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Log #36b Rias of Northern Spain Bayona, Spain September 12, 2005 Hi Folks, Here is my next log which gets us across the rias of Northern Spain. We are here in Bayona (Baiona in Galician) and the weather is warm and sunny for the first time in a week! At the bottom of the log is an enjoyable recipe using small local peppers or pimentos. Try it some time. We will be off to Portugal in a day or so. All the best, Aubrey Log #36b Rias of Northern Spain We did not have a pilot book or detailed charts for this stretch of the north coast of Spain from the French border to A Coruna. Our navigation was dependent upon the Reeds Nautical Almanac for Atlantic Europe, and our C-map on our laptop computer hooked up to our GPS. After leaving Santander we motored 35 miles along to anchor in San Vicente de la Barquera (43° 23.268’N, 004° 23.357’W). There was no wind, but still we wallowed through under motor power with the long Atlantic two to three metre swells coming abeam of us all the way. San Vicente de la Barquera is a wide ria, but most of it dries at low tide, except for a couple of narrow unmarked channels. The word ria means a river mouth or estuary. The tricky aspect of anchoring in a small ria such as this is to drop the hook in a deeper channel that will not put us on the bottom at low tide, and that will not swing us onto the shallower banks. The channels are not marked, and are not visually identifiable from the surface, so we had to depend on our depth sounder to check out a suitable spot with enough depth at low tide. When we come in to anchor, we need to know the state of the tide (such as two hours after low tide), and the range of the tide (such as three metres from low to high water at spring tides) in order to calculate how much depth we will have at low and high tides and how much anchor chain to let out.  We
entered San Vicente de la Barquera at two hours before high water. The entire
ria was a lovely wide expanse of water. It was disconcerting, later in the day,
to see sand banks appearing in the middle of the ria, then creeping closer to
Veleda as the tide went out. Would we ground? I was apprehensive all night long,
uncertain whether we would have enough depth. A British boat that anchored
further up the channel grounded and in the morning was at a 20 degree list.
Fortunately we were OK, and left next morning, at sunrise. Because Spain is on
European time, but is west of the Prime Meridian, the clock is two hours earlier
than the sun, so dawn is late (0735) and sunset is not until 2115.We motored again through light NW breezes 34 miles to moor alongside the dilapidated wall in Ribadesella (43° 27.91’N, 005° 03.54’W). Again, nothing is easy; the town is located on a wide ria, the centre of which dries at low tide, and some stretches of the harbour wall also dry out. However we were waved over by a local to a stretch that had sufficient depth and was not cluttered by long lines left floating. When mooring alongside a wall in tidal waters, the technique is to use long lines extending forward and aft to provide enough slack for the three metre tidal range. However the boat will still rub against the slime-covered walls, making a mess of the fenders and fender boards. Ribadesella is quite a pleasant fishing village with a large central church, several town squares, lovely beaches and a spectacular view from the chapel on the point. We enjoyed a seafood feast at a local restaurant, were able to send and receive E-mail, and had a good supermarket to re-supply our foodstuffs. Another set of prehistoric caves was in the area, but again, all tickets were sold out for several days. A British yacht, Summerbird, a Warrior 40 with Jill and David Southwind onboard, came up the channel looking for a place, and we flagged them to raft off us, as space was limited. Unfortunately next day a French yacht was casting off upstream behind us, and was swept down against Summerbird. No damage was done, but Jill had her hand badly bruised trying to fend them off. The ebb tide current was not that strong, but it was poor preparation and seamanship on the French boat that caused the situation (a line was caught ashore). Another 30 mile motor into the wind brought us to the modern marina in the old docks of Gijon (43° 32.76’N, 005° 40.02’W) where we enjoyed the hot showers, the supermarket and an internet café. Gijon has a lovely public promenade along the old docks, now used for smaller fishing and pleasure boats, as the larger modern commercial docks have been relocated further along the shoreline. The marina price was moderate at 18.00 Euro a night, including water, electricity and showers. Onward we motored 27 miles to anchor in Cudillero (43° 34.12’N, 006° 09.04’W), a large fishing harbour. It was just an overnight stop; we didn’t bother to launch Sprite to go into the village, and left early next morning. It was the first time we had anchored inside the breakwaters of a harbour since the north coast of Turkey in the Black Sea. Next day at sunrise, Aug. 23, we motored another 43 miles into another ria at Ribadeo, again with very limited channels at low tide, to the extent we decided to go into the marina rather than risk anchoring, at Club Nautico de Ribadeo (43° 32,40’N, 007° 02.19’W), a convenient location for a walk into town. We were able to get diesel after a long walk with our dolly and two jerrycans, and sent some E-mail from an internet café, our first where we fed a Euro into a coin slot for a half hour access to the internet. However, we were not able to use our memory wand to save anything we received on E-mail. Oh well, what is new? The fuel prices are a bit cheaper here in Spain, at only .98 Euro per litre, as opposed to 1.25 Euros in France. When we left next morning, I made a major mistake which could have been very serious. Some friends helped let go our final bow lines, and as I backed out, the current, I thought, was fantastically strong as we were swung over towards the boat to our starboard. I stopped the engine and yelled at Judy to fend off. I couldn’t figure why we were so swept over. THEN, I realized that we had a starboard mid-ships line to the pontoon which we had not released, and it just swung us sideways to starboard. AAaarrghh! No damage, but I felt like such a fool for such an oversight. It is quite often the little oversights such as a line still attached on shore, or a line in the water fouled on our prop, an accidental jibe, or an accidental fall causing a serious injury, that can do serious damage to our cruising life. We have been fortunate so far. We trolled (for the second or third day unsuccessfully) the 33 miles to anchor in Puerto de Bares in Ria de Santa Marta de Ortigueira for a sheltered anchorage (43° 46.20’ N, 007° 40.37’ W). I unfortunately am not a fisherman, and have lost more lures than I have caught fish. Next day in rain and fog we passed Pointe de Estaca de Bares, the northernmost point of Spain, at 43° 47.85’ N, 007° 40.96’ W, pounding into uncomfortable seas. After only 12.5 miles we made our way through the dense fog with the use of our C-map to anchor in Carino (43° 44.00’ N, 007° 52.12’ W), not seeing any land until we were within 50 metres of the breakwater. Again, we did not bother going ashore, but were made aware of the love of fireworks the Spanish have in this area. At first we thought the bangs were explosions, or gunfire, then we saw puffs of light and smoke in the air followed by loud bangs. These pyrotechnics went on periodically throughout the day and into the wee hours of the morning. There was no crowd on the beach where we saw the rockets depart; just one or two people firing them off, on a deserted drizzly foggy day! We were to find that Galicians like to set off such bangs at any time of night or day, and seemingly for no particular occasion. We haven’t seen such a love affair with fireworks since Malta. Onward again next day, August 26, motoring still, rounding Cape Ortegal, and finally heading south! We tried motorsailing with the genoa, but the breezes lasted less than half an hour before turning directly against us. The pilot book for this area, this time of year, says NW winds are predominant. Of course we are getting south winds now that we are heading south! 18 miles later we dropped anchor in Cedeira (43° 39.35’ N, 008° 03.99’ W), where we went over to Yvonne of Ipswich to exchange some books with Mike and Penny, and also talked with Summerbird (who rafted alongside of us in Ribadesella a few days earlier), also anchored in this larger ria. We dinghied over to a launch ramp to secure Sprite while we went into town to do some shopping and send some E-mail. A launch ramp is a convenient place to leave a dinghy as we can get alongside at any state of tide, and secure it with a long painter (line) above the high water mark, so that when we come back the line will be accessible regardless of the state of tide. We may have to pull the dinghy back to the water’s edge if the tide has gone out too much, but launch ramps generally extend into the water even at low tide, enabling us to drag poor Sprite into floating waters. (PS – That is why I lust after a RIB dinghy with a fiberglass bottom) The next day we will go on to La Coruna, or A Coruna (in Galician), which I will write about in my next log. We are now heading south towards Rias Baixas, the southern or lower rias, which are far larger estuaries with multiple towns, cities, marinas, and anchorages. I have added below a recipe that Judy and I enjoyed, using local small green peppers, here called pimientos de Padron, which we have enjoyed in a variety of dishes. Regular green peppers can be substituted. Judy’s Spanish-Greek Chicken (serves 2) 2 skinless boneless chicken breast halves 1 tbsp (15 ml) olive oil 2 tsp (10 ml) dried oregano 6 large cloves of garlic, peeled and halved 1 lemon, one half cut into eight to twelve pieces, the other half squeezed for juice 2 cups (500 ml) green pepper in thumb-sized pieces (If you are in northern Spain, or can get them where you are, use whole pimientos de Padron, stems removed.) 1 chicken soup cube 3 tbsp (45 ml) water In a heavy pan with a lid, brown the chicken in the oil, sprinkle generously with oregano. Add the garlic, lemon pieces and juice, and green pepper, stir and cook two or three minutes. Add the chicken stock cube and the water, stir till the cube is dissolved. Cover and cook about 10 minutes (the chicken should be cooked through). Remove the lid and continue to cook another 3 to 5 minutes, till the sauce is somewhat reduced but not boiled away. Serve, with the sauce poured over the chicken and vegetables. (PS – The above was Judy’s recipe. I would have reduced the peppers to one cup, and sautéed a cup of chopped onions and a cup of mushrooms (canned or fresh), and in addition would have used only half a lemon squeezed for juice, then half of that chopped fine, and added to the chicken and chicken stock.) |
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