Portosin and Muros, or plan left go right.

Spectra
Paul & Norma Russell
Tue 23 Sep 2014 21:22

42:46.575N 9:03.364W   905 Miles from Ramsgate by Log

 

Portosin and Muros, or plan left go right.

 

The aforementioned, Grizzly looking Frenchman, turned out to be great company. He was just finishing his summer cruise and was leaving his yacht in Portosin for the next 7 months and returning to France. He had crossed the Atlantic several times and the Pacific twice so he had a tale or two to tell. On top of all of that his English was first rate so we had a good natter on board Spectra and later over a beer on the Club Nautico balcony. As the sun went down it really gave us a spectacular show as it highlighted all of the features of the Ria de Muros. (see pics)

 

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                        Early evening from the Club Nautico Restaurant balcony

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                        View from the car park and from the small mole

 

            Now onto Portosin as a town; essentially it was closed, quaint, clean with lots of restaurants, but oh so very closed. The very friendly girl running the yacht club was very apologetic on the town’s behalf but she did have to admit that apart from the fish dock it closes down for the winter. As for the fish dock that had a wailing siren, not unlike a nuclear attack warning, that was set off every time a fishing boat came in for unloading. Startling the first time, curiously fascinating the second but it got very old, very quickly by the tenth time and it went on right through the night! Portosin had to go, so out came the charts and pilot books. With Norma chipping in we came up with a cunning plan. It was perfect, up at 7, underway by 8 for a 45 mile trip down to Bayona in order to mix it up with the super yachts for a few days. The wind was fair and in the right direction for a change, so we went to bed listening to the nuclear attack warning from across the harbour confident in our cunning plan.

The next morning my alarm went off at 7, I gave it a long hard stare and decided Portosin was ok for another hour. 8 O’clock and I was up, we could still do this! Norma gave the alarm clock and me a very hard stare and we both unanimously decided Portosin was good for another hour. 9 0’clock and another cup of coffee would not make any difference as we were late anyway. 10 O’clock and a very relaxed breakfast was being followed up by another cup of coffee. 11:30 and bang on the new schedule we slipped our lines and turned Spectra’s nose to the sea.

It was around about the third cup of coffee that the delightful port of Muros seemed like an excellent choice. It had the entire Ria named after it and so it would be positively rude not to visit. It was directly under that glorious sunset from the previous evening and so the streets were probably paved with gold. But it’s most appealing attribute was that it was only 5 miles away across the Ria and if I stood on tiptoes on the cabin roof I could see it over Portosin’s harbour wall.

We motored out of the harbour pointed our nose at Muros and switched the engine off. With just the foresail up we managed 7.3 Knots through the water, yes it was blowing a bit. Dropping the foresail 30 minutes later we motored into Muros. Another cunning plan successfully delivered if I say so myself. You just have to keep an eye on the big picture and be flexibleJ

            Muros is great by the way, as we came in Norma radioed ahead giving Spectra’s vital statistics. Pedro the Port Capitainaire, came down to the pontoons and waved us into a spare berth next to a British flagged yacht. The couple on the yacht jumped up and rushed to assist as there was a wicked 20 knot wind whipping across the harbour. We were also chased in by a large trawler and so I had to be a bit nippy as I turned in. All went well until Pedro noticed that half of Spectra was still hanging out from the end of the pontoon.” How long are you?” he asked in very good English. “14.5 meters”, I answered with my best poker face. “Does that include the bowsprit? he asked”, “of course not” I said “the bowsprit is for the enjoyment of all”, “Ok” he said with a smile and directed me onto a 20 meter berth. This new berth involved a long reverse across the wind and a tight right hand turn at the end which serves me right for being cheeky. Anyway, by the time I had got Spectra going backwards about 10 people had gathered to watch the impending chaos. Ya boo shucks to them, I nailed it, perfect first time if I say so myself. As they walked away one was heard to mutter, “well he did have a bow thruster”, as all good artists I suffer for my art,

            Later in Pedro’s office he admitted that Spectra was a beautiful boat and reduced our fees to 14 meters, just like another Pedro that I know would have done.

We will be staying here for the rest of today and tomorrow at least so more on the Town later, First impressions though are very good. There is a large boating community here all heading South at the moment either for the Med, the Canaries or the Caribbean just like our good selves. That’s it for now, for all of you old enough to remember, it’s just like Saturday morning pictures, and you will just have to wait for the next exciting episode.