So with three on board we head West, the Spanish border town of Hondaribia is a pleasant place with a nice walled old area on top of a hill, Marina is good too.
Eileen on the wheel, hot, damned hot and no wind - I suppose having no wind is ok if it is directly on the nose... (gentlemen don't Beat to windward...)
The town of San Sebastian beckons, a big bay protected by an island (on the right).
In we go
I don't know what we are smiling about - 5 minutes later the first attempt at picking up a buoy results in our beautiful stainless swedish mooring hook going overboard - I tied a bowline, well actually I doubt I did tie a bowline... oops
I could either snorkel or use scuba gear - I opt for scuba gear. My assistant here is one of the best qualified diving instructors there is (BSAC National Instructor), and I am a 4 star diver, but it is hard because it is sooo hot.
Found it, in 30 feet of water, 10 feet vis and about 20 feet from the mooring bouy
The ladies swim
Our string operated slicer can slice pineapples suitable for Pina Colada ! most excellent
Oh yes
We see large rowing boats - there is a championship coming up and we see these at several places along the North Spanish coast, of particular interest to Shirley and I as we started rowing 4 man/person skiffs back home - Strangford.
Sunset in the gap
We are trying to get good value out of the "free" water taxis - available 24 hours a day! but only free in that the 38 Euro we were charged to tie to a mooring bouy entitles us to infinite taxi rides
There is a marina.... but this isn't it, it is actually a second basin to the right of this one. Turning a 46 foot yacht in this one would be interesting...
Nice town and nice beach, lots of marine activity, paddle boarding, canoeing, swiming, serious swiming, sailing, etc., a water lovers paradise.
A cuddly toy... ???
Thar she blows
next day the Sun goes away and lurky dismal clouds appear, the entire coast seems prone to these moist mists - there are massive mountains just inland (Pico de Europe) I guess the mists are a feature to be lived with.
We do get some sun, the further out we go
Sometimes the clouds meet the sea
Then we drop into a small town/harbour called Lequeitio - a dredged fish dock has some pontoons and lots of harbour wall, we fill in the forms for the harbourmaster, the berth is free with no facilities - unless a rusty ladder is a facility, I suppose if we didn't have one we would want one... nice rubberised timbers too. (hmm, I know what I mean...)
In the "marina" part there are very few pontoons, we wonder how to get to the boats, watch the video above to find out!
And more rowing boats, amazonian women. I like the steering oar
More like the strangford skiff (though the one above has side by side oarspeople
These are a different design - older
Pull together lads
Preparing the fish
Next day we are off, this time in sunshine for a while, and still no wind (from the wrong direction)
I am starting to go off lighthouses, too many of them
An interesting place for a church!
And then into Bilbao, my navigational data contradicts itself, there apparently is a sunken breakwater to the right of this, depths unknown and saying "probably ok to go over" does not fill one with confidence, we go the long way around. Would be interesting in North gales...
Lots of beautiful houses
old and new (buildings)
That's what we are looking for - the guggenheim
And having found it, we deserve an ice cream while a nice doggy looks on
The building is superb, and worth a look, a really interesting curvy interior too. The exhibits could be better but there is enough to keep us engrossed for an hour or two.
The singing coming from these copper kettles was unearthly
Touristed out, we imbibe
There are other scultures outside, the sclupture is the big spider thing
And off we go
The clouds are having a get together
Found another one - they have tour boats out to this one
into the inlet that is Santander - where the bank comes from. We anchor just in from the mouth, in 4m of water off a beach, among the anchored pedalos, just South of a banana.
swims are good, though the current is strong, and this is not springs!
busy port upriver apparently
There is that damned mist again
it clears as we enter our next stop, this one of particular sentimental value to the three of us. Shirley, Eileen and me spent a month diving on the North and Northwest coasts of Spain just after we graduated - 8 of us, the student Union minibus loaded up with camping and diving gear, a 7 cubic foot per minute compressor and a towing a rib drove here from Belfast. We spent a happy week here - San Vicente de la Barquero
We tie up between two fishing boats, it is Saturday and very quiet on the fishing quay - the marina has no masts in it and is full of local boats, there might just be room to squeeze a yacht or two. There is also bouys upriver right at the bridge but the current must be fierce there.
The happy trio, the other five were Alan Doyle, Sandra Maxwell, Jill Bustard, Ivor Pogue and Bernard Picton.
Oh damn, I forgot my suit
The rightgeous swimmers surely deserve pina coladas
The view from the bridge - the french yacht in the foreground is between two buoys, but the current has him dancing around and getting ashore is no picnic. Note the sandbanks!
Mind you the sandbanks require intense concentration at low water, I take comfort that if I run aground we won't go any deeper
Phew
Surfs up but still no wind
We head for an interesting wee place called Llanes, reports differ on whether it is good or not. We liked it - once we were in. Then entrance looks very tight. The concrete block graffiti is an art "installation" that is world famous in Llanes (and few other places) we all agree we don't like it. but the town is a wee gem actually and we like it and the surrounding walks.
The "marina" has a sill best taken at half tide so we go into the right (hidden entrance) to the fish dock and tie up alongside a fishing boat for a couple of hours.
The "marina" suits small boats - apart from the nice long visitor pontoon just inside the gates, we tie up, a wee man visits, I fill in a form and hand over 20 Euro. The electric and water work, the local tourist office has great toilets and great Wifi! (available 24 hours because when it shuts you can sit on the window sill outside and still use it! - the Wifi, not the toilet
I am holding a beautiful bun that Shirley and I devour later.
Looking forward to the bun
That is the vistitor pontoon, this is high season so I suspect not many make the effort to come in. The fishing boats all clear out early in the morning so tying up in the fishdock would be ok but maybe noisy.
