At Ria de Vivero 43:.125N 07:35.707W

Candida
Tue 2 Jun 2009 07:21
Bit of a delay updating due to some technical problems but hopefully we are now working again.
 
Tony and Graham arrived in good order at Vigo, and we left on Thursday 28th May in the afternoon sunshine and spent the night at anchor just West of Porto Novo in the Ria Pontevedra - this whole area is really quite stunning, and deserves more exploration - sadly we didn't have the time!
Leaving early for Camarinas, we had to motor in light northerlies virtually the whole way.
Camarinas is a delight - while the shoreside ablutions leave much to be desired the little marina and the local shops and Club Nautico were super friendly and excellent value.
On 30th we left for Ria de Ares just East of La Coruna - after an hour we ran into thick fog - which persisted until we reached Ria de Ares at 16.30 when we ran out of the fog and saw our first land at 500 metres!
We spoke en route on the radio to Sir Vagabond another Sigma 41 who had just left La Coruna  bound to Camarinas, eventually to the med. This was a boat that had been a possible alternative to Candida when boat hunting in 2002!
 
We met up with Chalky and Di White on Sheer Fantasy that evening, and then on Sunday left for the next port of call.
After an hour we hit more fog off El Ferrol, and as we rounded the corner we met the full force of the NE winds and waves - and decided to head into Ria de Cedeira, another lovely Ria where we shared the anchorage with a British family on a year out and a Swedish couple who had just sailed in from the Azores and after 6 years away were heading home!
 
While it was very hot and sunny the wind blew strongly and resolutely from the NE until early morning.
We left on Monday morning June 1st - early hoping to avoid the wind - which we failed to do with some 25 to 30 knots on the nose rounding Cape Ortega and Pta de Bares.
Into Ria de Vivero where we arrived at lunchtime having had to negotiate more fog - thank goodness for Radar and GPS!
We have decided that with the forecast being NE for the rest of the week that we will try to get East as far as Santander, then head up to La Rochelle, hoping to arrive there sometime over the weekend.