SEA BEAR

We are alongside in Victoria dock, Caernarfon. I have moved out of the house and moved aboard the boat and about to set off on an adventure. The last few days have been spent fitting the solar panel to the new rear gantry and connecting it all up using a mppt controller and it seems to be working well.

Sea Bear in Victoria Dock ready to set out for big adventure

Provisions have been purchased and stowed, water tanks topped up and we are ready for the off. It has however been horribly windy, F5-7 occ 8, not the sort on conditions to set out to cross Caernarfon bar. The forecast promises better for tomorrow so we might be setting out at last.

Departed the Scillies Friday morning under a gentle NW breeze, too gentle really. Had the cruising shute up for the first time ever, but handed it just before dark. A 24 hr run of just 64 miles which took us into French waters disappointingly slow progress really. Sometimes one needs the patience of a saint to be a sailor. More dolphins and yes out here the water really is blue. On the 2nd day I had changed the yankee for the big genoa but by afternoon of the 3rd day I had a struggle to hand it and rehoist the yankee. Got a bit of a scare when heard tale end of shipping forecast with bad reception Sole gale F8 perhaps storm force 10. Slightly relieved when heard later forecast that this was for NW Sole but bad enough was NW Biscay SW 5-7 and gale 8. I was glad that I was 50 miles or so to the Atlantic side of the continual shelf with plenty of sea room.

It was unpleasant enough as it was but I did see a whale which surfaced alongside. I was first aware but a mist or spray past the sprayhood as it blew and there it was about 15 feet off amazing.

Monday late afternoon I was lured into thinking the worst was past, the forecast had predict it to ease and for some hours the wind had been a manageable 20 to 25 or so knots and the sea state had eased and I had shook out the third reef in the main. It saved the worst for a dark night and winds of 30 – 35 knots, a particularly low point was having to put in the third reef back in.

However by Tuesday things were improving though I was still losing westing. All this time I had intended Coruna as arrival point but Weds SW winds look like putting paid to that. In the end I made it to Ria Ribadeo and motored into the marina with the last light in the sky. A helpful marina hand waved me to a pontoon and helped with with my lines. Formalities soon completed a much need shower was taken. Sitting in the cockpit  a beautiful 15 year old single malt, given as a departure gift from a true friend was broached as a celebration of a single hand Biscay crossing.

The Rias Atlas are sunken estuaries and have been compared to Scottish sea lochs.  Maybe so, they are a bit more developed, no midges and warmer. Still sailing in shorts and t shirt in September. I hadn’t planned to visit them but I am very glad that I did. They are very beautiful and the coast is somewhat rugged. I spent several nights at anchor in Ria de Viveiro and Ria Cedeira. Meet an interesting  French Journalist, Jean Mitchell who used to work for Le Figero. He swam across from his anchored Wharram cat and invited me across for drinks. Sounds rather grand don’t it – invited aboard a yacht for drinks. Like me he is headed south.

Leaving Coruna under a grey sky a notable landmark was the Tower of Hercules. This was built by the Romans and is the oldest functioning lighthouse in the world. A sail of some 35 miles some engine assisted as the winds were so light lead me past more rugged coastline and past the rocky islas Sisarga  and then having passed Punta del Roncudo I turned into the Ria de Corme Y Laxe. Here I anchored of the beach at Laxe for the night.  I woke in the night to thick fog but it had cleared by morning and it looked like a lovely day  was in store.  Sailing past more rugged coastline was the order of the day and with plenty of unmated offshore rocks about due diligence must be paid to careful navigation. Rounding the spectactual headland of Cabo Villane I entered Ria de Camarinas. The fishing village of Camarinas is in another of the delightful rias atlas. It is more or less unspoilt and less developed than previously visited ones. That eve I ate barbecued sardines  at a bar. But you wouldn’t get these sardines into a tin, they were about 8 inches long. They cook them on the roadside outside the bars and serve them on a plate with just some fresh bread, no knives or forks just eat with your fingers. They were  delicious.

