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It seemed as though we had become stuck in Ria de Vigo, given that we arrived in Bare Ass Bay (Ensenada de Barra) on 10th May and it was now 20th July, but today we finally escaped Vigo’s delights and moved back North to the Ria oft regarded as the most attractive – Ria de Pontevedra.
It was a little misty as we left Limens, and as suspected this became thick fog as we headed out of the Ria. We could have turned back but felt that, as this was a relatively easy passage, we should build our experience of sailing in fog and carried on. Or should we say, motoring in fog, as the wind was too light to assist.
As we entered Ria Pontevedra the fog cleared – although Ria de Aldan at the Southern entrance to Ria Pontevedra was still shrouded in fog – as shown on this photo:
As agreed on the previous evening we were joining Charisma who lead the way to Praia de Canelas, where Adam and Lynne had said has a great beach bar……..well it must have been good as they had forgotten where it was, and as we arrived at the agreed destination after 12 nm we got a message to say that the beach bar was in fact at Praia Agra, some 4 miles farther East!
Both beaches sit on the North side of the Ria with sandy bottomed anchorages sheltered from prevailing (and forecast) Northerly winds.
So we unfurled the genoa and had a leisurely drift down Ria de Pontevedra, past the marinas at Portonova and Sanxenxo, and arrived in the delightful little cove at Praia Agra – to join a throng of twenty or so other craft, mostly small motorboats, a couple of gin palaces and several yachts.
All were tightly packed in the Western part of the cove. We had loud music, jet skis, boats making several failed attempts to anchor in ridiculously close proximity to neighbours, but the party atmosphere was actually rather enjoyable and it all made for great people watching!
Given the proximity to nearby marinas and that this was Saturday it was hardly surprising that this place was so busy, however at around 6pm many crews started leaving, and soon we had the cove to ourselves (with Charisma).
We dinghied ashore to the very atmospheric beach bar that the Charisma crew had visited last year, and couldn’t agree more that this was the place to be as dusk arrived, generous G&T in hand and listening to the gentle rhythmic base of Café del Mar style music.
We had to remind ourselves, yet again, that we are not on holiday and so refrained despite the lure of the second G&T!
On Sunday we went ashore with Adan and Lynne and started another memorable day with a yoga session. Suitably limbered up we had a swim – the water was surprisingly warm (or rather, not as cold as we feared).
We took turns on Adam’s’new SUP (“stand up paddleboard”). Val was surprisingly good and managed 100m standing up (according to Val, 60m according to mean spirited, jealous Paul!)
Paul was very good at getting on the paddleboard, but even better at immediately falling off! He will admit that he travelled in a standing position approximately 60m less than Val did! He thinks it should be re-named a FOP (“fall off paddleboard”).
Suitably hungry from all the exercise we ordered pizzas at the small bar. The advised 30 minutes turned into an hour (they are cooked elsewhere and brought in) but this was a lovely day in late July, the beach and anchorage were once again athrong, and the apologies from the lovely bar owner were completely unnecessary as we whiled away the time with cold beers, olives, salty snacks, chatting and people watching from this lovely spot. It’s somehow hard to remember that we are not actually on holiday!
The day ended with a quiet night on Calypso and an early night, tired from our exertions and excited to be heading to much anticipated Ria de Aldan the next day….
Disatnce travelled since leaving Xufre 127 nm