(Map 8) June 29 to July 10, 2004 The North Coast of Spain is called the "Emerald Coast" because of the greenery. And it is green, because it rains a lot. However, this first part of the trip found us in settled weather with lots of sunshine. With Bob and Jan now aboard for the first time, we decided to take a short trip to Castro Urdales. We arrived during a town festival of bands, floats, carnival rides and dare devil contests. One contest that kept us enthralled, as well as most of the town was a contest where young boys would try to walk/run out on a long greased pole stuck out over the inner harbor trying to capture a flag. Each boy would throw a little dirt on the pole to try and make it a little less greasy and then run as far as he could, then jump, if he still could, and try to grab the flag before falling in. Great fun and lots of wet boys.
The next day saw us off to Santander, one of the larger ports along the N. Coast. We were fighting a choppy swell of 2 to 3 meters and it wasn't a very pleasant ride. Jan R. wanted to get a suntan on the trip and the waves didn't allow for much of that. Their week now coming to an end, Bob and Jan decided to catch a bus back to Biarritz, and flights back to the States. So now it is back to just the two of us for the remainder of the trip.
Wind is kicking up and there is a 3 meter chop on the outside, we decide to spend an extra day in Santander. On July 3, we sail to Llanes. It is a very small harbor that might hold 10 boats. We find an empty spot along the stone wall between a couple of fishing boats. There is a large swell running with a big tide. At one point our bow takes a hit against the wall and breaks off the starboard running light. The town was pleasant, and we had pizza at a small restaurant. July 4th found us sailing to Gijon, the largest town along the N. Coast outside of Bilbao.
In this part of Spain, there is a tradition of drinking a hard cider. But first the waiter must pour it into your glass without looking. And he must pour it with the bottle held as high as possible in one hand, and your glass held as low as possible in the other. Most of the contents winds up on the ground, and after tasting the stuff, he should have poured the rest on the ground as well. Awful stuff.
On July 6, we left for Cudillero. This town is build along a small steep river which winds its way down to the shore. It seems to be popular with Spanish tourists as there were lots of souvenir shops. The weather was un-settled and we spent two more days waiting for the swell to drop. Waiting with us was a British couple who were very patriotic. He had worked for Triumph motorcycles before he got laid off. The London Pops orchestra, for the last night of the season, will play all of the British patriotic songs. This couple had the CD of that performance and would play it over and over while singing along at the top of their voices. God save the Queen.
July 9, found us sailing for Carino — right at the top northern peak of Spain. We arrived after dusk and we are starting to feel the pressure of getting to Gibraltar as we are behind our schedule. Here we didn't even check into the town and left early the next morning for La Coruna. As we turn the corner of Spain and head south, the weather is also turning — IT'S FINALLY GETTING WARM AFTER TWO SUMMERS OF BEING COLD!
7/10 - La Coruna – When we first walked out of the marina, we saw a city map by the old fort so we walked over to see where we were in relation to the town. Then an old streetcar came by so we hopped on and took the scenic view of town. We had a tough time finding internet access. One hotel couldn’t find the cards to sell us, another (Hotel de Finistere) wouldn’t sell us a card because we weren’t guests. Finally, we found some very productive trash cans near Maria Pita, our WIFI connection while in La Coruna. We ended up using the same internet site for 2days. We really walked the town, but didn’t find the nautical chandleries we were hoping for. We’ve come to accept that finding parts in France or Spain is challenging, if not impossible.
(Map 9) July 12 to July 19, 2004: Again we were getting worried about being so far behind schedule so on 7/12 we did an all day sail to Cape Finisterre. We arrived as the sun was setting and the town was beautiful oranges and yellows. Because of the wind’s angle we decided not to moor in the marina but went about 2 miles closer to the beach at the east end of the bay to anchor. There was one other boat there so it was a pretty special night. Next morning we decided to go into Finisterre for groceries. The town was having “market day” where all the vans would come and set out there clothing and wares on tables. We bought a colander for spaghetti. There was a section right at the end of the dock where the fishermen artisans were making nets and crab pots. Pretty interesting.
