Lisbon Maritime Museum

Entrance to Maritime Museum

The Lisbon Maritime Museum is located in one very large wing of  Jeronimo's Monastery. 
Of course, the Portuguese are and were masters of sailing.  Vasco de Gama completely changed the world when he found that famed route to India after decades of failure.  Long sought, the new spice trade was a huge economic boom for Portugal.  Allowing for one thing the construction of Jeronimos Monastery!

Figurehead on Vasco de Gama's ship

 Being present day sailors we are completely in awe of what it took for those sailors to achieve what they did.  We, of course, have charts, radar, sonar, radio communication, water makers, refrigeration...  the list goes on and on.  They had none of that, only nerves of steel!

Henry the Navigator

When you enter the Maritime Museum the first thing you see is a huge statue of Henry the Navigator.  Another very important person in Portuguese maritime history, Henry is known as the backbone and initiator of the "Age of Discovery". 

The museum did not disappoint.  We were pleasantly surprised by the vastness of the museum - it just went on and on.  Just when we thought we had seen the entire museum we stumbled on this room filled with ancient boats.  What a surprise! 

We could have easily spent the entire day at the Maritime Museum but as we were limited on time we moved on.  I believe we were all in agreement with our friend this is the nicest Maritime Museum we have ever seen.

Lisbon

Jeronimos Monastery

It was clear to us that there was an air leak in the fuel line so after our night at anchor outside of Lagos, Portugal we started thinking about how to get into the marina.  Michael and Bill decided to bypass the main fuel line long enough to get into the marina.  They set to work and once completed we decided it would be best to drive around the anchorage a little bit before heading up the canal to Marina de Lagos.  Everything seemed fine so we headed on up the canal.  We made it but... the engine did still die a few times.  Very stressful!!  Once in the slip we let the engine run for awhile and of course then, it did not die one time!  We got all settled in and made arrangements with the mechanic but then sadly, it was time for Bill to return to the US.  He was flying out of Lisbon so we booked an apartment in the Belem district for a day of touring prior to his flight.  We didn't have much time but we were determined to see as much as possible in the time we had.  Fortunately, the apartment was right down the street from Jeronimos Monastery so that was our first stop.  Jeronimos, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, was built to commemorate Vasco de Gama's return from India.  Ironically, where the monastery was built was once the site of the church where Vasco and his fellow sailors prayed before setting off on their epic journey.  Vasco de Gama came full circle as his tomb now rests in the Monastery's church. 

It took 100 years to complete this monastery which is completely understandable with all the hand carved figures and ornate decoration.  There is a good deal of maritime decoration in addition to all the religious symbolism.  A nice little nod to the sailors which was fitting as it was built in honor of Vasco de Gama's sailing adventures.

 During the Liberal Revolution in Portugal all the convents and monasteries were shut down and the clergy were expelled.  Folks from Jeronimos decided to sell pastries that they had made at the monastery in an attempt to survive. There was a sugar refinery near the monastery and they began baking in the buildings attached to the refinery.  The little custard tarts became known as Pasteis de Belem.  Eventually, the bakery (and recipe) were sold to one family.  

That family still makes the pastry with the same ancient recipe in the same old traditional ways.  After touring, the monastery we walked down the street to try out those little pastries.  The line was down the block!!  A very popular spot it seems. Of course, once we tried the Pasteis de Belem we knew why that line was so long.  

Santa Maria Church - In the Monastery

The monastery just takes your breath away - you just marvel at the skill and dedication required to complete this masterpiece that is Jeronimos.  So grateful that we were all able to visit before Bill had to leave.  One wing of the monastery has been turned in to a maritime museum.  Our friend says it is the nicest maritime museum he has ever seen - a must see when in Lisbon.  So... next stop is definitely the maritime museum.  More on that in the next post.

