I say, waiter
'Sarf & West mate, Sarf & West'
Pete Bernfeld
Tue 29 Jul 2008 15:06
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42:07.137N008:50.288W
Waiter, there's a dolphin trying to pinch me
soup.
Well, after what was it, 11 days? in Combarro, the
anchor was just about 'mud welded' to the sea bed. With a favourable wind
forecast [and you know what's coming next don't you?] I motored out of the
anchorage, round the small island into.....absolutely zero wind! Eventually I
managed to do a bit of sailing, but the wind never got above 9kts and at best it
was out of the west, not the north west as advertised. The trip took six hours
'anchor to anchor'.
Coming into Bayona, as usual a RIB from the 'new
marina' came roaring out touting for business (manyana, maybe) when I noticed
that the young lady assistant in the RIB was busy taking photos on her mobile
phone...well, I pulled my stomach in as far as it would go, then realised they
were pointing to a dolphin that had taken up residence in between the hulls. I
was a bit worried because the silly bugger was getting quite close to the props
and judging from some of the scars he (probably a he) hadn't always judged
his clearance too well in the past! This went on for about five minutes or so,
swimming all round the boat but always coming back to a prop area. He
inspected the anchor for me, gave it a 'snort' of approval then swam off. I seem
to attract a lot of dolphins, so maybe there's something 'funny' in the
antifouling, I must go for a swim and see if I get anything from it (apart from
blue paint marks!)
I had a call from Dick, who has made it as far as
Laxe. he had engine problems, he thought due to dirty fuel he picked up in
Camaret, but all seems to be well now. Fortunately [or unfortunately] I forgot
to buy a belt-spanner for changing oil filters before I left Guernsey.
Dick has one for me [I shudder to think what the carriage costs will be] but I
had an attempt at loosening one of the engine oil filters the other day when I
was checking oil levels & cleaning the water strainers and it's not going to
happen without that spanner! [Yes, Steve, I do know where the engines
are!].
I'll stay in Bayona for a couple of days, then
weather allowing head south to Portugal this weekend. I'm thinking of going
into a place called Povoa de Vazim, which is a longish days sail away. Still on
track for Lisbon by the 20th.
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