Obviously Lynne was gutted at having to spend another month in the Gallician Rias but as the end of June approached we accepted the vagaries of fate and decided to return north and explore the Rias of Arousa and Pontevedra. Originally we had planned to split the trip north up by hopping from Vigo to Pontevedra but an unseasonal couple of days of southerly winds persuaded us to head straight for Arousa, a distance of 25-30 miles or so.
The winds proved to be frustratingly light and we closed with Isla Ons to get out of a persistent N W swell, we would return to this beautiful island on our return. Meanwhile as the calm waters in the easterly Lee of the island steadied Dark Tarn we were able to study closely the intricacies of the coastline.
We aquired a westerly breeze as we rounded the northern end of Isla ONS and headed for the main channel into Ria Arousa. We threaded our way through the many bateas and found a good anchorage in Pobra do Caraminel. We were delighted to spot a friend among the boats at anchor it was our fellow OCC members Bruce and Pam aboard the lovely Rival "Osprey" We were invited aboard for drinks and had a great evening as we slowly demolished their alcohol supply. Fantastically experienced sailors and some great stories...
There were a few other steel yachts in the anchorage just off the village beach, one was a German yacht which made Dark Tarn look quite posh, another however was a different kettle of fish. It was an ex BT Challenge 67, called XPLORE.
It's not often I am envious of another boat but for a while I must admit to being a bit smitten.
Veteran of several trips to Antarctica she was owned by Steve who had run her as a high latitudes charter boat for ten years. Beautiful, and we got a really good look at her as after a few days the wind got up and we nearly came into contact, we appeared to be in her wind shadow as she sheared about and I had to hang of our pulpit to push us away with my feet. Needless to say we up anchored and gave her a wider berth!
We have always enjoyed Pobra, it has a lovely beach and the anchorage is very secure. Like Cangas there always appears to be something going on. Our friends Bob and Maureen in Modus vivende joined us in the anchorage and we had a booze lunch which continued into the evening, we had very bad hangovers but at least the world had been put to rights!
Since our last visit a nature reserve had been established which provided a lovely walk around the small river entering the sea at the far end of the beach. We enjoyed a picnic lunch as we walked around the elevated boardwalk and returned back to the small lagoon which had become a small boats graveyard. It wasn't much further around to the small chapel we had seen from Dark Tarn.
The chapel was surrounded by gravestones, a real necropolis, however my interest was piqued by the rocks awash a few hundred metres offshore, it looked a great spot to snorkel. Later we came over in the dinghy and discovered a marvellous underwater world where we were surrounded by small fish. Luckily the water temperature was reasonable and we were able to snorkel for up to 30 mins at a time.
Soon however it was time to move on but not before Lynne had looked around the market, these are a weekly event at most towns and villages and are always interesting with the mix of colours and shouting tradespeople. The weather forecast was for northerlies so we had decided to head towards the head of the Ria towards Villagarcia.
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