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Quinte do Lorde Marina, Madeira Oct. 20/05 Hi Folks, We have spent two weeks here with Judy’s dad who took a condominium 25 km down the island. We rented a car for the two weeks and had a great opportunity to see this whole magnificent volcanic island. More about it when I get to the relevant log of Portugal which I will be starting with my next series, as this log takes us to the southern port of Bayona, the last before Portugal. We enjoyed showing Henry, Judy’s dad the island, and have enjoyed the company of Doug Caldwell who sailed with us from Lisbon ( 490 miles to Porto Santo and another 32 miles to Madeira), and will stay until we reach the Canary Islands in a few days. All is well with us and Veleda, and we are looking forward to the 275 miles south to the Canaries (Lanzarote) for the month of November. The weather is still warm at 25degrees C, and will get warmer as we go south. All the best, Aubrey ****************************************************************************** Log #36e Ria de Pontevedra to Bayona As mentioned in my previous log, on our way from the lovely anchorage at Isla de Arosa, we stopped off for a pleasant lunch at an exposed anchorage on Isla Ons, one of the islands offlying the lower rias, part of a large national maritime park area. The anchorage at Playa de Melide (42 degrees 23.40’N, 008 degrees 55.37’W) would be too open for an overnight location, but the seas were settled enough that we could enjoy a light lunch and scan with our binoculars the shoreline, treeclad hills and sandy beach (with nude sunbathers) before continuing into Ria de Pontevedra. Most of the 30 mile trip was again under power into light SSW breezes. However, Murphy’s Law, as we motored into the ria the winds picked up. We saw several large sailing vessels, some sleek commercial schooners under full canvas with day trippers, and a few large racing yachts, their gold and silver mylar sails glinting in the sunlight. In this area, winds tend to increase in late afternoon, and by the time we were at the end of the ria off Combarro, the winds were howling through at 20 to 30 knots. There was not room inside the harbour to anchor as it was cluttered with buoys and fishing boats, and so we located just outside and downwind from the outer breakwater. It took us several tries before the anchor held, maneuvering around just outside the mooring buoys but exposed to 25 knot winds. We really appreciate having an electric anchor windlass, as having to haul up 60 feet of chain and weed several times until the anchor held would have been very exhausting work. As it was, when we had the couple from Hydra Blue (a 48 foot French built aluminum yacht with a drop keel, flying a British ensign and registered in Jersey) over for drinks, we started to drag again, and had to try another four times before the anchor properly grabbed. The wind kept up most of the night and into the next morning. We were caught over town next day doing some grocery shopping and had to walk back to the port in a torrential downpour. We sheltered beneath a restaurant awning until it eased up, before dinghying back to Veleda, cold and damp. It was a cool uncomfortable location. As the wind settled down in the afternoon, we dinghied across the ria under overcast skies and up the river (a trip of about 5 miles each way) to the old city of Pontevedra, the smallest capital of this province within Galicia. We did a quick walk around the old part of the city, enjoying particularly the medieval Basilica de Santa Maria with its baroque architecture, columns and statuary, before finding the good tourist bureau and directions to an excellent modern internet café beside the ruins of the 15th century San Domingo cathedral. This city was at its height of glory in the 15th and 16th centuries, then the largest city in Galicia and an important port. Columbus’ flagship, the Santa Maria, was built here, and local claims are made that he was born here. However, the river silted up and other cities expanded on the ria, diminishing the importance of Pontevedra. On our return to Veleda, Judy went onboard to warm up and get supper ready while I set off in Sprite to explore the waterfront of Combarro, an interesting fishing village with stone houses nestled in narrow cobblestone alleys and, fronting on the sheltered seawall, a string of picturesque stone “horreos”. These are rectangular stone structures (about 3 x 5 metres) with crosses at the ends of the peaked roofs, perched on concrete columns with wide circular tops to prevent rats from climbing up to get at the grain stored there. Now they are just storage sheds, or drying rooms for laundry, but they add a quaint aspect to this old village. A picture of one of these horreos is attached to this log. After a few frustrating attempts to sail or even motorsail we gave up and mostly motored the 17 miles out of Ria de Pontevedra down to anchor at Playa Arena das Rodas off the middle isthmus on the east side of Islas Cies (42degrees 13.42’N, 008 degrees 53.95’W). We anchored in 20 feet of water over sand, with good holding. However the anchorage proved to be a bit rolly, and we spent only two nights off this lovely national park island. We hiked and beachcombed the southern section, and enjoyed the interpretation centre. There were concrete walks and well set out trails all over the island, skirting rocky promontories, encircling pine clad slopes, and leading to large expanses of sandy beaches. It was a most enjoyable island that we could have spent several more days exploring, but the rolly anchorage was uncomfortable and so we set off for Bayona, only 8 miles away. We actually had an opportunity to fly our spinnaker for an hour before entering harbour to go alongside Porto Deportiva de Bayona (Baiona in Galacian) ( 42degrees 07.22’N, 008 degrees 50.57’W)for a day (19 Euros for our 10 metre boat, the cheaper of the two marinas) before going out to anchor next day. While alongside we enjoyed cocktails on Cool Blue, saw Three Wishes and Wild Adventure, and met Chris and Lynne crewing on Solitaire, but whose boat is Boaventura from Grenada, an island we hope to visit next year. We noticed a Canadian boat, Beowolf at anchor whom we were to meet next day when we went to anchor. We enjoyed the city and especially the fort, around which we had to do the wall walk, enjoying the spectacular sea front, offlying shoals (always better to see from shore than fear hitting while at sea), the old battlements and the new hotel accommodations ( which we could not afford). We also spent an hour or so, on the replica of the caravel Pinta, Columbus’ ship, which landed here on its return journey, announcing the remarkable news of his discoveries. Bayona was a most enjoyable port, the last in Spain before Portugal.
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