La Coruna, Spain – the journey home begins

When we bought Cerulean it was with the knowledge that the engine was reaching the end of it’s useful life.  It had already safely navigated Cerulean across the Atlantic four times and was smelly, dirty, noisy, and leaking oil when we bought the boat.   We spent a lot of time researching engines and companies who could fit the chosen engine before deciding.   We needed an engine that we could rely on and would only require basic regular maintenance to ensure we remained safe and caused the minimal amount of stress.    Reflecting on the last couple of months, this particular refit has been a huge fail.   It has caused a large amount of stress, we do not have confidence in the engine and has been an expensive and frustrating lesson on how not to do a major refit.   This is not how we imagined, or wanted, it to be and makes an already stressful situation, like entering a new marina, even more stressful when we can not trust the engine to work in the way we expect, or it should.

Arriving at Marina Real in La Coruna after a sleepless night in confused seas and wind gusts up to 30knots following four nights at sea, we had hoped for, and needed, a successful and stress-free end to our passage.   The moment we discovered the gear lever was not working properly was at the worst time as we were running out of space to turn without the use of reverse gear to slow us down and help us spin.   We have two engine controls – one by the helm and the other at the internal station.  We tried the internal gear control but it could not over-ride the external one, which was still in gear, so I had no choice but to turn Cerulean towards the stone sea wall and use the bow thruster to spin the bow around.   I yelled at Steve to get ready with a fender to cushion the blow as we approached the stone wall and I prepared myself for the impact.   Luckily, we missed the wall by a few centimetres and headed back out of the marina as the staff and other boat owners yelled at us to try and understand what was happening.   We returned to the safety of the large, protective waters of the harbour while Steve dived into the engine bay to try to understand what had happened.   He quickly discovered a pin had fallen out of the gear control cables which were no longer connected to the engine so managed a temporary fix while we drifted in the calm waters.  

At last, we were able to return to the marina and berth the boat with minimal stress, meeting a number of fellow visiting boatowners as we settled in, all curious about our exciting entrance and quick exit!   One of the visitors was Anton, who we had been in touch with prior to leaving Falmouth and was the recent past commodore of the very exclusive Royal Yacht Club.   Anton made us very welcome, inviting us to join him for a drink at The Royal Yacht Club which we gratefully accepted.  

A doorman stood at the entrance of the “Members only” Club and, on seeing Anton, welcomed us into the dark wood panelled foyer.   The sweeping staircase had flags and historic memorabilia decorating the wall as we were led up the thick carpeted steps to a large, high ceilinged landing with big glass doors.   The doors led into a room with big leather chairs around small tables, creating lots of intimate areas in the big room, dominated by a well stocked mirrored and heavy wood bar with leather bar stools making the whole area feel like an old style gentleman’s club.   We were led out onto the open air deck, choosing a table in the shade as the late afternoon sun still had considerable heat.   We were poured three very generous gin and tonics – in fact more gin than tonic – together with an assortment of tapas to accompany the drinks.   Anton’s English was excellent and we talked about sailing, politics, Spain, La Coruna, family……   We were joined by a lovely friend of Antons, Antonio, who had a kind gentle manner but spoke no English, so we attempted to understand each other with Anton effortlessly switching between English and Spanish to keep us all included in the conversation.   Antonio asked if we liked Anchovies, the local delicacy and promised to leave some for us at the bar the next day.

After two drinks we were wiped out – not just because of the size of the measures (or lack of them!), but because we had not slept for 48hours and were both fading fast.  We returned to the boat, stripped the bed of the duvet and heavy blankets and fell asleep in the lovely heat of Spain!

The next day was spent cleaning and tidying up in preparation for when my sister, Judy arrived later that afternoon.   Judy lives in France and this was the only opportunity we had to see each other, so we were excited to be able to welcome her on board Cerulean and explore the area together.    

Face masks were mandatory when outside and everyone conformed, probably because of the terrible first and second wave death numbers Spain experienced in 2020.   I walked along the wide granite pavement into the large open waterfront area, lined with old 5 – 6 storied buildings, all with small rectangular windows, white covered balconies and orange tiled roofs overlooking the city centre marina and greeted Judy in the afternoon sunshine.    We went out for our first meal of Tapas, led by Judy translating the menu, following the advice of a Spanish friend who recommended some local delicacies including squid, octopus and pimientos – small fried red peppers, washed down with some local beer.   Everything was delicious.

The next day, after visiting the police station to officially check in to Spain, we went to meet a friend of Judy’s who had just arrived in his boat from France.  He was sailing it south with four friends and it was a lucky coincidence that they arrived at the same time as Judy!   We went on board his beautiful 53ft yacht – Tara Waka – built in New Zealand 20 years ago and still looking like new.   Etienne has another boat, called Tara and runs an organisation called The Tara Ocean Foundation which carries out environmental and scientific research around the world.   In fact, Tara is Sir Peter Blakes old boat and he was on it carrying out research when he tragically died in December 2001.   Etienne’s foundation bought the boat and continued Sir Peters work and vision.  

We had a wonderful time with Judy, exploring La Coruna and the area around it together.   We sailed out to Sada, just to the north of La Coruna, and anchored in front of a long, beautiful, deserted beach.  Judy and Steve swam off the boat while I lazed on board pinching myself that, at last, the dream was becoming a reality!    We walked to the Tower of Hercules, the oldest working lighthouse in the World and a UNESCO World Heritage site.   It was built by the Romans in the 1^st century and stands 55m tall, overlooking the Atlantic.   We took the train to Santiago de Compostela and toured the spectacular cathedral – the destination of millions of pilgrims who walk the Camino de Santiago – something I have wanted to do for years.  The walk has been closed to tourists for 18 months so the square in front of the cathedral, which is normally packed with people celebrating the end of their Camino walk, was virtually empty.  We felt hugely privileged to be able to experience this beautiful place without hordes of tourists.   The town was founded in 813 and a small church was built in the 11th Century which has been built on to create a magnificent cathedral. It was added to during the baroque period in the 18th century and a very elaborate, quite gaudy nave overpowers the beautiful romanesque architecture. A large incense holder hangs from the centre of the nave which is swung by a team of men at the end of Mass.

On Judy’s last night we were invited to join Anton for dinner at the Royal Yacht Club.  Even though we were almost next to the Club on the boat, to get there is quite a walk and it had been pouring with rain all day.  Anton arranged for us to be delivered to the Yacht Club by boat, so one of the marina staff came to collect us at 8:30pm to motor us across the water!   We felt very privileged as we stepped ashore in our finery!   The doorman welcomed us and ushered us upstairs as we removed our wet sailing jackets.   Anton was a fabulous host.  We were wined, dined and entertained until the small hours when we all started to fade.  Judy was leaving early in the morning for France and we intended to leave the marina to head south, something Anton felt certain we would delay once we relooked at the weather in the morning!

The next day started early with a sad farewell to Judy.  We really enjoyed having her on board for five days and loved the memories we created, exploring and experiencing new things together.   Having family and friends share in this adventure means the world to us.

Anton was wrong – after we had topped up our water tanks, we headed out of the marina and, with one reef in the main, bounced through the large waves and headed south.   New adventures were waiting and we didn’t want to delay experiencing more of Spain.