4th September – Cabo La Cruz – A scene out of Cars Movie

We arrived in Cabo La Cruz yesterday. This was a surprise to the marina staff as they did not seem to get visitors. We have now found that it has only been open for 2 months. The marina is lovely and small and as so new – you guessed it – pretty empty. The marina office, toilets, laundry and bar are in wooden sheds, in the style of chalets. I guess they ran out of money, but it is quite rustic. We enjoyed a nice couple of cold beers at the bar. We were brought some complimentary tortilla and also some mussels. Despite the Ria being full of viveros (platforms like pontoons with ropes hanging off them which mussels grow on) we do not seem to be able to buy them fresh, but you can buy them canned. I am very surprised at the amount of food that is sold in tins. We found the supermarket today and also a nice looking butchers, but having stocked up a few days ago in Cariminal we did not need anything.

We are still suffering with the strong winds at night but the forecast is for there to be no wind for the next few days so we might get a better nights sleep.

There is a beach close by, which we have been visiting by dinghy. It seems to be more stoney and crushed shells than sand, so not so nice on the feet. It is also bitterly cold, so much so it is painful to swim. The canoe has been a worthwhile investment and is being used to go and explore rocks. We have managed to fit 1 adult and 2 children on the canoe, only a matter of time before we all try to get on it. The boys have found that spades work very successfully as paddles and the 3 of us went for a long paddle to the rocks. We then went exploring in the rock pools and found little fish and shrimps. The water was very warm in the pools and the rocks were quite hot to walk on too.

Our berth looks out over the fishing harbour and the boats used to harvest the mussels. The wheelhouse is very far forward and they have a high splayed bow. They would not look out of place as characters from the Cars Movie. We think they look like the tractors that Mater plays tractor tipping with. But this time a dinghy would be zipping around sounding its horns and making them all tip backwards. Ethan also thought that the new road down to the marina from town with its twists and turns looked like route 66.

We spent 2 nights at Cabo de cruz. The marina was cheap at €20 per night.

VILLAGARCIA & VILLANOVA

Villagarcia is the biggest city in the Ria and the boys were pleased to see a McDonalds. In return for doing the shopping they got to go. Russell had to have a beer with his meal, because he could. He decided that it was wrong, it just didn’t work. There was also an indoor play area that the boys went and played in.

Russell is still trying to find a bulb for the deck light, and he and Oli went for a long walk to a number of shops in search, but with no luck. Ethan and I did the shopping in Gadis and got some more of their favourite crisps which are onion and tomato flavour. We can only buy big packets so we have the routine argument of he had more than me, so crisps are now a treat rather than a daily occurrence.

Villagarcia was a big marina and we were as far away from the exit as possible. It was much nosier than other stops as it was very close to a commercial port. It was strange to hear the propeller vibration sounds as a ship left in the morning. We had not heard these since leaving Marchwood. There was also the sound of the lorries used for unloading and a jack hammer. All in all at €27 per night we decided to just stay the one night and moved on to Villanova the next day.

Villanova was nicer, but the same price. This had the disadvantage of a very noisy vhf in the harbour office blaring out until 10pm at night. The beach was nothing to write home about, but the market in town (once I eventually found it) was worth the effort. I was able to get fresh mussels at €2 of 1.5kg , calamari €6 for 1 kg and monkfish for €12. We enjoyed lunch of mussels, fresh bread, and half the calamari dusted in flour. Ethan watched as I cut off the baby squids heads leaving just the tentacles. I then cut the body into rings. The boys devoured them very quickly and I could have done the whole lot. The other half I did on the bbq with the monk fish. We managed to get the boys to eat some salad, they are at least happy to try new things once.

We decided to move to San Vincente on the edge of the Ria. This is a tourist place which is frequented by city dwellers at weekends. The marina is very small but nice. This was the first time we had used a bow anchor as we were a bit big for the small finger pontoon. The beach was massive, but we woke the next morning to thick fog and the mist failed to really clear all day. It did lift a little in the afternoon so we went to the beach. There was decent surf for the boys to play on the body board. The sand was very fine and the boys were pleased that they had got rid of the stoney beaches inside the ria.

Both Oli and Russell got stung by something in the sand, so we had a shorter visit. Some Piriton and hot water seemed to ease the pain and there have been no ill effects. Russell has learnt to be more sympathetic in future as he just thought Oli had stepped on a sharp stone. I may be taking piriton to the beach in future.

We stayed for 2 nights which cost €61. We hope that our recent experience of prices increasing does not last. On the plus side we have 2 stops left before our bargain nights in Portugal with the Arc discount begin.

We also took the opportunity to fill up with fuel. We fitted 108 litres in at a cost of €162. We then left for VIGO which is a big port and city. We had not planned to stop but with a couple of cloudy days forecast we thought that stocking up with provisions may be a good idea. There is also a sea museum which might be of interest and give an opportunity to do a school excursion. A number of cruise ships visit so hopefully it will have an English translation. There are 4 marinas to choose from, we are aiming for the one closest to town.