Seixal near Lisbon

At anchor now in the River Judeu about 5 mls from Lisbon, off Seixal town. Steaming hot – 35 deg one day, but very few mozzies I’m glad to say. I’ve been doing maintenance, some deck welding and painting, for 10 days now.

There's a good boatyard at Amora just across the river from Seixal - run by the Vanancios family, nice people.

The buoyed channel to the boatyard has 2m+ at CD. There's a lot more water in this estuary than my e-charts indicate - I bought the latest Portuguese paper chart - it's got more water ;-)

So, we will haul out and do Blue Hound's underwater bits....it's 18 months since I looked at her bottom in St Sampson (Guernsey).

Plenty of wildlife - herons, egrets, terns and some small petrel-like birds that I haven't been able to identify. Fish galore, though being an estuary the water isn't that clear.

I like Alcantara dock in Lisbon, but mooring charges have gone up annually by 7% for the last 5 years, and the facilities are no better (and it seems to be noisier). There is now a Pingo Doce supermarket within 10 mins walk and they've got Twinings English Breakfast tea! The nearby laundry has disappeared and there is no wifi - important for those of us who try to work from the boat. I got a Vodaphone Portugal dongle for 40 Euros with 10 hrs incluido. Valid for 6 months and rechargeable at 5 euros for 5 hours. So, I'm writing this at anchor!

Seixal town is typical old Portugal - I had a churrasqunio barbeque lunch in the street yesterday - a lovely little town and plenty of live music; even a small popular beach. Ferry to Lisbon 15 mins.

The estuary is very reminiscent of Brazil - here's a couple of shots, one of the full moon rising over the town at dusk this week, and an evening view across to the Tagus Bridge and Cristo Rei monument: