The streets of Laredo

We pulled the anchor (and a steel cable it had hooked up ) and left Castro at 11 ish, pretty early for us! There was still a little swell as we rounded the harbour wall. The sun was trying o make an appearance and the day looked set fair.

The wind was a gentle force 3 but unfortunately still steadfastly westerly however just enough north for us to sail close hauled the 9 miles or so down the coast to Laredo.

We had a good view of the castle lighthouse and church on the rocky headland. The cliffs were riddled with caves, some we knew continued underwater and opened out into pools near the town.

The coastline became increasingly dramatic as we continued.

Tall cliffs of limestone were capped with steep greenery. When I was a child we had visited this coast when it was known as the " Costa Esmerelda" a name which seems to have fallen out of favour or more probably become lost in the new nationalism that people are so justly proud of. We are now in Cantabria, still basque but already the spellings have changed!

As we approached Laredo we got into an unofficial race ( rule number 1 ) with a Swiss boat. As usual we had them beaten in a straight line but lost out when they proved to get the jump on us dropping their sails. We are I'm afraid, slightly out of practise. 

We passed the large hill known as Monte Candina and began to worry about the marina we could see in the distance. Would there be room? would we need to go and find a quiet anchorage somewhere?

The Swiss boat went in first and we could see them mooching around as their mast went back and forth above the piled concrete blocks of the breakwater. There was another mast on the move so we did the gentlemenly thing and went around in a couple of circles outside the entrance until a small French yacht left.

We entered and turned sharply to starboard to discover that apart from the Swiss boat the place was a ghost marina......

Really strange as the pontoons were new and in good condition. They were also a proper size which we liked. In fact the Swiss boat had moored on a pontoon appropriately sized for super yachts! He later came to join us on a smaller finger. The marina was a new development and was obviously a work in progress. There were no fascilities other than the pontoons themselves. No toilets or showers, there were a couple of portal loos but they were behind a fence so unavailable. After all it was Sunday. We now understood why no one had answered our calls on the VHF. On the good side the shelter was excellent and Lynne was guaranteed a good nights sleep without the noisy rolling we had put up with for the last few nights.

The marina office wouldn't open until the morning so we went off the have a look around the streets of Laredo!