Oil slick, Northern Spain

[charity]

We are planning to sail to the Med commencing in May and hope to Day sail as much as possible down the Atlantic coast. I have heard of the conditions regarding the oil slick in northern Spain for passage making out at sea, but cannot find information regarding the clean up operation along the coast.

If the coast line and ports/harbours are still bad, it looks as if we will be going by canal to the Med, although I would still prefer to go "round the outside" if at all possible.I have tried the RYA and Spanish tourist board/embassy without success.

Any ideas ?



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[charles_reed]

Try David Lumby at <lumby@nortenet.pt>.

Or telephone him on 00351 58835 065.

He's the HRA in Viana for the CA - of which you should be a member if you aren't already.

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[mdrifter]

Have a look in "Scuttlebut" around 4th March. Fairly favourable/optimistic views - we hope to get there c. April/May...

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[cynthia]

Web site

http://www.touradour.com/pollution.htm

Just found this, has some useful links.

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[lezgar]

Galicia and Northern Spanish coasts are clean.

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[chrisrixon]

Places to visit

A bit off topic, but I did the same trip last year.

Unless you are planning a marina hop here are some suggested stopping points. You may need reasonable weather for some of them:

Glenans
Islas Cies
Sao Martinho
Alvor
Alcoutim
El Rompido
Sancti Petri

I can also recommend the two day crossing of Biscay. I'd probably go Glenans - Gijon another time. Its a good compromise between the full 4-5 day crossing and hugging the coast and allows you to do the crossing with a reliable forecast for the whole trip. See my web site for map. Some of the map is clickable (not finished yet).

Chris.

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[wagenaar]

According to the spanish authorities the beaches will be clean before the summer. It looks as if at this moment there are only oil-remains on the rocks and then in particular on the rocks that are difficult to be reached from the shore. At this moment fishing is allowed again along the spanish coast with the exception of the Costa de Muerte, that is roughly the part between Coruña and Finisterre. In the Rias de Betanzos, Ares and Coruña still a lot of sailing is going on. This means that sailing to La Coruña or to Sada in the Ria de Betanzos is no problem. Going around Finisterre could be a problem, because it takes at least 24 hours to sail from either Sada or Coruña to a harbour in the Rias Bajas. The first harbour would be Porto do Son in the Ria de Muros y Noia. I visited Muros and Noia today by car and it looked rather clean. The most polluted harbours were Muxia, Camariñas, Laaxe and Corme. Of these harbours only Camariñas has a marina, although it is possible to anchor near the other harbours. I would suggest that you keep clear of these harbours, unless you get information, that one can go there without any problem.

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[Birdseye]

Dont know about the beaches since we left before the oil arrived. However, dont let anyone talk you into missing out the north spanish coast and doing a "long" Biscay crossing. The coast from the French border to gijon is most attractive and very Spanish, unlike the coasts further south. Best crossing is to Bilbao which is accessible in all weathers (use the Real Club Maritimo not the marina) and from there you can coast bask to San Sebastian before heading west. Lots of little harbours (free), good food, nice people, and few tourists.

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