Saturday - 23 June 2018 - updated

Not such a peaceful night, there was a band playing music(?) in the marina until 1:00 am. We were both deprived of sleep by it, but eventually drifted off. Nevertheless, the alarm went off at 7:00 so that we could be away early, for a longish trip. We prepared the boat quickly and set off. The weather forecast was for good wind initially, followed by light winds from variable directions.  This proved to be fairly accurate, as we started with a good breeze, even before we had cleared the mouth of the ria. Over the next couple of hours it increased, and we reduced the sail plan to maintain good control. It then decreased again and we returned to full sail.

We were going along nicely and then were treated to another escort of dolphins, we managed to catch some of it on film but it actually lasted at least 2 hours.

At one point I had to go to the bow, and one landed so close I was splashed.  Eventually as ever, the wind died a little, the boat speed dropped and the dolphins melted away. We saw some small groups leave, but others were still there for a while, and then you notice that they have gone. The wind then decided to die and we resorted to engine power. Unusually, this meant that we were rejoined for a while, but we had to turn more inland and they were gone again.

We passed Cape Finisterre, another of those places famous from the shipping forecast, but as with  many of the other major headlands on our voyages, the weather was docile and the place seemed less than awe inspiring.

We entered the Ria Muros - Noia and again marvelled at the scenery. Please don’t tell anyone about this area, or they will all come and it will possibly be spoiled. We headed for Muros, where we had booked to stay for a couple of nights. We will leave the boat either here or on the other side of the ria when we head home next week. When we return we have folks visiting and we need to get to Porto in a week, so we have eaten into the mileage from A Coruna to make sure it is doable in the time we have available. We still want to explore more of the rias and towns on their banks.

When we arrived, the poor guy running the marina was overloaded. Multiple boats were arriving, all of whom he had to direct and help, while at the same time managing a lengthy admin process for each boat in the office. Ultimately all successfully achieved, but we had to wait in a queue to do the admin for a while.

The weather is hot and glorious. We spoke of our time in the snows of Germany only a couple of months ago, and also were glad of our decision to go to the Baltic last year. If we had had sun like this we would never have broken away to go north.

Distance covered today	47.6	nautical miles
Trip distance covered	731	nautical miles
Distance covered 2018	1451	nautical miles

Steve (and Tricia)