42:13.25N 08:53.99W
As if by magic, the B&G wind instruments and the spinnaker pole were
sorted and back aboard by Wednesday evening. That the B&G stuff had been
re-fitted took us a bit by surprise on Thursday morning. As we cast indolent eyes over the marina
we spotted a mast with a burgee at the masthead and what was very definitely a
wind instrument strut holding a wind vane and anemometer. But, hang on – nobody else here hoists
their burgee to the masthead. So,
Monsieur Poirot, what do ze little grey cells deduce from zat? Huh? Yesssss! They’d snuck aboard and done it. Oh, right. So, I guess that means we’ve got to go
to sea then. But first into
Vigo because
just as we’ve sorted out all the boat bits Jon’s mobile ‘phone decides to pack
up. The screen is just a big blobby
thing. Into the dinghy, nip round a dock or so, buy a new ‘phone, run out of
petrol three quarters of the way back, row the rest of the way, job
done.
Inevitably, it took a bit of time for all the invoices from the various
sub-contractors to be collated but by lunchtime today we were ready to go (à
deux). Joy of joys – a single
invoice covering all the work and the 2 week stay. It’s entirely consistent with the
immaculate service we’ve had here throughout our stay and it has to be said that
we are slightly sad to be leaving.
A more cheerful, proactive and cooperative bunch you couldn’t hope to
meet.
The next real stop is about 40 NM from Vigo and just the other side of the border with
Portugal – Viana do Costelo. Apparently in the 16th
century the locals there did a roaring trade swopping port wine for Cornish
fishing nets – sadly we’re fresh out of fishing nets. Given what we know about the formalities
of arriving in Portugal we’d rather get there in
office hours. So, we’re not going
there today. Instead, we’ve come 7
or 8 NM to a beautiful anchorage on the eastern side of Islas Cies at the mouth
of the Ria de Vigo. We sort of
gather that you are supposed to have a permit to do this and that the first time
you apply for one it will take a week – what with all the "documentos" and all
that. But, we reckoned that nobody
would expect a Brit to understand that sort of stuff. So, here we are with two other yachts
(one British and one Swedish) for company – see photos. If the next blog entry comes from
a Spanish jail you’ll know why.
