We departed Camaret-Sur-Mer at 9.10 and slipped using a “Dutch Spring”. We wanted to practise this manoeuvre as the winds were light and we could recover safely if it went wrong or didn’t work. We have never used it before but can be very useful in leaving a tight marina in strong winds.
Explained in part here, no idea why they call it spronging… https://youtu.be/1bLf7C-jAG0
We had a very good crossing with the conditions being as good as you can expect from Biscay. N/NE F 4-6 and the sea state mostly moderate.
After a couple of hours we passed a ship being used as a helicopter landing at sea practise ship. With a French Navy helicopter making multiple landings.
Over the whole passage we had very few ships in sight and only had to change course once for a fishing boat.
The depth of Biscay is incredible with the North Atlantic Shelf going right round the bay. In the middle of our journey the water depth was in excess of 4000 meters. It is here that you have the chance to see whales. We spotted 3 pods of large whales by their impressive blow spouts. One whale got close enough for us to glimpse its back as it took air. About 400 meters from the boat. We think they were either Grey or more likely Humpback due to the shape of their spout.
As dusk was settling on our second night we had a visitor. A swallow circled the boat, clearly looking for a place to land. It disappeared down the hatch and tried to roost in various places in the cabin. After a bit of a fuss we chased it out and it settled sheltered on the deck. It had to be seriously off course to be so far out at sea and we thought it would rest for a while, but after 10 minutes it was off again, into the night.
We purchased a cheap LW radio for the trip and to our surprise it was able to pick up the Radio 4 shipping forecasts all the way across the bay. Our last broadcast received being 30 miles short of Spain. Was useful to keep an eye on a big front that is sitting off finisterre. Online forecasts are only really accurate for 3 days.
Approaching Spain we changed our courtesy flag from French to Spanish and made our way into A Coruna in the dark. It is a very difficult marina entry in the dark which did nothing to decrease the stress levels. But we made it without mishap.
This leg of our journey was 349 miles in 67 hours we only ran 8.7 hours with engine to recharge our batteries, overall average speed 5.4k. Arrived safely at 4.00am and entered A Coruna Marina.
At midday on the 19th coming up from below had a huge surprise. Directly overlooking the marina is the imposing Castelo de San Anton. We had not noticed it in the dark.
 |
| Our first day track dots are estimates |
 |
| Sunset on Biscay |
 |
| Half way there surrounded by shipping |
 |
| Castelo de San Anton A Coruna |
 |
| Our full track |
