Tredje gången gillt! (Third time`s a charm)

At anchor in Islas Cies.


We´re down in the boat relaxing and listening to an audio book when a horn´s honking closely. Took a moment to realise it was at us! The spanish coastguard with their craft of 140 feet is just next to us making signals they want to board us. Not an easy thing with a big "tanker" and Ingeborg who now looks like a skiff but they managed without Ingeborg getting harmed and the paperwork was carried out.

The photo was taken by S/Y Oliva how watched safely from shore

The same evening we noticed a flashing light outside the boat. The spanish coastguard once again, now with a smaller craft. They had their attention elsewhere, to the boat next to us, and it struck us then that we earlier forgot to put the anchor lantern up. Easily fixed. Then they came to us pointing to the top of the main mast and we could understand the word lantern in all the spanish. We have ours hanging from the boom, so we pointed to that, looking as law abiding as we could. Some more spanish and it seamed to be ok and they we´re off.
Next day we saw them coming from far out and by then we knew it was us they were after. A third time, the spanish coastguard with a third boat and a third crew. Again we could understand the world lantern. They came aboard and we handed them the copy of the paper from the first coastguards visit saying they were here yesterday. They were apperently a bit confused but since the paperwork was in order, no latern mentioned, they left.
Tredje gången gillt - third time´s no charm.

/Lotta When writing this we´re in Portugal, "no longer on the run".
More picures from Islas Cies below:

Company of dolphins. Islas Cies in the background

 

We had a gang of 20 or so following us, jumping in at the bow and playing around trying to get me wet when standing on the bowsprit. Our lure got caught in a fishnet and we stopped and tried to resue it, then they all gathered in the stern. It really looked as though they we were trying to push us, getting us moving again!

The islands looked like a sad dragon lying down in the ocean

The lighthouse

View from the lighthouse

We could see both Vigo and Bayonna in the distance.

A friend on the road

The end of the world...

..as they knew it.

Cap Finisterre, the westernmost head of Spain bordering the Atlantic Ocean. Last night we walked up and almost saw the sunset behind the clouds. Nothing but the ocean, majestic. Closest continent to the west will be America, maybe New York. Once this was the end of the world. Before the maps, gps, plotters. What a world to explore...




The bay and harbor here in Finisterre are crowded with fishing vessels of all shapes. We anchored in the bay surrounded of sandy beaches. When we woke up in the morning there were small motorboats everywhere around Ingeborg, but no one on board. Floats lying around here and there in the water and suddenly we saw fins. Aha, divers! Snorkeling around with milk cartoons on their back. Petter (S/Y Olivia) drove out in the dinghy to ask what they were doing and he got a handful of razor clams in return. "Tienes mucho". So of course Hampus and Petter had to try, in one hour they managed to get two! And the handful he got from the diver was probably from one dive... Hampus referred to them as "the fast bastards". They live in small holes in the sandy bottom and dig themselves deeper when danger´s approaching, fast as hell! Razor clam is a delicatessen cause they´re so hard to catch. Go figure!

The stop before was Corme, but coming in the evening and the town looking rather dull we didn´t even bother to inflate the dinghy and left the next morning. Right now we´re heading for the Islas Cies but heard just a minute ago on the vhf that there might be gale warning for tomorrow so we probably go to Bayonne anchoring outside the marina instead. After Bayonna we´ll make a try for the islands again and then it´s probably Portugal. If you know an anchorage in Portugal well worth visiting, please tell us.


/Lotta. And yes, the two promised degrees was correct. Heard there will be two more around the next bend. Yeah, summer!