7/13 - We were getting a late start so decided to go into the first river and stay the night at Portosin. When we got into port, we found that MATAPAN – Geoff and Ann Marie were in the marina so we had a great time catching up on what they have been doing since last meeting them in Dieppe and Fecamp, France. She had recently hurt her back and was working with a PT clinic in Portosin so they are slowing down their travels until she can walk again.
We had the boat next to another American boat, ALCID – Frank and Gail. They had just come across the Atlantic from Ft Lauderdale and are thinking of wintering in Seville. We had a great evening talking with them. They have been cruising for many years so it was interesting to learn a few trick from them. They told us about what to get to keep the SSB radio from lighting up our control panel. We also borrowed their books on marinas in southern Spain. We called the Gibraltar marina and they said they were full for the upcoming season for “out of water storage.” So, now we need to develop Plan B for storing the boat for this coming winter.
All the other cruisers in Portosin said we must take a side trip from Portosin to see the third holiest town in the world after the Vatican and Israel. Many people walk miles and miles to visit it. We decided to take the 2 hr bus ride from Portosin to visit the great cathedral at Santiago de Campostela. We toured the cathedral and were able to be there during a mass. At the end of the ceremony, they swung an incense canister the entire width of the nave. Five men pulled on the rope swinging it back and forth so the incense spreads throughout the cathedral and it almost hits the ceiling. What a church and what a sight. There is an incredible amount of gold in the church. Many people apparently had walked from wherever to Santiago. The “walkers” all wore clam “shells” so they could easily be identified.
7/15 – We sailed from Portosin to Bayonna. We Had the chute on “the pole” for awhile.. During the trip we had a short visit from the dolphins. Bayonna is a quite nice town. We stayed at the Club Nautico, just behind the seawall. We anchored on a ball for (I think) about 12 Euros per night. As we were coming into port, we were met by a young man on a high speed inflatable wanting to know if we wanted to stay at the port we were heading into or to his new port. I didn't realize there were two options, but in fact there is a second - quite new - marina just to the South. It looks like the Club Nautico is in the Northwest (just behind the seawall, then some sort of city marina just South, then this new marina just south of that. It looked quite nice as we walked around it, but I didn't get prices on staying there. We had drinks at the Parador which is right above the marina. It has a great view of the sea! Steve decided to change the oil and oil filters on the boat so we had quite an experience practicing our Spanish, trying to explain to the mechanic how we had changed a motor that worked very well into one that had a bit of a problem starting. Fortunately Bayonne has a Volvo Penta mechanic and he proved to be worth his weight in gold – all for 37 euros!
7/17 – We left Bayonna for Leixoes, a port outside of the town Porto. The next morning took the bus into Porto and walked the town. It is what I thought the best Italian towns should look like – narrow streets and great colored buildings on the waterfront. We went across the river to the side where all the caves of the Port wines have their shops. We toured one winery and tasted the different kinds of port. We bought a bottle then walked back and had a great lunch looking back over at the town of Porto. It was really a picturesque view. Each of the Port wine companies has a special boat moored at the waterfront. The bridge was designed by the guy that made the Eiffel tower.
7/18 – We left Leixoes for Cascais, Portugal – a port just outside of Lisbon that is suppose to have excellent parts and repair shops. We sailed our first all-nighter with just the two of us from Leixoes to Cascais and it worked out really well. We did 2 hours on and 2 off shifts. Actually, we motored the whole way because there wasn’t any wind, but it worked well. We did have a lot of fog during the night but were able to figure out all the boats on radar. Again, lots of the fishing fleet. Just before getting into Cascais, we were buzzed twice by a small plane. We thought maybe customs wanted to get a really close look at our plane.
John Neal and Amanda Swan had recommended that we store our boat in Cascais many years ago when we were talking to them at the boat show in Seattle. Now it was amazing to actually be in the town that they had recommended. This marina is very big and very expensive. Each pier had a special gate pass card so you couldn’t go visit someone else on another pier.
The first night we had dinner with Richard and Karen from SF – on an HR 43 called Blue Heron. Their boat was on the dock next to ours.
When we were in the marina store, we met another American sailor and started talking with him. They had just come across the Atlantic. When he said they were from Florida, I asked where. We had just met Dick Bishop, Mom’s friend from Sun City! His wife Eileen we met shortly and toured their boat, Truimph. What a small world.