Tangiers

Position: 35°47’07.7″N 5°48’38.9″W Morocco’s ancient port of Tangiers is changing. Since Carol’s last visit 11 years ago, the city has expanded significantly. Hotels and a brand-new international marina now line the bay to the east, while apartment blocks and wholly …

Blue Hilly Streets

Position: 35°10’07.2″N 5°15’56.1″W Every tourist town needs a draw. Chicago is the Windy City and the home of Al Capone. New York is the city that never sleeps. London is the home of queens and Pearly Kings. Chefchaouen, Morocco, is …

Into the Orca’s Kitchen

Position: 35°57’06.4″N 5°50’56.4″W Orcas are wild animals. No amount of anthropomorphising changes that. For the past five years Iberia’s orcas have been ‘interacting’ with boats up and down the Spanish-Portuguese coast. Interacting means physical contact. Anything from a bump to …

Man (soon to be) Overboard

Position: 37°02’27.7″N 8°53’37.7″W Sometime remakes are better than the original. Sometimes things should be left just as they were. Our early misadventure with Nell’s towline on the Great Bahama Bank seven-and-a-half years ago (seems like yesterday, doesn’t it? – ed.) …

Douro Valley Daze

Position: 41°09’16.7″N 7°46’57.1″W Another four days of Atlantic churn meant we could tick off a barrel-sized item on our bucket list: wine tasting in the heart of the Douro Valley. But first we had a hoped-for date with monster waves …

Any Porto in a Storm

Position: 41°11’39.5″N 7°48’09.0″W By morning, the winds of Viando do Castelo had dropped to nearly nothing. Slipping our mooring and heading out on the downstream tide, we nonetheless raised the main in hopes of a breath of wind. The dominant …

Viana do Castelo

Position: 41°41’36.3″N 8°49’20.4″W As soon as Aleta reached the mouth of the Vigo River, and after we agreed that Baiona was too short of a sail, the wind died. Shame on the forecast! Perhaps we were too close to shore …

Vigo-a-Go-Go

Position: 43°13’12.1″N 9°00’02.4″W Crossing the Bay of Biscay from La Rochelle commits you to being at sea for at least 350 nautical miles. Distance is only part of the equation. What those miles are really telling you is how many …