Final days in Figueira

Contrary to our best hopes, Figueira proved a very tough place to sample. The weather did not get better... in fact it got worse! The day after Neftalí left new volunteers arrived,at 1100 sharp. All three of them came from Vertigem, Pedro Neves, Alexia Pereira and Bárbara Sepodas. Pedro will stay until the end of the fieldseason, while Bárbara and Alexia would stay for a couple of weeks, but unfortunately for them, the weather was stopping us from going out to sea. Later, Marcela Velasco came from the Netherlands to join us for a few days. She works at ITC on her masters thesis and heard about the project from Neftalí. There were still a few days until we were able to go out to sea. The day was not promising, but we hoped to have a breach in the morning. We went out, saw some dolphins, but weren't able to sample. The animals just wouldn't approach the boat. The waves soon got bigger and just became impossible to work in, so we headed back. The rest of the day would be again free for everyone to do what they wanted. However, at the end of the afternoon, bad luck struck the project again. After the bumpy ride back home, Bárbara was not feeling good with a seasickness that wouldn't go away. She decided to leave, and Alexia decided she could not leave her friend behind, so left as well. The crew was down to Marcela and Pedro. We were able to get out a few days but weather was just rubbish.

Pedro Neves

Marcela Velasco

Marcela soon left, and even though she saw some dolphins, she didn't see any sampling! Marcela was then replaced by Céline Madeira, who is working for her masters in the University of Algarve in flatfish genetics. Céline proved a worthy crew and finnally she helped us in getting a few more very important samples. We decided that we could not wait for good weather to work and we just had to go out as long as it was safe. we eventually were able to get some samples everyday (even if just one or two), and take some very important pictures. During these days, we saw several thing that comfirmed out fears that pressure from fishermen in these water was very strong. More than once we saw fishing cables drifting in the sea (we collected the ones we could, others were just too heavy), and we saw the dramatic effects these could have on wildlife. One Gannet could not fly because it was entangled in one of them. There was nothing we could do, and it would soon die from starvation!

Céline Madeira

Unfortunately, Céline had to leave early due to family issues. It was up to me and Pedro to get the samples needed, and those days were very tough. On on of these days we were again surprised by fog, and ended up searching for dolphins in the middle of the fog! We did get them however, at a rate of 2-3 a day. The last day might be remembered as one of the toughest! High waves, dark clouds hovering low in the sky, and even though we saw one of the biggest groups in the season we could only get two samples. What we saw was amazing though... hundreds of dolphins hunting a massive school of fish, with even more hundreds of birds flying above and diving one after the others, like Japanese Kamikaze fighters. Some of the smaller Petrels were so full of fish that they were unable to lift off of the water when we crossed them with the boat. In the end, however, we got more samples than from Porto, which was quite remarkable given all the difficulties we faced. We were getting on the limit of time we could stay in Figueira. We still had Peniche to sample and time was running out. Given how hard sampling was until now, the prognostic was not good. We would need the time to complete sampling in Peniche!

Two day before we were planning to sail South, Telma sent a message asking if we needed help. In the next day she joined us for the crossing. The forecast was high waves (2-4 m high) and strong North wind. Nortada was finally playing in our favour. And it did indeed! In the day we set out to go South, I wake up at 0400 and suddenly realized I had forget to pay for the marina. I go to the marina reception to see the time they opened, but in the best Portuguese style, there was nothing there. I walk to the police station that registers all the boats to ask "It opens at 0900!". Crap!!! I wanted to leave early and now I can only leave at around 0930 maximum. Well, if it gets too late we'll just stop in Nazaré. We were hoisting sails at 1000 which was much later than we were planning! However, Nortada was making us go really fast, and we never went below 6 knots. Waves were tall and wide, gently pushing towards our destination, while dolphins followed us for most of the time. Soon we had Farilhões in sight and then Berlenga, both part of the Berlengas archipelago. At 1800 we were crossing cape Carvoeiro doing 8 knots!


At 1900 we arrived in Peniche Marina after topping 9 knots in the bay before the port. The Marina was so crowded though, that we had to moor to another boat. In the end we were unable to plug the boat to a power source, which was most unfortunate. Stable isotope samples have to be frozen all the time, and I can only guarantee that if I plug into the marina everyday to feed the freezers. Next day I would have to sort that out!