Border Spain & Portugal

Sometimes, we have to motor instead of sail. As you might imagine, sitting there as we motor along at 5 knots can be very boring. But it gets a lot more interesting if you are swinging on a halyard.

 Here is Jack, about to go higher up so that he could take the next picture of the three of us.

The Ria Guadiana is the river that defines the border between Spain and Portugal in the south. Especially near the mouth of the river, there is abundant bird life. Jack and I (in a surprising turn of events since the two of us are known for snuggling and reading in the morning, not for getting up early!) got up to watch the sunrise on a very foggy morning. We were treated to a variety of birds including great blue herons and storks. Having never seen storks in the wild, that was particularly fun.

Farther up the river, there were about 50 boats anchored in a small stretch of the river between two towns. I am told that most of them will spend most of the fall and winter anchored there and that if we were not careful- we would experience the "Guadiana Glue Effect" also! While there were fewer storks and herons in this populated area, there were many ducks, including these two little buggers that kept trying to climb our ladder for handouts.