In need of a Portugese port

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wgarnier

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I am looking to leave my 24ft fin keelboat in a Portugese port between Sept 2006 and Jan 2007 before a North Atlantic round trip. Can anyone recommend a cheap, cheerful and safe port for this purpose? Are there any particular procedures/issues of which I should be aware? Any idea of cost?
Thanks in advance
William
 
My neighbours, who are now somewhere between Vanuatu and Brisbane on their circumnavigation in an Evasion 34, left their boat in Nazare for several months a few years back. It has good connections and the fees are lower than the more publicised marinas.

Steve cronin
 
Good call Steve. The harbour master is British so there will be no language barrier.
 
I Highly reccomend Nazarre for your purposes (however it is a bit north of where you may wish to be) I was there some three years ago and have to say that whilst the port is also a fishing port and some noise is experienced when the fleet visits to discharge their catch, there is not much to do. A vist via the vernakular railway:o)) to the top of a mountain village is well worth the trip though. The Harbour master when I visited was ( I think) a former member of Brixham Yacht club if I remember rightly and extremely helpful. Several british yachts were in evidence in "storage" it is small however but give it a call.
Rob
 
In general I agree with others re Nazarre, though we've only stopped off there for a couple of days, a couple of times. The one thing that put us off, was the very intense 'enthusiasm' for the paperwork, which was the first time we were asked for masses of detail, papers etc, from rather surly officials.

Until Nazarre, we'd been asked for and shown just the basic stuff (passports, SSR) so it was a bit of a shock. This (one-off) wouldn't, of course, be a problem if one was staying there, though it quite upset SWMBO at the time to the extent that she wanted to leave at once.

It only happened the first time we went there (1996) and was ok a couple of years later, so things may well have changed it that respect - I certainly hope so.

But as you say, despite being a fair old walk from the town (where SWMBO had her hair done to cheer her up!) the vernicular railway is probably worth it on it's own!!

It doesn't sound as though WilliamG is going to stay aboard, otherwise I would suggest moving further south, but I think leaving a boat there should be ok.

Oh, one other thought! The seagull c**p on some of the boats in the marina was deep enough to consider applying for mining rights! We washed a fair bit of the stuff off every morning.
 
It doesn't have to be Portugal although I want to be sure of a quick departure. Delays because of winter storms further north would be inconvenient. Having said that i don't know what to expect along th Atlantic coast of Portugal or Spain in January. Any advice welcome. What do you mean by send PM with details?
William
 
On reflection you would be better to be in Lagos ,there are no garantees for good weather in January here in Galicia,although normally we seem to have fine weather.Can check out situation in Coruña area but needto know typeof keel etc will it need a cradle etc or do you want it in the water.Regards Andrew
 
We've laid up ashore at Vilagarcia in the Ria de Arosa. The yard is called Astilleros Villagarcia (Vial Del Puerto 1 36600 Vilagarcia - ESPAGNE - Tel: +34 986 51 16 36 ). There is a high wire fence all round, and dogs patrolling. They lift with a 70-ton hoist.

Cost is 200 a month (+tax) and 168 for in and out. This was the cheapest we found anywhere in Spain for our 9.2 x 6m cat.

Best offer afloat was 250 a month at Caraminal, also in this Ria.

At least the Ria de Arosa is the right side of Finisterre!
 
All the marinas in Portugal that I've visited would be safe and do have room, except in Lisbon which is the one place you should avoid. They tend to be cheaper in the north. For that reason I would consider Viano do Castelo or Lexioes (Porto). Places like Cascais and Lagos are top international standard marinas, but relatively expensive.
 
The rates in Lagos go down from 1st Oct but a little along the coast is Portimao Marina which will do winter rates from 1st Sept if you are booking for three months. Lots of boats seem to be left there securely while owners return home for winter. Sines is also a good helpful marina if you don't want to round the corner to Algarve.
 
Portimao is brilliant. I planned on spending two weeks there. I eventually left four months later. Their rates for a 12m vessel in Jan - APril 2004 was less than Euro 15 per day. Lagos Marina at the same time was Euro 35 per day. You do the maths.

Best thing was that there were approx 60 liveaboards wintering there, so it was VERY socialable.
 
If you are thinking of sailing in January, it would be best to sail as far south as you can before laying up.
The cheapest long term deal on the Algarve is ashore at Bruces ýard at Faro, current rate is 10 euros per metre per month, plus the lift in and out. I have not heard of any theft problems there. It is a scruffy place though.
 
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