We’ve earned a day off, despite the land time spent in La Coruna.  Late to rise, brunch is served by chef Josef and we set off one by one to explore what turns out to be a pretty little seaside town – Bayona.  At the mouth of the Rias Vigo, it is surrounded by deep bays and small wooded islands, designated nature reserves.  With an impressive suspension bridge just visible up river, it is surprisingly like San Francisco, so we dub in Spain Francisco and take in the beauty of the landscape.

We all agree to the idea of motoring up river to a small, shallow marina at San Adrian, a mile or so beyond the suspension bridge, which at 38m high allows us easily to slip beneath, without retracting the mast!  Negotiating large numbers of floating mussel farms becomes the biggest challenge of the day as we approach the tiny marina and moor alongside an empty pontoon, realising that the place was deserted.  Not only deserted, but locked.  The gate out of the marina was firmly shut and a sign read:  “Opening in June”!  Not to be defeated, I studied the gate, inserted a thin batten tool into a void and voila!, we were free but also on CCTV, as having broken out!  Oh well, we’ll be long gone before June.

A local bar provided Manchester United vs. FC something or other and a beer, while Josef made friends with a local, who offered to take us in his people carrier to a hostelry, where, from its hilltop vantage point, we sat on the terrace and ordered the entire menu of tapas delights.  Night fell, the lights of the distant harbours and villages came on and all was well with the world.  How to get back to the boat – simple, we paid the bill and the restaurant owner pointed us at his car.  He dropped us at the marina.  Josef produced a key for the gate, given to him by his new friend and we sat and mused on a great day.  It felt like the first day of the holidays. 

Ummm… I’ve caught the sun.

Follow our progress here:

http://blog.mailasail.com/oboe, where you can see our daily progress on Google Earth.  Email us at: oboe {CHANGE TO AT} mailasail {DOT} com any time you like.  Phone us on +881 631 669 194 and we’ll pick up via Iridium satellite.

Fair winds to you all.

Nigel

Paul

Paul

Tereza

Josef