Our last days in Figueira were very frustrating. After everyone left, me and Karis and two difficult days. Bad weather stoped us from doing much on one of them, and on the second I realized the rifle problem wasn't still quite sorted. I was told the manufacturer that the problem lied in on of the seals, and they sent some spares. Unfortunately, these didn't seem to be working that much. In addition to that, I got seasick. It was the first time this year it happened, and in relatively calm conditions. This meant I had to take some time to recover from it before I could try and fix the rifle. I eventually did, but the dolphins were gone. In the end, no samples was the out come. The next day, Pedro Neves came on board with his girlfriend, Cátia, and Neftalí joined us later on. Margarida also came for a few days, but stayed in Port more than out in the sea and saw few dolphins. I our last attempt at getting more samples from Figueira, we saw some porpoises but no dolphins. It was unfortunate, as the weather was perfect for sampling.
Porpoises off Figueira. Yes, that's how close we were able to get!
The last crew of Figueira all wearing a funny hat. Margarida's idea (who else?!)!
Karis and Margarida left, and the rest of us went down to Peniche, but not before staying in port with very rough weather and pouring rain. I started wondering if it was really summer we were in and not winter. This meant that when we went down to Peniche the sea was still a bit rough, and seasickness was the norm on board. Fortunately not me!!! Pedro and Cátia left the same day. So the plan for Peniche was simple. Given we alreadyhad 30 samples from there, me and Neftali would go out the same day and get what we could, Zé would join is in that same day, and then it was down to Sines taking advantage of the Nortada that was forecast. It all went according to plan, excpet the fact that we couldn't sample any dolphins in Peniche. We did see them, but uncooperative behaviour and a dodgy rifle set the pace. Yeta nother disapointment. The sailing however, was brilliant. Down to Oeiras we had a brilliant sailing day. We hoisted sail outside of Peniche, and dropped them in front of Oeiras. Everything went smoothly. To Sines it was only motoring until Espichel, but after that the wind picked up and off we go. Spinnaker up, course set to Sines, and at 1800 we were mooring in Sines. Tom arrived that day, and we all went for the famous Sines lasagna. We all agreed that it keeps its reputation for yet another year!!!!
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