016
Sunday, September 2017
Illa de Arousa, Galicia, Spain.
42º34´54´´ North, 008º52´58´´ West
Mar Tenebroso
A ship at anchor is a universe of sound and motion, gently rocked by the winds and waves. Time gradually loses sense, the days slowly overflow. Each morning the clouds greet us in a thousand shades of changing grey. The main wind is called the Portuguese North and remind us, rather cruely, of the ease of our destination southwards. To go with the flow ! But the crew hardly gets ashore. The fishermen and sunday sailors, as the ambassadors of the little island in the distance, are sailing by, frenetically waving and photographing. Some of them bring local wine, licuors or mussles. They think they live in paradise and they’re right, for some weeks. But the crew, one day, is involved in cleaning a thousand tools. Another day in sorting out a thousand ropes. Seven consecutive days in pumping and rowing a ton of bilge oil to the shore. The mechanic, who kept our motors running for nearly three decades, stayed a week aboard to make sure everything works. Over the decades this motor room slowly turned into a museum, loosing sense of time. The crew got enlarged with four women, defying maritime stereotypes. Ready for part two of the world trip: A Fool’s Festival on this island and sailing to the Canary Islands. Next weekend Fool House and Grand Voyage.
