Royal Air Force Yacht Club

Dear All

It is communal postcard time again!! But probably the last postcard as we now have a ‘blog’. To follow our progress and get our news look at our web diary on http://blog.mailasail.com/ione This will give a map of our movements and a whole lot of reports. Ignore the ones just entitled Position as this is our way of putting in our lat and long on the map, the other rep[orts may give news and pictures!

  The first 12 days

 Having not seen Ione since December, it was a pleasure to get back on board on 24 May in Punta Lagoa Marina near Vigo. The boat was in good order, having been looked after excellently by Alfredo Lagos at his yard in Bouzas.

With no shops near the marina, the next day we headed across the ría to Cangas and our chance to have our first meal of tapas.

The next day was purely domestic – provisioning and boat work, including installing the Iridium satellite telephone which allows us to keep in touch and get forecasts from everywhere.

 Friday in Cangas is market day, excellent fruit and veg and brilliant fish. The main employment in the town used to be fish canning, employing huge numbers of the local women. However modern technology overtook the old methods and the cannery shut and is now in ruins. There has been fierce local argument as to whether to redevelop the site or to keep the derelict buildings as a monument to the past.

By Saturday it was time to move on and a gentle sail took us to anchor at our favourite spot off the beach at Barra.

 In hot sunshine we were able to stroll on the beach and Sarah even swam both off the boat and beach.

Although there were several boats at anchor by day, most left at dusk to give a peaceful night.

Sunday took us to the marina at Porto Novo via a lunchtime anchorage off Isla Ons, but with an onshore brisk wind it was not weather to take the dinghy ashore.

 Porto Novo is a pleasant and quiet little town, only a couple of miles from the larger and bustling tourist resort of Sanxenxo. We spent a couple of whole days there, the first being extremely social, as our friends Glen and Gwen who live near A Coruna joined us for a long lunch on board, and the second being simply domestic. 

We left Porto Novo on 1^st June and had a wonderful broad reach inside the islands of Ons and the Cies down to Baiona.

 Off the Cies Islands

Again the wind was such that it was not sensible to anchor off the Cies, but this meant we were in Baiona in time for lunch and some retail therapy – AMB spent his annual clothing allowance. .We were lucky to find space in Baiona as the World Cruising Club Rally Portugal was due to arrive imminently from Plymouth.

Two nights in Baiona also gave Sarah a chance to swim again from the beach by the the yacht club under the walls of the parador.

 We left Spain on Friday with some regrets. Last summer we spent many weeks in the southern rías and found this to be the most fabulous of cruising grounds. Delightful harbours, many anchorages, excellent scenery. We will be back.

 However Portugal also has its attractions and we thoroughly enjoyed a couple of nights in the old town of Viana de Costelo.

Viana initially became wealthy in the 16^th century as a centre of the cod fishing industry and also exporting port to England before the river silted up and Porto took ovet.

From Viana we had a fair and sunny downhill run to bring us here, on Sunday 5^th June, to Povoa de Varzim. A dusty but cheap and very friendly harbour with yachts of all nationalities and at the end of the metro into Porto.

The electric plancha has become the mainstay of our cooking!

Best wishes to all.

 Tony & Sarah

 Ione – Povoa de Varzim, 5^th June 2011