It was a beautiful calm day as we left Punta Lagoa and motored the short 5 miles or so to Cangas across the Ria. Lynne had been in email contact with the Club Nautico de Rodeira and we assumed that we had been booked in for that night. We were surprised when we raised them on the VHF to be told they had no room for a vessel our length until Sunday. We quickly anchored in the bay just outside the harbour ( luckily we are getting pretty slick at this ) Lynne again sent a quick email and the confusion was resolved, they hadn't realised who we were. Once we went into the marina and berthed in the small pontoons we were again profusely apologised to for the confusion by Bea, the very helpful office person. We also were surprised when a fellow club ( OCC ) member Peter came into the office to introduce himself. The Ocean cruising club is a very helpful and friendly organisation, Peter went out of his way to introduce us to everyone and make us welcome. He keeps his yacht Papageno in Cangas for the summer, another sailor who has been seduced by the Galician Rias, Peter has been based here for several years. His homeland surprisingly was the Republic of Ireland. The Irish had discovered Galicia long before anyone else and there were three Irish yachts in the small marina at Cangas. Once more we were the only boat flying a red ensign. Once formalities had been done we retired for refreshment and a chat with Peter.
The cafe was very nice and we enjoyed some great tapas, Peter also introduced us to the manager who turned out to be called Alex. This was beginning to look like a lot of boxes being ticked.
The situation was looking good but we needed to stay at least overnight before we committed to stay for six months. I walked along the pontoons and noticed a lot of the boats were moored with shock absorbers, either springs or rubber. This told me there was swell or surge that got into the marina and disturbed the moored boats. The adjacent ferry terminal was a source of some disturbance when a ferry docked, not necessarily a problem we had been in a similar situation in Getxo. Surge is basically a short period when waves and swell rock and disturb the boat, not necessarily a massive problem, however you do need to be aware and prepare for it otherwise it is possible to abrade and break mooring lines if the boat is unattended for any length of time. We wandered into town to continue our recce.
It turned out to be quite charming in a very Galician granite kind of a way, the old town was the usual rabbit warren of narrow streets, the local church was preparing for a four day fiesta, and we had arrived in the afternoon when most things were shut. No change there!
The town had a comfortable and charming feel, a world away from the cheerless concrete suberb of Vigo that was Punta Lagoa. Cangas is a holiday resort for Spanish people and is very busy in the summer. The beach is superb, with great views across the Ria to the city of Vigo.
There were several boats at anchor who obviously hadn't had the foresight to book into the marina in advance!
The marina is also a sailing club and is the centre for the local traineras rowing boats. I was pleased to see small kids in Optomist dinghys ( Oppys ) out sailing in the bay. The kids got access to the water by means of a sloping pontoon by the harbour wall that sheltered the marina from the Ria.
It was all looking very positive and we decided to stay until Sunday to watch the procession of the religious statues and of course the fireworks we were getting very accustomed to. We left the boat that evening to walk around and look at the festivities.
There were many stalls and a fair in the palm tree park, we wandered through making our way to a bar by the beach. Well several actually!
Just by looking at Lynnes face I guessed that all the boxes had been ticked and we could safely book in to Cangas for the winter. We could explore the Rias for another month or two and we could take up our berth in Cangas in October, continuing to sail and enjoy Galicia. It was a very relaxed evening and we knew the noise would continue until the wee small hours so we were in no particular hurry to return to the boat and It was 1.30am or so before we returned to find the gate to the pontoon was locked luckily one of the mariñeros was On duty to let us in. Another box, this one the security box was ticked.
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