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.