In the shadow of Rubik’s Cube
On our mooring here in La Coruña is in the shadow
of a Giant Rubik’s Cube. Things get a bit bouncy when trawlers go in and out of
the fish dock – we can see the wake coming like a mini-Tsunami and have time to
brace ourselves. At least with this much motion on our mooring we won’t have
lost our sea legs when we go to sea again.
Sights of La Coruña
– the giant Rubik’s Cube and CAPE’s washing
drying in the wind.
The water is really clean and we swim off the boat
most days. There are loads of different types of fish around us – we have bought
a fish identification chart Especies de
Galicia and part of the children’s homework this week is to look up all of
the names in our Español–Inglés.
The crew of CAPE
swimming off the pontoon – led by ‘Captain Lilo’ in his new birthday
wetsuit.
School on the boat.
The octopus garden and other
oddities
We have been exploring the city – the best way to
get around is by good, old-fashioned trams, which run every 20 minutes from
outside the marina and right around the edge of the city. The Aquarium (Casa de los Peces –literally ‘house of
fish’) was brilliant (in spite of all of the information being in Spanish); we
saw hundreds of species of fish and other marine plants and animals, pearls and
marine-inspired art and culture. There was an amazing circular tank based on the
viewing room of the NAUTILUS from 20,000
Leagues under the Sea, complete with sound effects, lightly vibrating floor
and plush leather settees – plus a couple of sharks circling the tank. My
favourite bit was the octopus garden – a huge outdoor pool where you could see
the octopi swimming and they climbed up in the corners and suckered up to anyone
who got too close.
We are adjusting slowly to the pace of life
onboard and in Spain – these days we don't set out
to a museum or the supermarket until about 6 pm. One definitely needs a siesta
(or fiesta as the children call it) to make the most of the day. I guess that
although we have been away from Aberystwyth for about 9 weeks now, the Biscay
crossing was the real start of our adventure and that has only just happened. I
have also worked for 5 out of the 9 weeks, which means that I have to go back to
the 'old' me and be efficient and driven by a deadline which puts my adjustment
out relative to the rest of the crew. Every now and then it all gets the better
of me and I flake out.
The boys occasionally give in to my nagging and
cook supper… I won’t mention the ‘cucumber’ that David bought that turned out to
be a courgette – we ate it raw in salad anyway. [David: It did look like a
cucumber – all right!! And everyone thought it was as well.]
“Hey Dave, do you think this needs any more
butter?”
“Lawrence, we are running out of frying pans
here – will you look and see if Sarah has hidden another one in the
locker…”
After the light supper (!), I caught up on my
beauty sleep.
They thought it was funny to paint my nose blue
while I snoozed, but I will get my own back…
Boat maintenance in exotic
locations
It is said that extended cruising is just boat
maintenance in exotic locations, and we continue to work through the
never-ending list of things to do on the boat. The problem with the engine
turned out to be a faulty hose – not the head gasket as we feared – and this is
now sorted. We have cleaned up the hull on the pontoon side, taken off the old
CAPE name, scrubbed the fenders, and greased
Hairy Mary’s bits and pieces. I coaxed my poor little sewing machine to be brave
and do its biggest zig zag ever to mend a rip in the UV strip on the genoa (a
strip of protective blue cloth along the edge of the sail that protects it from
sun damage when it is rolled up).
We fed the genoa (roughly 50 m2) in
through the hatch and under the foot of the sewing machine.
Captain Lilo greasing Hairy Mary’s
bits.
Lawrence went up the
mast to tape tennis balls on the ends of the spreaders (the horizontal struts
that hold the rigging wire away from the mast) to stop the genoa catching and
chafing again. We now have a green tennis ball on the starboard side and a pink
one on the port side…we are so smart!!!
Lawrence hanging
around again…
The children have found a variety of other boat
kids to play with – Zoë from Gauwe
Gaus (The Netherlands), and Jasper, Helene and Friedrike from Skorpion (Germany). The
Lego is always popular (all kids speak Lego!), as well as Bratz and Chess, and
we have also witnessed a session of pontoon Twister…
The marina administrator is lead singer for a
heavy rock band The Red Planet and
last night the marina car park was turned into the venue for a mini rock
concert. Unfortunately the marina is only a stone’s throw from the city hospital
so the police turned up after an hour to break up the party – but not before
Bethany had
learned to head bang Spanish style… (I stayed on board for a power nap that
turned into a full night’s sleep instead of going ashore to party with the rest
of the crew. It was a relief to wake fully refreshed and not to have had my face
painted!!)
Tomorrow we are off out of the Bay of Biscay and
round Cabo Finisterre – our first of the Great Capes (Jackie, Stu – we’ll open
that bottle of Cape wine when we anchor up) to explore the coasts and Rias
further south.
