Vilanova, Ria de Arosa

Moorglade's Voyage
Ted Wilson
Sun 1 Aug 2010 12:07
Our position is 42:27.47N 08:55.12W
 
Saturday 31 July 2010
 
Yesterday we left Sta Uxia de Riveira after a very unpleasant night, with much wind, snatching and creaking and night time sorties to insert rubber snubbers in the warps. Chris & John had been shopping while Kay & Ted wrestled unsuccessfully with the WiFi  so we were all glad to cast off and beat in relatively light winds across the ria, among the viveiros over to Vilanova for a late lunch. This was much nicer and a very helpful man first put us in a berth near the gate but when his mate got back from lunch we were moved back to the end near the entrance.
 
A restful afternoon under half of the old sunshade was followed by a shore expedition in search of anything of interest and dinner. The other half of the harbour was crammed full of mussel gathering boats and dories used for cockle collection. The search for a restaurant was enlivened by Chris & Kay asking for directions in a shoe shop while the men wandered about and found a supermercado. We're still not sure if the restaurant we ended up at was the one we were directed to, but after several different members of staff were provided in an attempt to provide comprehendible English we enjoyed an excellent meal of mussels, cockles, squid, anchovies and hake. Just as well we all like fish! The only down side to the evening was when we got back to the boat and Ted's towel was no longer pegged to the rail. A search of the water revealed no trace, even of pegs floating, so suspicions were high that someone needed something to dry themselves on. There had been no other English boats in either of these marinas, which makes a nice change.
 
The wind blew in the night, but after a shopping and card posting expedition we set off southwards running just under headsail. The strongish winds and afternoon low water had resulted in abandonment of a quiet lunchtime anchorage so it was sandwiches as we went, and a boisterous close fetch after rounding pta Miranda to San Vincente del Mar (Porto Pedras Negras) where we were met by an efficient harbour master in a rubber dinghy who directed us to a temporary mooring just outside the marina. However the kettle had not even boiled for afternoon tea before we were off to a berth in the marina proper, between a couple of quite big gin palaces - quite a tight fit but executed with great skill and aplomb and some assistance from the harbour master, who unlike at Vilanova, did something useful with the warps.
 
A trip to the office with enquiries about a further night, elicited the information that there would be no room tomorrow but we may anchor off the beach if conditions allow. Off now to walk up the coast path a short way to a highly recommended bar.
 
 
Special boats for harvesting the mussels from the viveiros
 
 
View from the waiting buoy at San Vincente del Mar