Bayona 18th Oct

Well here we are in Bayona, another step further south; the trip down was disappointing in that again we were unable to move under sail power and only had the main up as when there was any wind it was on the nose and the main at least lessens the rolling on the cross waves, we did have some help from the currents flowing down the coast and the main wave direction from the north.

Just before turning the corner at the top of Spain the fog rolled in and stayed with us all the way to Bayona ( and is still about now) giving visibility of ten meters to a half a mile at best, so again we relied on GPS, AIS and radar (so maybe it was just as well the engine was running!)Interestingly it did show up one weakness of AIS, in the deeper swells the signals were lost and if another wasn’t picked up the contacts went off screen. Just around Finisterre I watched (using AIS) a French sailboat play chicken with a tanker and then aim for me! He overtook me on the landward side and immediately turned across my bow and proceeded on the same course, his speed of ten knots meant he pulled away fairly rapidly, we were doing between three and five, so no harm was done apart from to my nerves.

Dolphin playing

Dolphins under pulpit

Torre De Hercules leaving La Caruna

Just off Vigo a large pod of dolphins passed across my course and then came back to play for a while, also had a chaffinch which came from and went to I not where. On entering Bayona, in the gathering dark as well as fog, I radioed ahed having got a reply, which surprised me, I asked if he could speak English? To which the reply was simply ‘no’ ; after confirming the ships name there was silence and I went outside to helm us into port, no leading lights were visible and on entering the harbour trying to work out the marina lights was difficult all I had was an aerial photo in the guide book, but things became clearer as we approached, as they do, to be met by the marinero in a dinghy to guide me in and help secure, he told me the office would not open until 10am so I cooked some supper and cracked a bottle of local red (from La Caruna) and settled down.

Bayona is a beautiful town with winding narrow streets, might have a look round the castle tomorrow, also there is a replica of the ‘Pinta’ Columbus’s boat, this is where he made port after ‘discovering’ the New World.