Paul and Claire

Rush Hour

Cruising

We have completed our Camarinas to Peniche leg of 256 miles which took us 43 hours due to a slow start. Winds then picked up and blew constantly from the N or NNW at 14-22 knots. We ran at about 160 degrees gybing 4 times as we either closed the coast to the east or the shipping lanes to the west, about 30 miles offshore. No noticeable change in sea state whether in 150m depth or 2000m beyond the shelf. A confused sea with swell at 90 degrees to the wind blown waves kept forcing us on onto our beam

Paul and Claire

Blowin’ a Fuse

Cruising

It took us a couple of days to commission the watermaker as a key wiring map was missing from the manual. At one point the control panels blew and the watermaker carried on completely out of control. To find the right wiring pattern for the fresh water flush valve and the low pressure pump switch we blew 3 amp fuse after 3 amp fuse. I thought I had enough in stock for more than a lifetime but now I need more! We made about 300 litres of water yesterday and then we fresh water flush meaning no pickling of the

Paul and Claire

Flip-Flopping the Ria’s

Cruising

After departing Coruna we made 7.5 knots under sail – for an hour! After tacking ever slower a few hours later the wind tailed off to another 4 knot headwind so we made for Corme. Anchoring in Corme is like anchoring on a roundabout within a harbour with the centre completely full of marine farms. There is about 100m of useable sea between the fish farms and the beaches or rocks so it’s a case of picking out a spot deep enough within the doughnut ring to anchor. We arrived in darness and left in fog so have no idea

Paul and Claire

Caving for food and Ria De Camarina

Cruising

Our last mission in A Coruna was to find a supermarket. We had a useless tourist map so with a bit of googling we marked where the shops should be. We found the street but couldn’t see any signs for a supermarket or any kind of shop. We must have looked lost because a lady stopped and pointed underground. We had to go 3 stories underground to find the supermarket! Then it was the long walk home with heavy bags. We left A Coruna and stopped at Corme for the night. It was a rocky night and the mossies found

Paul and Claire

Zombies, public wifi and the importance of a VPN

Cruising

Moving from a house to a boat has many challenges not least wifi needs for a boat full of teens. We sorted out the wifi dongle on the back of the boat and have a wifi access point which feeds all our laptops, phones and tablets. Coruna Marina has good wifi so we are making the most of it uploading photos to the blog, catching up on emails and admin. But using public wifi comes with risks and we were reminded about an essential service we’d forgotten to use since moving onboard. A VPN service which creates a Virtual Private

Paul and Claire

Medieval Meanderings

Cruising

Whilst snaking our way to a supermarket we got diverted by the medieval market that was in Coruna for the week. Fortunately it is mostly about feasting. Calamari, mixed seafood, paella   Calamari                 Croquettes                             ‘Potatoes for the poor’               Marina life: Our Swedish near neighbour packed up this morning and got off to a slow start leaving the berth. The 56 ft X-yacht bow blew onto our Dutch neighbour’s beam. We were

Paul and Claire

All Swell in Coruna

Cruising

We moved ahead of an expected strong south westerly on Sunday which is to be followed by a return to north winds on Tuesday. Yesterday’s passage from Viveiro to Coruna was spent 2 miles off the northern cliffs hugging the coast. We discovered that the win does the same and so despite turning through about 180 degrees during the journey there was a headwind the whole way. Add to this a confused 2m swell which we had to take mostly beam on we rattled and rolled on a journey that seemed to take forever into an anchorage just outside La

Paul and Claire

Living in a Dolphinarium

Cruising

Like living in a Dolphinarium as we were surrounded by fins this morning; too many to count. Reckon we are the attraction for the dolphins rather than the other way around. We are currently hard to trace as marine traffic AIS relays rely on volunteers to pick up the signal and pass it on to the web; I guess nobody in the Ria is doing that at the moment.     Looking north at anchor in Viveiro           The marina entrance to Viveiro                   Octopus from the Pulperia

Paul and Claire

Head in the toilet

Cruising

Our meeting with San Miguel has had to be postponed and as my expert friend Juan Manuel rightly informed us it’s a hard find in this area. Beers are Mahou, Bodegas and Galicia Estrella the latter of which we found to be very good as recommended. Anyway back to the toilet – double trouble – both the outlet side was flowing back in and the suddenly the fresh water flush side went on full permanent flow dumping our fresh tank water non-stop into the toilet and out to sea. All pumps were flicked off at the switch panel and the

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