We are at anchor off the beach just outside the marina. This a lovely anchorage, a long sandy beach, a pretty town with good bars and restaurants and a large supermarket by the beach so accessible for landing and loading the dinghy. What more could you want?——yes, the WIFI from the marina is just strong enough to reach the boat !

The sun shone today but more rain is forecast later this week and with the low sweeping into the western approaches of the English Channel and north Biscay it looks as though it will impact our weather here.

The locals displayed their radio controlled model boats on Sunday evening all of which took to the water

the local fishermen worked the vivieros bringing in the mussels

and this refrigerated ship which had come up from Mindelo in the Cape Verde islands was unloading fish——tonnes and tonnes of tuna and other fish being hoovered out of the sea.

in the early hours of the morning another one arrived and started discharging its cargo——this is just one small port so the impact on fish stocks must be horrendous when one considers the number of fishing ports worldwide.

Meanwhile Mark went into the water, or rather under the water, to check the rudder and prop to make sure there had been no damage caused by whatever brought the boat to a grinding halt when we were on the north coast. Not done earlier as the sea temperature was 16 degrees up there and 18.5 here. In addition the snorkelling kit has gone missing and cannot be found on the boat but the skipper is insistent that it was there when we left—there must be a hidden locker somewhere. It is extraordinary how things can go missing in such a small space.

 

There does not appear to be any damage but Tom can have a closer look in a couple of weeks time!!

The beach was empty this morning but was very busy by late afternoon. We are not sure that our body clocks will ever get used to the Spanish clock——get up at 0900 or later, lunch from 1400 to 1600, finish work at 2000, eat at 2200 and bed at midnight or later. No wonder their economy is a mess as they work at completely different times to everyone else! We also need a drink at six o’clock and certainly cannot wait until eight !!