Cascais

8th to 9th December 2017

Peniche to Cascais was a surprisingly fast passage – 10-2 knots of wind from just behind the beam gave us a consistent 7 knots plus of boat speed from half an hour out of Peniche right until we turned the corner 7 or so miles West of Cascais. Not too shabby. With a light wind behind us, and a small Westerly swell, the entrance to Cascais was easy – once we were past the breakwater the sea was essentially flat, so apart from dodging some small sailing dinghies Charlotte had little to do in anchoring us.

The anchorage itself is very well sheltered, shallow (we anchored in 5m but could easily have gone closer to shore had we wished), and at this time of year quiet. While the “inner” part of the anchorage marked on the charts is completely taken up with fishing boats on their mooring buoys, we were the only yacht anchored in the rest of the bay when we arrived.

Beautiful bay, with a lovely little beach which was home to an amazing sand sculpture. Winter Wonderland was good fun, but a bit too organised and expensive for us and our kids. The park in which it took place, though, I cannot recommend enough – everything from the smell of the gardens to the size and varied-difficulty of the playground made it ideal for a family day out. In general, the town had a lovely feel to it for a “touristy” visit – impeccably clean, lots of people sat around outside, beach volley-foot-ball taking place. We intend to return as a day-trip from Lisbon, but could not stay longer at the time as the forecast for the following evening was 35 knot winds and 6m seas just offshore. While the anchorage is sheltered it isn’t THAT sheltered, and the marina in Cascais is far too expensive for us. So, we left the following morning to make the short trip into the Targus Estuary to look for an anchorage for a couple of nights before our month-long stay in a marina in Lisbon.

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