Sailing to Porto across the Bay of Biscay.

We left St. Malo sailing with he wind from the north. This meant we could set some sails but the ship was rolling and pitching in what is called a confused sea, waves seemed to be coming from every direction. The combined pitching and rolling was an uncomfortable movement and many people were seasick - more than they had been before and that included me. We passed the famous lighthouse at La Chumen where the picture of the giant wave crashing around it and the man is standing by the door looking.

The second day I awoke with the ship level and pitching lightly and there was no sound from the engine (except for the sound of the generator which is always on). When I got on deck nearly all the sails were set and we were moving at a respectable 8 knots. What a sight. All the square sails except for the royal and the gallant on the mizzen mast were up and the yards were square to the ship. The wind was directly behind us. The Bay of Biscay can be horrendous this time of year but what we experienced was close to ideal.

After two days of this weather the wind died down and the sea became like a gently undulating mirror. We started to see dolphins, many of them. Someone said she saw fifty. I was fortunate enough to see five "playing" in the pressure waves at the bow. They are so agile and fast. We also saw pilot whales and I was lucky to spot a finback whale.
On the morning when we arrived off shore from Porto where the pilot was to board there was no pilot. It took about three hours before he did arrive and we sailed in a giant figure 8 waiting. Fishing is clearly a big enterprise here for there were fishnet buoys everywhere. The person on watch on the forcastle was frequently ringing the large bell, one strike for starboard, two for port and three for straight ahead and the first officer on the stern deck answered with the same sequence with the smaller bell, thus a deep sounding bell answered by the higher frequency bell. It is a very pleasant sounding communication system.

The pilot finally arrived and we sailed into a very industrial port with containers stacked high to the north and a million gulls making a racket over the fishing wharf where many boats were tied up.
Compared to the port in St. Malo, the water in this port was disgusting with all kinds of garbage in the water.

There was a Swedish ship in the harbour which is also a ship where highschool students attend classes and learn to sail.