Cruising area for 2013
Interactive map of entire 2013 cruise.
April 16th - May 20th (Spain)
May 21st – June 5th (Spain, then Portugal)
June 6th – June 16th (Spain)
June 17th – July 3rd (Spain)
July 4th – July 28th (Spain)
July 29th - August 21st (Spain)
August 22nd - September 17th (Spain)
September 18th - October 14th
It was now time to head further south back towards Ria de Vigo and we motored down the Ria with the sun shining in a cloudless sky. The wind pick up and we had a lovely gentle sail down to Isla Ons, which is one of the national park islands just off the entrance to Ria de Pontevedra. We had arranged to meet up with Geoff and Tricia on Amethyst, who had recently returned from England by car and had very kindly brought us out another three years’ supply of antifoul and various other bits and pieces. They had arrived just before us and after lunch came over in their dinghy with all our goodies. It was great to catch up with them again as we hadn’t seen them since July.
The following day we had another great sail up into in the Ria de Pontevedra to Sanxenxo, which is a fairly large beach resort, while Amethyst carried on up to Combarro, at the head of the Ria. We anchored in the bay near Fallen Angel who had just sailed down from Combarro and spend another evening in their company. From the water Sanxenxo looks like a mass of high rise hotels, but once ashore, we were quite pleasantly surprised at how picturesque some of it looked.
The following day we motored up to the marina at Combarro and moored next to Amethyst. We spent three nights here and during that time took the bus into Pontevedra. This was another town which we really enjoyed visiting last year and it didn’t disappoint this time around either. Unfortunately, we made the mistake of listening to the girl in the tourist information office, who suggested that we take a walk around a park which was supposed to have some interesting sculptures. After a very nice lunch we walked along to this park and discovered that not only did it not have any shade, (the temperature was 30°) it also didn’t have many sculptures of any merit. We hot-footed it (quite literally!) back into the old town, where we cooled down with a nice long drink.
From Combarro we headed back down the Ria to Baiona and anchored in the bay along with fourteen other boats. This was the busiest we’d ever seen it, but as the wind was forecast to increase considerably the next day, maybe that was why they were all there. By this time we had decided to return to Marina Davila Sport, in Bouzas, where we are wintering Mistroma, and the following morning left Baiona reasonably early. We had an excellent sail up the Ria on a beam reach, with the wind gusting 26 knots, although it very kindly died away to nothing as we arrived at the marina. Once we were safely tied up to the pontoon and even before we had lunch, we started to get the sails down, as the forecast for the next week was for heavy rain and wind. Everything was taken down and packed away well before the rain started and the full tent went back up again. The rain was torrential and overnight the wind was gusting close to 50 knots, so we were quite happy we’d made the decision to return slightly earlier than planned. The wind died the next day, but the rain continued off and on for the next five days, during which time we got started on the never ending list of winter jobs.
We allowed ourselves a day off and joined Geoff & Tricia for a really enjoyable trip down to Tui. We wandered around the cathedral and up to a vantage point where there were fantastic views across the Rio Miño to Portugal. You could see for miles in all directions.
After a delicious lunch of tapas, we headed down to Monte Santa Tecla, where unfortunately, as we drove up into the hills, we went into the clouds, so only got glimpses of the fantastic views from the top.
The next day it was back to the grindstone getting ready to be lifted out of the water. Some nearby boats had paid crew to clean and maintain them but it's DIY on Mistroma. The largest one was Legend with a paid crew of 14 (worth looking at interior pictures here). We still found time to have drinks with a Swedish couple, Peter and Lisbet. Their Hallberg Rassy 49, Ananda, seemed to be fitted with every imaginable extra (water maker, generator, air-conditioning, washing machine, electric furling on all sails, hydraulic adjustment on several parts of the rigging etc.). We decided that they must have a basement on Ananda for storage after Peter mentioned that they had 2 road bikes in addition to 2 folding bikes.
The work continued after we were lifted out of the water. It’s amazing how long it takes to finish off all the jobs to Mike’s satisfaction! However, we’re nearly there and will be returning home on 16th October after a wonderful summer and no doubt as soon as we land in Edinburgh, will be looking forward to returning next April.
