26/6/06 Isicia II in Spain- La Coruna to Porto

by Vicki and Andi Dunkel on 26 Jun 2006 Santander to La Coruna

We spent a few days in Santander, waiting for our crew to join us for the next leg to La Coruna. Our crew had varying experience from no experience to day skipper.

While we waited the weather was perfect for sailing, with blue skies, fresh winds during the day and calm at night, ideal for anchoring. Unfortunately low pressure systems moved into Spain and the weather was then dominated by these: making the conditions cloudy, with poor visibility and little wind.

This leg of the voyage is one of our longest ones along the rugged Atlantic coastline. The coast itself offers great contrasts, from smooth beaches to the dangerous cliffs of Costa de la Muerte, the 'coast of death'. We had between 1 and 3 meters of swell from the Atlantic ocean. If you added strong winds, you understand why you are recommended to stay 5 miles from the coast in bad weather.

The first day gave us some wind in the morning. As it was from a westerly direction (where we were heading) we did one big tack out into the Bay of Biscay – well worth it as we were greeted by bottlenosed dolphins!

Many of the crew had never seen dolphins in the wild before so it was a great treat. We had a great crowd on board and everyone got on well and chipped in with the crewing.

On this part of the coast there are not many places to anchor where you are protected from the northerly swell so the first few days we had to reach harbours. Our first stop was the small but busy fishing harbour of Llanes and then we headed for Gijon. Within an hour of sailing, we spotted a strange fin flopping on the surface.

We turned around the yacht to investigate – it was a small Mola Mola fish, or sun fish, on the surface. Sun fish are very odd looking: they are round and thin like a plate with a fin on the top and bottom, large eyes and big lips. They grow up to 1 metre although the one we saw was about half the size. They are also rare and in our many years on the water, we have only seen one before. I think we were much more impressed than our crew! They started to doubt our accuracy on their scarcity when we spotted another 3 small sun fish in the next two days!

Gijon is a nice stop but the finger pontoons are ridiculously small and it is a balancing act to step onto them. Ribadeo marina was our next stop and we were directed into a berth far too small for our size. We persuaded them to let us tie up on the hammerhead instead. Even in Ribadeo Ria, the swell worked its way in.

We had a late start leaving Ribadeo while we waited for a weather forecast as our Navtex was not receiving the transmission from La Coruna yet (although we were still receiving a signal from Scotland!) At last we had good wind for sailing and sun as we sailed past the most northern tip of Spain. The good weather did not last and the fog moved in during the early evening. The fog cleared just in time for our approach to Cedeira which is a perfect natural harbour giving us a peaceful night anchoring.

The next day we sailed to Ares and it was the first day that we could sail all day. It was very relaxing and a blessing to keep the engine off. We approached Ares accompanied by bottlenosed dolphins. Ares is another beautiful and protected spot for anchoring.

We finally reached our goal of La Coruna. La Coruna had a lovely vibe to it with a good mix of modern and old – and fantastic tapas!

We spent a couple of days relaxing in there while we waited for the wind: eating tapas, tasting the local wines and catching up on the World Cup. On Tuesday a NW force 4 wind started which was great for sailing south. We passed Hercules, the oldest functioning lighthouse in the world, as we left La Coruna.

This area in the north west of Spain has many lovely rias to explore. We sailed to Camarinas where we anchored for the night. It was very peaceful apart from the buzz from the local fish factory! We then sailed down to Ria de Arousa escorted by bottlenose dolphins.

The weather was perfect the next day with moderate winds and blue sky – ideal to explore the Archipelago Atlantic Islands National Park. The islands that make up the national park lie just off the coast and careful navigation is needed to sail between them, as there are quite a few shallow areas and submerged rocks. We wanted to take our time cruising past the islands so put out the number 3 sail to keep our speed down. The rias are beautiful with rolling green hills, craggy rocks and beautiful sandy beaches, reminding us of Scottish sea lochs back home (but much warmer!). This area is one of our favourites on the trip so far.

We anchored in Bayona bay and took the tender to shore to explore the old town. Bayona is famous for being the first place that Christopher Columbus landed after discovering the Americas. The Spanish have built a lot of boxy multistory flats in every town we’ve visited so far – even the smallest fishing harbour. The waterfront in Bayona is encircled in these however the old town, with its narrow streets and small cafes, is lovely.

Our last stop was Porto where we arrived in time for the Festival de Sao Joao. There are flags out on the streets, bonfires, fireworks and the smell of freshly barbequed sardines everywhere!. Our next week takes us to Lisbon.

If you’d like to find out more about their holidays visit their website at www.sailaway.eu.com; email contact@sailaway.eu.com; or call / text them on (+44) 07904 267 561.