Picturesque shores of Galicia (Camariñas p.2 and sail to Baiona)

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Happy we stayed another day in Camariñas! We got time and proper weather to hike up to the overlook where the lighthouse is situated. Pictures range from the walk, town of Camariñas and sailing off into the sunset!

The last picture is an attempt to photo the milky sea effect while a dolphin swims through it. What looks like a hand coming up from the sea is actually a dolphin breaking the surface!

PS. Changed max 'blogposts per page' down to 6 from 20. I think that will speed up the loading times on the blog. 

La Coruña and Camariñas

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La Coruña

La Coruña has been a wonderful place to stay for a few weeks! Very kind and open hearted people, really doing more than you ask for to help out and the town is such a epicentre of creativity - walls covered in graffiti, music and theatre events, art, furniture, architecture and street art etc. Apparently the town was home to Pablo Picasso in his early life and perhaps his spirit still thrives in La Coruña! 

When we arrived we had already decided that it would be a great place for Janne to fly back home from, to see his family and sort out some business. The cost of a berth spot is cheaper in Coruña than the rest of the North Coast of Spain and you get a discount for staying longer periods - plus we found a cheap flight for him from the local Airport!

Before Janne left we met a Swedish group delivering a Najad Yacht to someone in Croatia. All of them we’re around age 70 - happy bunch of people out on their big adventure. :)

The following weeks of solitude was well needed for me (Jens) I spent many of the days just diving into books i haven’t had time to read and contacting some folks at home and abroad via Skype/Facetime. At first i didn’t meet many people since the locals generally speak poor English and my Spanish is terrible. But as time went by and i explored the city i met more and more people both local citizens and other yachties in the Marina. 

I got invited to a bar with live music one evening by a local - real fun and quite different from what i’m used to back home. Wish i had met them earlier! :) Having local friends is the best way to experience a new place! 

The weather was quite unsteady during our visit in La Coruña, but for the most part the weather has been satisfying. The mornings were quite cold though so i was thinking to myself a few times perhaps i should wear wool underclothes for my morning walks. Cold mornings turned into hot days - spent the days planning future sails, reading books, taking photographs, listening to podcasts and meeting new people.

Janne's return

When Janne finally came back he kindly brought with him a cold from his grandchildren. The cold struck me instantly since i had been out to a bar the night before. Had quite a few beers with the people there and went to bed late in the night. Think my immune system wasn’t prepared to combat a cold at the time.

We met a well-known Swedish yacht/motor boat designer and his wife who invited us over for something to eat and a glass of wine one evening - had a great time with them! 
We also met a group of 3 young Swedish guys on a Vega yacht heading to the Caribbean and another small Swedish yacht with a young couple on-board heading to South America. 

Before Janne showed up there was two British yachts next to Fragancia - one lone sailor who had just been pensioned off work and were in a real blissful state of joy, so happy to finally fulfill his sailing dreams! And on the other yacht there was a group of 3 relaxed young men playing music, blogging and making video snippets of their sail southward! Hope we’ll see them again ‘down the road’.

We decided to stick together with the other two Swedish yachts and we are aiming to meet up with more people in Porto or Lisbon - if we can get there in time! 

Camariñas

The sail to Camariñas went smooth, practically no wind so we had to go by motor. Calm sea, light breeze and a beautiful sunset accompanied us on our short jump Southwest. Camariñas is a small town with only 6000 inhabitants. There are not that much to do around here and it has been strong gales/light storm here so we have been mostly inside or hanging out with the other Swedes in the Marina. Done some laundry and cleaned the deck/exterior and some inside cleaning as well. 

Early one morning during the storm we woke up thinking this movement can’t be normal - the boat was moving in a circular motion instead of the usual 'back and forth'. Put our heads up and saw that Fragancia had pulled off the entire bridge we were tied too. Both had to get dressed and go out in really strong winds with quite high waves to deal with the situation - before we were done we were covered in salt water from head to toe. :) 

We will sail South tomorrow 7th of October to Ribeira. Might do another jump the day after that because another storm is approaching so we won’t get to far this time around either. Unless Ribeira prove to be a cozy place then we might just stay there until the weather settles again.

A few pictures from Ribadeo, Viveiro and Costa da morte

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We didn't spend much time in Ribadeo - we decided to do short sails along the North coast of Spain instead of doing day&night sails.  We restocked some groceries in Ribadeo which had a super market close to the Marina. Managed to get lost trying to find it though, the GPS didn't point me (Jens) in the right direction - ended up in a Circus! The people there were very caring and engaged a whole bunch of people just to make sure i didn't get lost again.  

When we left Ribadeo for the sail to Viveiro we had a beautiful encounter with a little bird landing in the log book while Janne was writing! The sail went smooth and we enjoyed some pleasant weather. We decided to anchor outside the town in the bay which you can see in the pictures with the little island (front image) and the hills with all the wind-turbines. We spent the evening watching some series which we begun watching back in June but haven't had time to pick up again before now. 

The sail from Viveiro along Costa da Morte ("Coast of death") to La Coruna were a bit messy with breaking waves and unfortunate wind directions. We arrived in Real Club Náutico Marina after night fall. 

Gijón, Spain

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Nils left us in Gijón and me and Janne both felt that we needed to stay a couple of days just to recharge and plan our path forward. We found a Spa nearby and thought that a massage would do us good - having soar necks and stiff backs after two months of sailing intensely.

Gijón is a very energetic place and the people are real open and friendly. Such a different culture than we are used to with restaurants opening first at 9PM, kids playing in the streets 11PM and so on.  We had to adapt because we are used to eat much earlier in the night. Another thing that just don't happen in Scandinavia is that pets are allowed in pubs, theres even doves inside the café here beside me as i type, no one is chasing them around they are just slowly vacuuming the floor of bread crumbs. :) Both of us love this culture, very harmonious.