Around the Portugal & Spanish Coast

Caution

As the information on this page is contributed by many people, it is not possible to vouch for its accuracy. Information can also be 'out of date' at the time that the information is read. The information must not be used for navigational purposes. The safety of a vessel depends ultimately on the judgement of the skipper, who should assess all information, published or unpublished. We cannot be held responsible in any way for consequences that may be incurred as a result of using information from this site.

Portugal

Figueira da Foz - The entrance could be difficult in a big swell against the ebb. The marina is of moderate size and the toilets were rather basic (that is being kind). However, there is a superb covered market close by that has almost everything that you could wish, good fish, meat, vegetables, fruit, dairy, produce etc. For beers, spirits and other such necessities there is a very good supermarket just a short walk away. Frank Singleton, Yacht: Anhinga, 3/8/00

Viana do Castelo - This must rank as the find of our cruise. The town was delightful with excellent shops, a good covered produce market and good meat shops. Everyone we met seemed very helpful, friendly and inly too willing to speak some English, (we have very little Portugese). The yacht club served good meals, the staff were very helpful. Checking in was one of our quickest, the attendant keyed all our data in, I did not have to write anything and the data were fed automatically to customs. The water was clean in the sense that it was oil free in the marina. However, judging from the number and size of the mullet it was far from biologically clean due to an outfall. I would not have swum in the marina!
We were told by several other boats that Leixoes was very dirty. As a result we stayed at Viana and took the train to Oporto. The train service was efficient but not very fast. Frank Singleton 11/12/98

Cascais - Waiting pontoons immediately to starboard on entry also receeption building not marked as such. Frank Singleton, Yacht: Anhinga, 3/8/00

Lagos Calor Gas refilling can be achieved by taking the bottles to Blue Water Yacht Services, on the upper floor of the block right by the marina - it takes two working days for them to take and return the bottles. There is a small chandlery, not very well stocked, by the fishing harbour. Frank Singleton, Yacht: Anhinga, 3/8/00

Boat repairs at Sopramar where good English spoken. Local shope and restaurants available.Car Hire/Taxis available from PDM Travel with discounted rates for CA. John Dransfield, HLR, 31/01/05

Faro - We were told by friends who had been there this is an exceedingly cheap place to have a boat out of the water to do work on it. Costs quoted to us were £1 a day and £40 for lift out and power wash. Frank Singleton, Yacht: Anhinga, 3/8/00

Olhao area (Algarve) Reports have been seen (eg Yachting Monthly) of on the spot fines being imposed by the Maritime Police for relatively minor infringements. Examples include not showing appropriate day or night signs at anchor, displaying inappropriate ensigns. Fines are quoted as 10,000Escudos plus 8,000 administration: roughly £50 in total. Failure to pay is said to lead potentially to impounding the vessel and a penalty of 100,000E. Mike Davey, Yacht Pandora 18/10/01

Spain

Bay of Cadiz - Puerto Sherry in receivership but still useable. Long way from shops. Apparently engineering and other services available. We went to Rota. Very good and cheaper than Puerto Sherry. Frank Singleton, Yacht: Anhinga, 3/8/00

Santander Marina del Cantabrico approach - After Channel marker Fl G 4s continue along channel until BYB inflated buoy, turn to 236 T for leading marks. If these are not identified then head for pyramid shaped glass structure. NOTE the entry channel is not drying, a chartlet provided by the marina shows nothing less than 4 metre charted between the BYB and the marina entrance. Our soundings confirmed that. Frank Singleton, Yacht: Anhinga, 3/8/00

Gijon Entry descriptions in pilot and Macmillans are quite good but identification of skyscraper (mentioned in the pilot) can be uncertain. There is a green triangle, point up, on one of the walls of Musel Harbour, probably on the Muelle de Minerales. With this astern, head about 150 T for Piedra del Sacremanto, a Green octagonal tower. Plenty of room in marina, excellent toilets/showers, very easy fuelling.

