Storm in Bayona Spain
Shaya Moya
Don & Susan Smyth
Mon 1 Nov 2010 11:10
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With the unsettled weather and a cold front all the way
from the Biscay to Madeira, we are well and truly stuck here in Bayona until it
passes. Raining, cold and very windy. A second front is on its way
directly behind this one leaving no time for us to reach Sines. There is even a
hurricane threatening Jamaica in the Caribbean. The weather is very unsettled at
the moment. The Portuguese coast has very few deep water harbours, and with
the wind from the SW it is effectively a lee shore. Couple this with the huge
swells that build up from the Atlantic of 4-6m's makes it too dangerous to sail
now. Hopefully the weather will change by Sunday to allow us to continue.
This will be a short 250nm sail down the Spanish and Portuguese coasts to Sines
on the Portuguese Atlantic south coast to restock before
setting off on the 650nm sail to the Canaries.
Yesterday Reece and I took a 3 kilometer walk along
the medieval walls surrounding the Parador De Baiona. It was built on the
original site of the old fortifications with memories of Julius Caesar, the
Moorish conquest and the place that in 1493 the little caravel La Pinta
returned, bringing news of Columbus's discovery of the New World, with
commanding views over the entrance to the port and the village. Across the bay
amongst the pine forests stands the enormous statue of the Virgin de la
Roca.
We finished off the sight seeing with discovering
down a back street a delightful little restaurant that served a
variety of delicious Spanish hams and seafood tapas. This was to become our
local as the weather closed in with gale force winds constant at F7-8, at times
even F9, showing what awesome power the elements of nature have. Shaya Moya is
moored alongside a pontoon with 8 fenders between her and the walkway. There
were times when she was heeled over and crushing the fenders down to a quarter
or less of their diameter-thank goodness we are here in port and were not caught
out there at sea in this. Even the local fishing boats have stayed put. All the
weather predictions indicate that this should pass by Sunday/Monday., lets hope
so.
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