Noirmoutier > A Coruña > Sisargas Islands > Camariñas > Lagos > Gibraltar
1100 Nm
Aukena’s first real sailing trip, with family!
my mom Marie-Anne and her boyfriend Jean-François are with us for the Biscay Bay crossing.
Surprisingly enough – considering the Biscay’s reputation -, the sailing was very smooth: 15 to 25 knots of wind NNE for 3 days, 48 hours with the spinnaker up, and 6-knots speed almost all the way.
Jean-François’ seasickness is forgotten as soon as the fishing lines ring: in a few hours, we catch 2 nice tunas, about 10 kilos each. We realize that there is no better way to meet people in harbours, as we distribute what we could not eat on arrival.
August 4th, 2018 – A Coruña
Small town, big marina. Surrounded by French boats, we spend 2 days in this cute city, just enough to drink a few cervezas and eat some tapas. We even manage to do a bit of work on our Brazilian neighbour’s gorgeous catamaran. Time for our crew to go back to France, thank you for everything and let’s do that again real soon!
August 6th – Sisargas Islands
We leave in the morning hoping to reach Camariñas the day after, but the lack of wind and presence of small annoying waves force us to anchor for the night between the two Sisargas Islands (about 25 Nm away from A Coruña). The shelter is quite good, but both islands are completely desolated, and goddamnit is it cold!
August 8th – Camariñas
After all we had heard about this town, we were quite disappointed, but maybe it is because of the cold drizzle that makes us want to stay in bed all day. We just buy some fresh fruits and veggies and here we go!
August 9th – 12th – Portuguese coast
We decide to sail all the way to Lagos without any stops to take advantage of the northern winds. The trip is tiring, even though we are downwind we still have to tack every 5 or 6 hours and there are fishing vessels everywhere. But at the end, anchoring at sunset at the foot of Lagos’ orange cliffs makes it all worth it.
August 16th – Gibraltar
After almost 2 years, we are back in Gibraltar! Same British lanes, same fish and chips (Roy’s has the best ones) and a few new buildings. Marina Bay is expanding, and is apparently about to invest in new floating pontoons (?).
This time, we don’t want to stay confined to the rock, and decide to explore the Spanish city just behind the border: La Linea de la Concepción. It’s a really nice town, with what is now our favourite restaurant of all times and all places: La Chimenea. Its tapas are incredible, its mini-burgers to die for, and the meat… How is it possible to cook pork this way?!