Ribadeo – Outer wall now extended with mooring alongside available. Water and electricity is on the pontoons.

Viveiro – Travel lift now operational but boats on the hard are not secured or fenced. Ed., 18/04/05

Ribadesella - The harbour master recommends approach on a southerly course to skirt the shoals at the foot of the church of La Guia (ie Pta del Caballo). He says that fishing boats drawing 2 metres enter at low water "in favourable conditions". He also says that there is a minimum of 4 metres off the yacht quay.

Ria Cedeira I confirm the uncertain holding due to weedy. Recommend good check of anchor. The town is well provided with banks, shops, at least one supermarket, some restaurants etc.

La Coruna - The nearby Regata chandlery has limited stock but is good for spares such as shackles, light bulbs, fenders etc. Frank Singleton, Yacht: Anhinga, 3/8/00

"New" Club Nautico - very helpful attendants but it does help if you call them first as you approach. Excellent meals at the YC.

Camariñas The white hermitage on the approach has a red roof. The marks on the Pta de Lago line are not easy to see unless coming in on a sunny evening. The forward mark on the Pta Villueira line is much more conspicuous and can be misleading at first if looking for the Lago line.
Muros
Ensenada de San Francisco holding is very good (we were rock solid in a good force 6 with gusts).
Ensenada de Bornalie has very bad holding due to very dense weed.
Portosin Yacht Club and marina very good and very helpful, call them up as you approach. Pretty good meals at the YC. Good market all day Saturday. Reasonably convenient bus service to Santiago and a safe place to leave a boat.

Ria Arosa
Approach to Santa Eugenia - Baja Comouco is marked by a green beacon with no top mark.
Caramiñal - good produce market on Wednesdays and a permanent fish market.
Villagarcia - another very helpful marina where the pontoon attendants had good English. Produce market Tuesday and Saturday, large fish market. Marina run by Port authority, separate from Yacht Club.
Pedras Negras To the south of Peninsula del Grove - the southern wall is now completed. There is a small marina with 3(?) pontoons with, I was told, about 3 or 4 spaces for visitors. The approach seemed to be marked by port hand posts with a port hand light on the harbour wall and a green on rocks opposite the entrance. I only saw from the land in daylight and could get no details. It looks a useful staging post if you do not want to go deep into Pontevedra or Arosa.

Ria de Pontevedra - There is now a large (500 + berth) marina at Sangenjo. It was still being built (August 1998) but work was proceeding apace. There will be nine Pontoons (5 or 6 already in use) plus a substantial amount of space for alongside berths (already in use). Water and electricity on the pontoons. The pontoons and fingers are large and solid by any standards. Showers and toilets at present are temporary. The whole should be complete by the season 2000 but I expect all pontoons to be in service by 1999. Prices are comparable to other marinas with finger pontoons in Spain (Cantabrico and Gijon) ie about £13 for a 34 foot yacht.
Shelter is excellent, they have extended the previous harbour wall/breakwater the end of which is now marked by a Fl R light. There is already a fuel berth in a temporary position but this and a travel hoist will be located near the harbour entrance. I do not have any brochures but I do have some photos of their advertising bill board. A contact telephone number is +(34)986720517, fax +(34)986 720578.

Combarro - holding good but in very thick mud. There is a second, longer harbour wall/breakwater about ½ M west of that shown in the pilot.
Bayona Re the "unfriendly" aspect mentioned in the pilot. Our first arrival was on a day when the berths were completely full. The attendants did appear rather brusque but, subsequently, I put this down more to a language problem than anything else. On our return there was some space and the staff were very helpful in squeezing us in. We observed the same approach to others. Calling up on the radio was not very helpful - unless you have good Spanish.

