08/02/2007, Baiona Spain
Our last day at sea turned out to be our busiest day yet. The day dawned clear, with a beautiful sunrise. Later in the morning, while contemplating his navel on the foredeck, Rob was startled by the blow of a big whale. He rolled over just in time to see its long back descend into the waves, but, alas, it never re-surfaced.
As expected there were a lot of ships last night and today, going in all directions from every quarter. With some deft maneuvering from Captain Rick, we managed to avoid them all.
Today must have been Dolphin Fiesta day, as we were entertained by several schools of dolphins, splashing around the boat, and surfing the bow wave till sunset. Around noon, a small pod of (Pilot?) whales passed behind us, and then Snap! the fishing rod took. Al jumped to the reel and after some expert fishing landed a small 7 lb Tuna. A bloody crime scene then ensued in the cockpit, as it took several whacks of the winch handle to dispatch the poor thing, spraying a major blood spatter in the cockpit (and on us) in the process. After filleting, the cockpit was scrubbed down with seawater to remove the evidence, and we had the best supper yet, with fresh tuna, fried potatoes, carrot and yam puree, and the last of the vino verde (prohibition has been repealed). Bonnie's clusters on the cooking medal now have to be shared with Al for the excellent job on the tuna.
Rick was the first to cry land-ho! but we don't think he had his contacts in because none of us could see it. After convincing none of us he descended, muttering, to look for land on the laptop. The mountains of Galicia were finally spied around 3:00pm UTC, just above the horizon through the haze.
Just after that, about 30 miles offshore, we were visited by a large back sea helicopter, who came up behind us and hovered alongside for a minute or two. We waved cheerfully but got no response, and later figured that they must have been customs or drug police, since apparently Galicia is a major narcotics smuggling area. Luckily they didn't search the boat, as they would have found large quantities of illicit All-Bran stuffed under the fore-berth.
After supper we cleared the decks in preparation for arrival in Baiona. It was a beautiful calm night and our charts did not deceive us as we motored into Baiona Harbour under a welcoming full moon. We tied up at the dock at 12:50am local time, with high fives and hugs all-around.
514 years ago, in 1493, Christopher Columbus also made his first landfall at Baiona after returning from the new world. While our voyage was not quite so epic, it certainly felt that way standing on the dock, finally, in Spain.
All the best from Aisling 1
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| Transatlantic part 2-Azores to Baiona |
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Comments [2]
Tom & Shirley
08/02/2007, Baiona
We are here! We arrived in Baiona, Spain late last night and are basking in the glow of arrival. We will be on line with more details soon....
| Transatlantic part 2-Azores to Baiona |
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07/31/2007, 110 miles West of Cape Finisterre
Hello All: Land is close. The traffic has picked up coming from the English Channel and the mood on the boat has changed to anticipation. We are all looking for solid ground, tapas and vino! It looks like it will be a night time approach to Bayona, in about 20 hours, which is a little nerve wracking itself. The passage from the Azores to here was eventful only in that there was no wind. We have motored virtually all the way, 800 miles so far. All caused by the Azorean High...Rick
This morning dawned with showers, before clearing off to a pretty fine day. Winds are still light, and from the stern, so in the afternoon Rick and Al rigged up the pole on the yankee, and we sailed wing to wing for a few hours, rolling and pitching on a following sea. Still not enough wind to get us to six knots, so the engine has been running most of the day. We had a fish on the line, but it managed to get free after my inexpert handling of the fishing tackle.
We are crossing the shipping lanes this evening and tonight, and should make landfall in Bayona tomorrow (Wed) night. We are all looking forward to it. I was pining for salad today, and lo and behold Bonnie made one! From the heart of the lettuce and the last few salvageable tomatoes. Superb! Bonnie should get some kind of cooking award when we get to Spain.
Just before supper the fishing line took off, and it was all Al could do to hang on. After a couple of minutes, and by the time we got around to slowing the boat, whatever was on the line snapped it like a string, and carried away our best lure and 150 yards of 50 lb test. Tuna? Shark? Whale? Submarine? It never broke the surface. Whatever it was, it was bigger than Al, who couldn't even raise the rod. It may be just as well that it was the big one that got away....Rob
All the best from Aisling I
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| Transatlantic part 2-Azores to Baiona |
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