Christmas in Nazare

Well, with the festive season rolling around again all the cruisers in Nazare got together for a Christmas Eve dinner in one of the surfer's storage lock-ups. Dirk's done a great job of turning the area into a place where surfers can hang out, and it made for an excellent setting for great food and plenty of mulled wine.

Christmas morning started with bacon and eggs aboard (plus an awesome Christmas cake slow cooked by Lauren) followed by a pretty leisurely day. Australia is 10.5hrs ahead of Portuguese time and with me calling home at 0700 and 0030, we pretty much hung about in our pj's and watched Christmas films.

After all that relaxing (and food), it was time to burn some calories on Boxing Day. First up, a visit to the local stray cats to a.) take care of the leftovers and b.) get Lauren her cat fix.

Next up was a cycle around the marina and then into town to stretch our legs a bit. All in all, a pretty easy kinda day.

New Year's Eve is fast approaching now and there's talk of a dinner then heading into town to watch the fireworks and find a drinking establishment. I managed to finish and fit the new instrument consoles but unfortunately the winds are conspiring against us getting out for a test sail (40kts or 2kts), so we're making plans to watch more big wave surfing this week and keeping an eye on the forecast.

PS - does anyone know why carp do this in a marina? Not only are they schooling, they also hang about on the surface with their mouths open, seemingly gulping air. It's got all of us beat.....