Barbate - Tunny nets on the approach are a problem. From the west, after rounding Cabo Trafalgar head straight for the harbour wall, thus going inside the nets. Leaving to go east, keep to the shore side of the nets before heading out to sea to get around some more nets a little to the east of Barbate. On first arrival it is not that obvious. Arriving at Barbate at about 9 pm the office was closed but a very helpful security guard met us and showed us to a berth. It is a good place to wait for the tides and winds through the Strait. Our experience was different to a recent report. Frank Singleton, Yacht: Anhinga, 7/7/00

General Comments -

Pan Pan response - We had to put out a Pan Pan Relay at night from a little way outside Viana. Finisterre MRCC answered immediately and quickly organised communications via La Guardia radio. The outcome was that the harbour master at Viana arranged for a launch to come out and help the yacht in difficulties. It had got caught on a very substantial lobster pot marker and could not get free. The pot marker had a black flag, not very helpful at night in rough weather. There are, in fact many pots along the bit of coast approaching Viana and we elected to stand right ou te sea well beyond the 100 m line. Luckily the marker was very securely attached to the sea bed, there was a good 6 or 7 blowing at the time. After being freed the yacht returned to Viana under her own steam. The harbour master would accept no payment!! It was all very efficient.

Navigational Aids – We saw no Racon signal from Cabo Toriñana. We did see a Racon signal from Corrubedo, 42º 34'.7N 09º 05'.30W identifier M. We found some of the descriptions of lighthouses in the Iberian Guide to be incomplete and some omitted altogether. The French Livre de bord is far more complete.

Weather Broadcasts - These varied greatly from the various MRCCs. Times are as in the Iberian Supplement but the content was at variance. We heard the following (July/August 1998). All the Sea area forecasts were given in English and Spanish.
Vigo - 4 hourly, Sea areas San Vincente, Finisterre. Coastal waters of South Galicia in English. No Outlook
Finisterre - 4 hourly, Sea areas Finisterre, Viscaya. Coastal waters in Spanish for Lugo to Pontevedra with an outlook. The Spanish was usually reasonably slow and understandable.
La Coruña - 4 hourly, No sea areas, Coastal waters in English for area "near La Coruña", no outlook.
Gijon - 2 hourly, Sea areas Cantabrico, Viscaya, Finisterre. Coastal waters in Spanish with outlook. This was very fast Spanish and I could rarely follow it at all.
Santander - 4 hourly, Sea areas Viscaya, Cantabrico. Coastal waters in English but no outlook. In the Summer months (15 June to 15 September) there is a local area forecast at 0715 and 1115 LT.
Bilbao - 2 hourly, Sea areas Viscaya, Cantabrico, with a forecast for Bilbao harbour in English. Coastal waters of Cantabrico and the Basque country in Spanish with an outlook. This was usually reasonably easy to follow. We could hear this in Santander and a long way out to sea while on passage Santander to la Rochelle.
It was impossible to hear the MRCC broadcasts in most of the Rias and a number of ports eg Luarca, Ribadeo, Cedeira, Muros, Arosa, Pontevedra. In Caramiñas we heard a very broken sea areas forecast from Finisterre. I called up and got a repeat plus a local area in English - very helpful. In Ria Arosa, we heard a very broken Vigo broadcast but could not make contact. Clearly the topography make communication very difficult. Even out at sea we lost Gijon long before reaching Luarca and heard nothing more until outside Cedeira (or a little north) when we could hear La Coruña.
Navtex was very disappointing in that reception was patchy to impossible. Even in Gijon there was no signal. In most of the Rias there was nothing at all. Radio 4 was a vital source of forecasts and, to do them credit, they often gave quite good detail around Cabo Finisterre.
Yacht clubs varied greatly in their displays. Several used Bracknell's charts out to 5 days from the Internet via a Spanish site. The problem was that having displayed a forecast for the next few days they seemed to think it not necessary to update until the end of the period. Bayona was the best in that the charts were updated daily and they also displayed the Bracknell Shipping forecast (also from the Internet). Frank Singleton 11/12/98

Page updated 16 October 2000 Link change 18/4/05

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