Bay on the West Coast

In the night believe it or not it rained and we had to shut hatches etc. After breakfast we prepared the boat and had decided to go down the west coast to a beach bay called Puerto de Sardina del Norte. It sounded nice and was a largely unspoilt bay where you can anchor off the beach. The bay is apparently popular with divers who come to see manta rays. It was about 25nm and we hoped that it would be sheltered from the swell as our previous anchorage had not been. If it was not we had a plan b to go to Agaete – a small town where there is a small fishing harbour where you can anchor which looked more sheltered.

Alex and Ben were briefed about the boat or given an update so they are aware in case of emergencies or issues etc. We prepared the lines and left. The wind was quite light and once out of the harbour we set sail. We had to tack a number of times in order to miss headlands as the wind direction meant we had to. However, this was good gentle sailing and an opportunity for Alex to learn about trimming.

We sailed for some time and then the wind began to drop but it was not that far to go so we switched the engine on and took the sails down. The fishing line suddenly went and Mark thought he had caught a fish but unfortunately the line broke. We then suddenly say a dorsal fin and there was a small shark not far from the boat just swimming on the surface. Was it the shark that had taken the line? Quite concerning bearing in mind we wanted a swim when we arrived!!

We came round the headland to a charming bay with steep rocky sides and colourful houses built round the bay. There was a dark sandy beach and two small piers from which swimmers were jumping. There were a number of paddleboarders as well. The place looked charming in the sun and it looked inviting.

We anchored in sand off the beach in about 9m of water and decided to have a swim. The water was warm and below was just sand which had been carved by the waves into the usual ripple shape. Mark snorkled to the rocks and found a lot of fish life. Jules paddleboarded and Ben swam in his running shorts!! (explaining that he normally does not wear swimming shorts!). Alex was surprised how war, it was.

We thought it would be nice to go ashore and have supper and it seemed to be quite busy with people and music. We got the dinghy out and went ashore. There were no English people at all and it was all local Spanish people enjoying their Sunday swimming, boating and having a drink at one of the bars. We soon discovered, however, that the restaurants were closed and there were just bars open. We had a stroll around and it was a small fishing type village and very genuine and as the sun went down the light and colours were beautiful. Stormbird sat proud as the only boat anchored in the bay.

Mark and Ben rustled up a sausage and lentil stew which we eat and a bit of a roll developed bearing in mind how Stormbird was anchored. It was good to see somewhere new but it was too late to move on now.

 If you have any questions, comments, suggestions – do email me on hine.nick9@gmail.com