PORTO NOVO AND ISLAS DE CIEL

LEAVING PORTO NOVO
‘Hey, Jen, can I go iup to the supermarket?
‘No, Dave’.
‘Can I take the rubbish up?’
‘No, Dave’
‘Why is the engine on Jen?’
‘We are going now’
‘Right now?’
‘Yes Dave, before the b......y wind gets up. Remember yesterday, 5 to 8 no wind, 10 past 8 a howling gale’.
‘Best I get the warps off then’.
‘Right Dave, and don’t forget to hop on board.’
And so we made a graceful exit from Porto Novo, out into the ria and on the way to Bayona. Once the fenders were in and the warps stowed, we turned the engine off and bobbed along on the tide in the bright sunshine and Dave made lovely toast for brekkie (yesterday’s bread as I wouldn’t let him up to the bread shop, but wonderful all the same.) Looked about for the wind, and there was none – sod’s law I suppose, so we got out that wonderful pink and purple colourful sail and started to drift along in the direction we wanted to go. No hurry, as this leg was only about 3 or 4 hours.
‘Jen’
‘Yes Dave’
‘At this rate we will be there in 15 hours time’
‘Hmmmm. I suppose 1 knot is a bit slow’
‘You can walk faster’
‘Not St Peter though’
It was nice drifting along and at times we even did 2 knots, able to have a civilised morning tea without falling over, watch the dolphins, and the other boats pass us by under engine. We were caught up by our friends from Muros who very cheekily motored alongside and offered us some diesel! After a while we looked at the map, and decided that we would be able to go to a little anchorage off an island on the way, so gave in for the last couple of miles and motored to the Islas Ciels. So glad we did, and found our friends there too. The islands are small, but have wonderful beaches and are a great holiday spot and day trip destination. Put the anchor down, watched the ferry come and go with the trippers, looked at the people on the beach and generally chilled out. The wind did pick up but the anchor held nicely and we gently rocked off to sleep.
Not too early a start, we were the last boat to pick up its anchor, and off we went for the last few miles. Just put the foresail up and whizzed along at over 6 knots, great sail into Bayona harbour. Decided to anchor off in a corner across from the marina at a little town called Panjon or Panxon depending which map you are using.