Finally escaping the Bay of Biscay

It always seems to be the last hour of any passage where things happen. Not always bad things but just things.

We slipped lines at Dawn and again we're motorsailing. I don't mind as much as I will, because we are still building confidence in the engine again. But today is the day that we escape the Bay of Biscay. I'm sure there's a sea shanty in that. We're starting to see more Atlantic swells now. Sounds a bit odd, but we're not really used to those. The swells that we are now seeing are really between two and 4 m sometimes five, but they're not too uncomfortable, at least that is when they're coming from a direction that is not straight on the beam with no wind. So that's the first hour or so big swells on the beam and motor sailing. There are many meaningful and meaningless markers along the way that always give pause to reflect. Approaching Cape Finisterre and what is effectively a benign day still makes me consider how far we've come and how grateful I am that we get to do this. As with pretty well everything with sailing on one hand one can admire how far we've come, it really always serves to highlight how far is left to go or how much there is left to learn. This really is one of the reasons I love sailing. Heading down this coast of Northern Spain it does come as a slight surprise how picturesque a coast it actually is. There are features and foliage throughout the whole coastline. I suppose if there is a key difference between what I see here and the British coast it might be that there is significantly less birdlife here. I suppose that's countered by the fact that there are a whales instead. Come 1600 we were joined by the most enthusiastic dolphin I've seen in a long time. The juvenile common dolphin came barrelling over at what must be close to terminal velocity. I often comment that it took until I was nearly 40 years old to see a dolphin but now my kids have seen more dolphins and foxes.

We're not far from Baiona now, but the sea is noticeably bigger and significantly steeper. The wind is approaching 30 kn. And we are wing on wing with just a single reef in the main. What is these times where I am very grateful that Juna is a heavy beast, like a shire horse she seems content with whatever you throw at her. And we are starting to throw a little at her now. Whilst the sea is getting a little bit sporty now there is also the south of Vigo TSS to deal with there are a number of vessels coming in and out, and some manoeuvering was required. I mentioned earlier, it's always the last hour or so that is there to keep you on your toes. But at the end of the day, the engine didn't let us down and we didn't let each other down so a quick gybe in 25 kn and we blasted at 9 to 10 kn straight into Baiona. This remained a spritely sale right up until we got into the Anchorage whereby everything fell away and we were greeted with a calm and protected place to stay.