Our final offshore passage

Big Seas

It was early Sunday and we headed to the fuel dock to fill up.  We had finished the final provisioning and gone over all the safety measures with the crew.  It was a nice and sunny but windless day.  Everything started out fine but there continued to be no wind throughout the day so we were a motor boat.  As we were approaching the tip of Sao Miquel and evening the engine died.  We received an error message that it had gone into "safe mode".  Still within cell phone range I sent a quick text to Emanual.  He said it was a fuel issue so Michael and Bill changed the Raycor filter.  The engine started right back up and we had no more issues so we decided to carry on.  Sadly, we had to motor for a couple more days before picking up the Portuguese trade winds.  All that time the motor ran fine.  On day three we picked up the trades.  The Portuguese trade winds blow consistently from the north but in that area there is also a south setting current.  So... between the north wind and the current we were being pushed south even though we were trying to go east.  By now we had the engine off and the sails up.  The wind was blowing consistently over 20 knots but due to the north wind and the south current we had to sail a course of around 40 degrees in order to actually sail 90 degrees.  That meant we were beating into the wind the whole time and going pretty slow.  The seas were rough and we had quite a few waves breaking in the cockpit.  It wasn't unsafe - just a bit uncomfortable.  And our slow progress was frustrating!  

Bill all harnessed in

 As we got closer to the mainland we did start receiving visits from dolphins which was very nice!

When we got very close to the mainland we approached the shipping lanes.  The wind had died off again and we started the motor.  And it died.  Same message - "safe mode".  Now we found air in fuel line that we bled off and the engine started back up without a problem.  Everything was fine for a bit- then it died again.  We bled off more air... Now the last thing you want is to be crossing a shipping lane with very large cargo ships and oil tankers all around and your engine quits!  Not good at all!  We did manage to get across the lanes but now the engine was dying every fifteen minutes or so.  We needed to make it in and get a mechanic to check things out.  

Mainland Portugal

 To add insult to injury as we were coming up the coast of Portugal there were fishing nets and bouys everywhere.  Great - now we get to bleed the fuel line every few minutes to keep the motor running and dodge fishing nets!  Just when you think it can't get any worse you remember that we have actually reached the mainland.  It could be worse, we could be way offshore still with no wind and no engine.  So... now we just focused on getting to Lagos.  We decided that we would call for a tow yet again to get in to the marina and get a mechanic in the morning.  But when we called the marina several other sailors heard us on the radio and reached out to let us know that we would run aground if we did not wait until high tide.  Thank you fellow sailors because the marina definitely did not give us that information.  Fortunately, there was a designated anchorage right outside of the entrance canal in front of the beach.  So we did the sensible thing and dropped anchor.  Time to pop open the champagne - we did it, we crossed from one side of the Atlantic to the other.  What an amazing sense of accomplishment.  

 

The day we have been waiting for...

There it is... according to Emanual "A thing of beauty".  Its a guy thing!  And there is my guy inspecting that engine with reverence.  For my part so long as it works when we need it to and gives little to no trouble - I am good.  We resolved all of the installation and matching old with new issues. All that was involved were a few interior adaptations so the engine would slide into place and some machining of parts.  Now the installation can proceed.  But first we have to get the engine into the boat!

Emanual has a fancy truck with a lift to pick the engine up, then its just a matter of maneuvering it through the hatch.  Easy, right?  Well, actually Emanual and crew did make it look easy regardless of the tension involved.  I have a video but it is unfortunately too long to post here.  Getting the engine in the boat proved to be a bit easier than the actual installation.  That was a hard day - jiggling the engine this way and that for the alignment.  Lo and behold the engine started right up and we set a departure day... which would be the next day.  Now, one view would be to do a sea trial before heading out on a 6 day passage.  But... we likely would not discover issues on a 30 min to 1 hour sea trial.  So... we will depart for Lagos, Portugal (the mainland) and that will be our sea trial.  By the time we get to the end of the island we will have been out for 4 to 5 hours - that will give us enough time to discover issues and return if need be.  Or that is our reasoning anyway and the decision we have made.  So... that's it, time to leave Sao Miquel and finally finish our transatlantic crossing.