Lyn's Log, 10th September 2005
Spain, La Coruna to Vigo

Vigo, Spain.
N42º12', W8º41'
2,526 miles.

After leaving La Coruna on 28th August we sailed round to Corme. On the way there were a lot of bangs and smoke somewhere on the shore. As we got nearer there were 30 or more fishing boats of various sizes oddly dressed up in branches of greenery, anchored off a small village where they had been letting off fireworks. They all then moved to the next village bay and were soon fireworks were coming from there too. As we arrived in Corme, just before dark, they were letting fireworks off there too. We diden't discover what it was all about, presumably a fishing festival or blessing of some sort. Apart from in Gijon, we have not seen daylight fireworks before - it seems rather a waste as all you can see is a brief flash and the smoke. Corme had a loud fair which went on till 4 a.m., and a town clock which chimed the quarter hours, 3 minutes early – starting at 8 a.m. So a bit short on sleep, we left Monday morning and had our best sailing day in Spain, to Finisterre. We were making 6 knots goosewinging all the way till just off Finisterre when the wind dropped. We then had to find our way into the harbour in thick fog!

We stayed in Finisterre a day as it was still quite foggy. It was a pleasant enough little town with a small supermarket right next to the harbour wall. We had dinner in a restaurant overlooking the beach and had the most delicious razor shellfish as a starters.

The next day we motored out of the fog and then sailed to Portosin on the south bank of the Ria de Muros. There is a modern marina there with helpful staff who speak some English. A big bonus for us too was free wi-fi. Here we found there was a Toshiba centre in Vigo where they would have someone who spoke English in the mornings. We also got a copy of the laptop invoice faxed out to us. Apart from the problems with the laptop, we punched a hole in the dinghy when lifting it back onboard over the stanchions in Finisterre. The marina girl didn’t know where we could get ‘resina de poliester’ but we found a marvellous hardware shop in the village which had some. But what we haven’t been able to get since leaving La Coruna is fresh milk. The dinghy was patched up with fibreglass tape and resin and just needs some paint.

After 2 nights in the marina we crossed the ria to Muros, anchoring in the bay. It is about 15 years since I was last in Muros. There are still some of the old crumbling buildings with narrow alleyways and lots of steps in between, but along the seafront and all around are numerous new buildings and roads. The dinghy proved to be watertight even though the sea was visible through the patch! Saturday morning we left with the drummers drumming and the bugles blowing from the marching parade on the fishing quay. We motored out to sea and the breeze filled in enabling us to have a lovely sail, even though for several hours we were in and out of very thick fog patches. We anchored off the nudist beach on the Isle of Ons just as everyone was departing. We are now out of fresh milk and using sterilised from France.

The Ilse of Ons is at the mouth of the Ria de Ponteverde. Being a weekend, the ferries brought lots of visitors over from the mainland, many of whom came to the nudist beach, which pleased Andrew. We rowed ashore and walked for nearly 2 hours up to the lighthouse, down to the habitation where the ferries landed, and back to the beach. By this time the wind had got up and I was quite glad it was a nudist beach as I didn’t have to get my shorts wet pushing the dinghy out through the shore-break! We had a great sail then as far as the Isle de Cies when it rained mistily and the wind dropped. As we wanted to get to Vigo before it go dark, we motored up the Ria in the company of quite a few other boats, a little like Southampton water on a Sunday evening, and came into the Royal Yacht Club of Vigo alongside another yacht we have seen on our travels. There are now 3 or 4 marinas in Vigo but this was the only one for which we had a chart.

Monday morning you wouldn’t have recognised us, dressed up smart and getting a taxi to the Toshiba repair shop near the central park on top of the hill. After leaving the laptop and being told to phone on Thursday, we explored the park with its remains of the old castle walls and spectacular views and decided we had definitely come into the best marina for access to Vigo. It rained on the way back so we stopped off for some lunch – a kind of seafood paella only with fine spaghetti instead of rice. After a siesta we found a supermarket but still no fresh milk.

Tuesday we left, finding the marina less expensive than expected, though the facilities were not brilliant. We tacked slowly down the ria in the sunshine and then it rained again as we made our way into the Ria de Pontevedre and anchored off Combarro at the northern end, still raining. The morning brought the sunshine and we were able to explore this remarkable old village which is being restored in its old style. The houses and church are built on the rocks rising from the beach. There are narrow alleyways and steps between the buildings, but in many places the natural rocks are still part of the pathways. There are an extraordinary number of the traditional maize stores on stone pillars, mainly around the edge of the town next to the beach. While there it was a spring low tide and we saw lots of people suddenly descend across the long beach to the water’s edge as if perhaps a mass baptism was in progress, but actually they were all digging for cockles! After making our way round the bay to see what was happening, and then returning to the harbour, it was time for lunch and try out the cockles in a tapas bar. Very nice they were too, as well as the fried small green pimientos!

Thursday we were told that a new keyboard was arriving and we could collect the laptop Friday morning. We hadn’t actually sailed into one of the rias – the Ria de Arosa, but this was going to be a bit far if we were to return to Vigo by evening, so we motored (no wind) to the island of Salvora, at its entrance. The ria was in thick fog last time we passed and this time it was quite misty until the breeze picked up in the afternoon. The island is now private and we were not allowed to explore, but it was a pretty place to anchor off for lunch. We then managed to sail in a good sunny breeze the 20 miles back to Vigo before dark.

On 10th September the laptop was duly collected in working order and then our thoughts were to the supplies we might need before leaving what may be the last town of any size for some time. We changed the oil in the engine and renewed the filter, replaced the monofil round the Cetrek chain link with a piece of fine stainless wire, got some laundry done, bought a new oil filter and oil, and topped up our food and drink supplies, even finding some fresh milk! The local guy on the next yacht said there was a huge regatta on in Bayona which finished on Sunday, so there would not have been room for us had we gone there as we originally intended before the problem with the laptop. The weather had not been good either and it might have been exposed on a mooring.