. The wind rapidly falls and we must start the engine.

The dolphins come very often to play with us (movie : dolphins). We go through two storms and the lightnings falls close to Cephee but doesn't reach us. The sea remains calm and there is no wind, so Hélène prepares a gratin Dauphinois.

We reach Porto-Leixoes 24 hours later.

At 7 am, we arrive in Leixoes, Porto´s suburb where the marina is, in a humid and sad fog. A big ship enters at the same time, we feel suddenly very small !

The harbour is closed, so we anchor in the next bay, like four other boats.

We learn that a gasoline pipe broke down in the harbour, that is why they closed it to clean it up.

We stay three days there to visit Porto. We are very positively surprised by this charming city. Monuments, markets, streets, people, colours, grilled fish odours, views, so many things that´ll leave us a great souvenir of Porto. Above all, the Portugese are really nice. They helped us many times, even when we didn´t ask for help. They like contacts and communication, even if you don´t speak Portugese they will try to communicate with you.

We also discover the Porto cellars and realize our ignorance towards a wine which can be excellent.

During the stay, we get to know, from Mauritius, sailing on a 8m aluminium boat : Tomana, and Stephane and Severine, french couple, on Zombi, a 12m aluminum boat. We´re all going to cross the Atlantic on more or less the same route. It is nice to share our souvenirs of the waiting in France (we all waited because of the bad weather) and the navigation in the Golfe de Gascogne.

Severine, like Hélène had never sailed before.

A local recipie:

Portugese Steack : (for 4 persons)

A 2 cm thick Rumsteak slice (about 600 g), 8 thin slices raw ham, 4 garlic cloves, 1 spoon red wine vinegar, 2 spoons olive oil, 20 g butter, 1 laurel leeve, 10 cl strong red wine, 2 lemons, 2 spoons parsley hash, salt and pepper.

Squeeze 2 garlic cloves, incorporate vinegar, salt and pepper. Use it to rub the steack on both sides and insist to make it penetrate. In a frying-pan, heat 1 spoon of oil with butter. When it is warm enough, add the crushed laurel leeve and the remaining garlic cloves cutted in 4 pieces. Mix 1 minute and remove garlic and laurel with a skimmer. Increase the fire, put the beef slice in the pan, leave it 3 to 5 minutes, depending on how you like it cooked. Then, put it aside and keep it warm in an aluminium sheet. Throw the grease away, add the second oil spoon on a medium fire, and put the ham slides to grill them a bit. Put them on the side and keep them warm. Pour the wine in the pan, add 1 spoon lemon juice and leave it to boil a few seconds. Just before serving, cut the beef in 4 pieces, put each piece in a plate, add sauce from the pan, 2 ham slices per person and decorate with parsley and lemon.