Swallow's adventures

After our brief visit home we arrived back in Muros late evening on 12 October 2016; we were greeted by Millie who had cooked us dinner. After a couple of days sorting out Swallow and the washing pile we set off for Baiona on 14 October 2016. We were slightly sad to leave Muros as it was such a beautiful, welcoming town but knew there would be many more exciting places to visit.
Swallow set sail at 0900 with negligible wind, a slight sea and good visibility. So many pot buoys to dodge! The seagulls were circling the fishing boats and all was calm; we could however feel a distinct drop in temperature out at sea compared to a month ago. A couple of hours later the wind picked up and we had both sails out close hauled (just off the wind). By 1300 we had the wind on the nose, the swell was picking up and we were finding it difficult to make way. The sun was shining on the small offshore islands and there were more birds around than a Hitchcock film! As we passed Isla Salvora we had the company of some dolphins. By 1700 we were finding it hard to achieve 2 knots with the engine on and we were rolling all over the place; we didn't feel safe and knew that we wouldn't make Baiona before dark ( not easy entering unknown ports around here in darkness due to all of the pot buoys). Millie had already started to round Isles Cies well ahead of us and they told us on the radio that it was even rougher around there- we were experiencing 25 knott gusts with a 3 metre swell and the engine was overheating; we decided to turn off into the Ria de Pontevedra and head for Saxenxo, we then had a lively wind( Force 5/6) on our starboard beam and waded through the pot soup! We tied up at 1915, exhausted and relieved.
We stayed three nights in Sanxenxo to wait for the wind and rain to subside before continuing to Baiona; the Pontedvedra is another scenic river and a great sailing ground. The port office was closed for the weekend and it took us two days to find the very lazy berthing master in order to pay our dues! The town is fairly upmarket although it had that end of season feeling. There is a massive bronze of a man lying down along the promenade and also a bronze statue of a sea nymph in the sea just off the beach- all very impressive.
Our four hour passage to Baiona was somewhat calmer. We decided to take the sheltered inside passage between the mainland and the Galician islands which are a National Park, you need a permit to visit them. On leaving the Ria de Pontevedra we saw a fishing boat completely surrounded by seagulls bobbing around waiting for fish entrails to be discarded - it reminded us of a Sunday afternoon in Tescos Bursledon when they are about to bring the reduced bread out! The clouds cut through the peaks of the mountains as we approached Baiona and we were swaying again once we were away from the protection of the islands. We only spent one night here which was a shame as it was such a beautiful place, but we needed to move on towards Portugal as bad weather was approaching.