A couple of days bad weather kept us in Camarinas, but then it was time to  round Cabo Finesterre. There was no wind so it meant a deal of motoring but at least conditions were calm, with just a little swell, for rounding this notable cape. Further on down this “Costa del Morte” I decided to take the inshore passage inside the unmarked rocks of Bajos los Meixidos and los Bruyos.  They do poke above the water though and the swell breaking over them gives a clear indication of their whereabouts. Passing Punta Queixal and its offlying rocks we entered the Ria Muros and proceeded to Muros where we anchored off the town outside the harbour.

Leaving Muros it was  a bright and sunny morning. However I’d not gone far when I ran into one of the areas renowned mists. The sun could still be glimpsed overhead but the visibility was not good. Several times I thought of turning back but soon I was outside the ria and so I carried on. Thank goodness for GPS and AIS. Experience had shown over the past days that almost all Spanish fishing boats were fitted with and used AIS so that was some reassurance but the trouble with fog at sea sometimes is you just cannot tell how far you can see, is it 50 or 200 meters? Needless to say a nervous watch was kept. Later the visibility did improve and then it eventually cleared altogether, another hot sunny day of the Spanish coast.

As if I hadn’t enough excitement for one day I decided to take the Canal de Norte to enter Ria Arousa, it all looked straightforward enough with care and indeed it was all going well apart from no port hand red mark visible  as on the chart and pilot. The white and green tower starboard mark  on  Pedras del Sargo was clear enough though and I watched several fishing boats go through. Then the rock awash to the channel side of the tower was spotted. Dead slow, give the tower a wider berth, but how far since no other marks, watch that forward echo sounder closely, were are past . That was a nasty surprise.

Further up the ria, which really should be named Ria de Mejillon, from all the vivaros used for cultivating mussels, we anchored off Playa Arena de la Secada at the northern end of the Isla de Arousa. A very pleasant spot indeed. I should explain vivaros are big floating rafts from which they hang ropes on which the mussels grow.

It seemed the thing to do whilst in the area to pay a visit to Santiagio de Compostello.  Accordingly next morning I put into the marina in Villagarcia de Arousa just a few miles further up the ria. The marker on the end of the breakwater is a huge mussel stood on end.

I then took the train to Santiagio de Compostello to play at being a proper tourist. I was impressed by the train, fast and cheap and with more leg room than on British trains.    Santiagio de Compostello is of course famous for its cathedral and the old town with its narrow streets between stone buildings and is a site of pilgrimage. So as you would expect very touristy and full of tourists. I’m pleased I went but glad it was just an afternoon. My last  bit of time there was spent drinking beer next to an impromptu session with a Venzualian and a Spaniard who were playing guitar and singing traditional songs – lovely. After the train back I ate outside a tapas bar along with crowds of chattering Spanish. By the end of the day my head was just full of noise.

I quite liked Villagarcia, an unpretentious working town. There were parks, a good beach from which I had my first swim in the sea for many year and the marina was cheap I could have stayed on for much longer but it was time to move on to the next ria. The day started with a gentle sail, beam reaching down the ria but turning southwest past the Illa de Arousa it was a beat. Past the Isla de Rua which just seems like a heap of gigantic granite boulders we had a mad half hour where I went from yankee, staysail and full main  down to 2 reefs in main and just a furled yankee in 3 stages with 25 knots of wind oh yes and heavy rain too. It kicked up quite a sea too. Soon the wind was back to normal and I was back to a full set of sails but the sloppy sea and now light winds made sailing difficult. I rounded the Peninusla de O Grove and headed fro the gap between the Illa de Ons and the mainland. Eventually it was just one tack too many and if I wanted to make the anchorage at Bueu before dark I accepted that I would have to motor so I finished the passage by motoring past Picamillo tower and into the Ria Pontevedra. Crossing the ria and passing through lines of vivaros I arrived at Bueu where I anchored off the beach in time to watch the sunset.