Our Transatlantic Crossing on MSY Wind Surf

“It’s alright Don’t need to know what’s around the bend It’s okay now You don’t need to know how every story ends. It’s alright It’s alright It’s ok Don’t need to hold on to what is gonna pass...” Ryan Harris, It’s Alright Heading Home   After two weeks aboard Wind Surf, a morning arrival into Lisbon, and two quieter days in Faro beside the tidal waters of the Ria Formosa, our quick unplanned spring journey had finally reached the point we had been trying not to think about. We were heading home, indeed we had to head home to take care of things. For a little while, Portugal had softened the transition between relaxing at sea and the realities at home. Revisiting Sé Cathedral in Lisbon had returned us to the beginning of earlier journeys on the Rota Vincentina , the Camino Portuguese , as well as the Coastal and Espiritual routes - though not without the shock of realizing how much both the city and we had changed. Faro, by contrast, gave us a gentler landing. Birding the Ria Fo...

"The world is full of magic things, patiently waiting for our senses to grow sharper.” W. B. Yeats It took us all of one day off Wind Surf and away from the Atlantic before we found ourselves looking for a way back onto the water. Faro was familiar and beautiful, but after two weeks among only a few hundred passengers and crew, the crowds, streets, and suddenness of it all still felt loud. We did not want spectacle. We wanted quiet, water, open sky, birds, and the movement of the tides. We wanted a place where the crowds faded, and the waters were calm. Returning to the Ria Formosa Yesterday, we had crossed part of the Ria Formosa on foot along the Ludo Trail, following beaches, boardwalks, and tidal edges. Even then, it had been clear that this was not a fixed landscape so much as it was a living, shifting ecosystem, one shaped by barrier islands, shifting channels, salt marshes, and sheltered waters. Its location on Portugal’s southern coast, and its importance for migratin...