The expeditionist arrived in Lisbon late in the evening on September 23. The crew of five people entered the marina called “Alcantara”. In the capital of Portugal, the circumnavigators held two meetings, once again fulfilling the mission of people’s diplomacy, and also visited the westernmost point of Eurasia – Cape Roca. One of the participants, Alexey Balakin, decided to finish the trip ahead of schedule. The ship headed for the coast of Morocco on September 26.
The participants of the expedition dedicated September 24 to people’s diplomacy. After meeting with the representative of Rossotrudnichestvo Vladimir Yaroshevsky, with whom Evgeny Kovalevsky is already familiar, the team went to the westernmost point of Eurasia – Cape Roka. Travelers were able to see this iconic place from the water a day earlier, and now they have seen the panorama from the land.

After visiting the attraction, the crew went to a meeting with the Yuri Gagarin Association, on behalf of which they were met by Vice-President Antonio and board members Margarita and Domingos. “Yuri Gagarin” is an organization of Portuguese-Russian friendship. The association and the Tomsk Branch of the Russian Geographical Society signed a cooperation agreement and discussed plans for close cooperation.
The circumnavigators were expected at the First Slavic School in Lisbon, on the same day. The participants of the expedition held a lecture for children and teachers of the school. The students were particularly interested in stories about encounters with dolphins and whales in the open ocean, – notes Yevgeny Kovalevsky.
Meeting with schoolchildren of Lisbon Reception in the association “Yuri Gagarin”
All crew members later went to the migration center on September 24 to undergo an abiding procedure before crossing the EU border, as the next stop of the trimaran is scheduled in Morocco. In Lisbon, one of the five crew members, Alexey Balakin, decided to return to Kovrov to begin preparing for the next stage of his circumnavigation of the world “Journey on Planet Earth”. Balakin promised that he would join the crew again at one of the stages in the Pacific Ocean.
The trimaran “Russian Ocean Way” sailed from the port of Lisbon in the direction of Rabat, Morocco at 8 am on September 26.
“We are proceeding under sail. The mainsail is on the first reef. The Staysail”, said the head of the expedition, Yevgeny Kovalevsky, to the Coastal Center.
Alexander Kirikov
The team of the round-the-world expedition thanks representatives of the Russian Embassy in Portugal Ekaterina Spitsyna and Vladimir Yaroshevsky for their multifaceted assistance, as well as the president of the “Mir” Association and the director of the First Slavic School Yulia Gundarina for organizing a meeting with schoolchildren.
Elizaveta Shaimbaeva