Raffaellesco - Bill and Suzette's Sailing Adventure

  9/17/2022 Cedeira, Spain Up early waiting for the crew and the sun to come up so we can leave the wind tunnel. Motored out into a calm ocean and a mild breeze. Motored along the coast with not much wind taking in the cliffs and green hills behind. The mountains were not as high as we made our way west and a little south. Arriving in A Coruna we took a slip at Real Nautico Marina. First observation was that this marina was full of cruisers that had crossed Biscay Bay from England and beyond, a 3-to-5-day trip. I could tell because they had all their laundry hung from one end of the boat to the other drying out. Also, the boats were well equipped; solar, wind generators, jerry cans of fuel and water on deck, self-steering wind vanes… There were lots of flags from Denmark as well as UK. Lots of boats crewed by just a young couple out for the adventure of cruising. Next to us was a Danish boat that the couple had pain stakingly restored and equipped for a 6-year cruise. As it t...

 9/10/2022 Gijon, Spain Woke to a beautiful sunny day. Order of the day, cleaning. You realize how big this boat is when you clean it stem to stern, not that it was so dirty. The marina we are in is in an industrial area not unlike Wilmington or San Pedro, California. After a day or two of no rain the dirt accumulates. Got underway about 1230 to move to Puerto Deportivo, Gijon. Radioed in to the marina to let them know we were arriving, but would like to stop for fuel first. They said that the tide was too low for the fuel dock, but we could take our berth. As we came into the protected marina a staff boat met us and waived us into the fuel dock, go figure. After fueling and checking in we settled into a finger berth at the end of the docks. Formulated our shopping list, broke out our wagon and shopping bags and headed to the market. The local super market was ok, they went to great lengths to explain that because we spent more than 100 euros we received a 25 euro coupon for ...

9/5/2022 Santander, Spain Up early as the sun was rising making for a beautiful sky and a sunny day. The wind came up unexpectedly making it a bit rough for a dinghy ride into town. When it looked like the wind was settling we jumped in the dinghy, but maybe premature as it was a pretty rough ride. We had the usual search for a spot to leave the dink, but finally settled on a spot in the corner of the marina. On shore we wondered through the town, as always, we were in search of something in particular; liquor to stock the bar and wire for my next project. Liquor was easy, but no wire. The city of Santander is beautiful with very stately buildings along the water front and its share of ancient castles and churches. Stopped for gelato and they had my new favorite flavor, Speculoos! The wind was not slowing down so we figured we better check on the boat. It was an even snottier ride back to the boat. The wind did finally settle and we enjoyed a relaxing sunny afternoon. A boat from...

8/31/2022 Bilbao, Spain Up early expecting rain and thunder, though only gray skies and calm. The plan was to wait out the rain and lightning tucked in to the far reaches of the harbor. We are in Bilboa a day or so early of the plan, but weather dictates. A good opportunity to do laundry and chores. Finally changed the transmission fluid, bigger job than I expected. Managed to get a few things off the list. After dinner we dingied over to the Real Club Maritimo del Abra yacht club and enjoyed a sangria as the sun went down. A beautiful club with two pools, bar, lounge and dining area. 9/1/2022 Bilbao, Spain Up early for a leisurely morning as the sun was starting to show its face. Headed out in the dinghy to find a place to park it in the marina. Finding a dingy parking spot is harder than finding a car parking spot. We finally tucked into the back corner of the marina, out of sight as much as possible. It was a short walk to the Metro station and a short ride to downtown Bilbo...