TiggerToo
Well-Known Member
.... what is it like, as a cruising destination?
Santander....
- Thread starter TiggerToo
- Start date
LadyInBed
Well-Known Member
I loved the place, but I anchored and didn't use the marinas.
Luffe44
Active Member
Go for Gijon. Santander looks nice, but we did not make it. The guest harbour is a long way away (convenient for the airport).
jordanbasset
Well-Known Member
This was our two blog entries from Santander, going back to 2010 now so not sure it is still upto date, but re-reading the blog entries from that time I am glad my memory was not playing me tricks and it did seem to rain most of the time
http://www.sailblogs.com/member/serenmor/128949
We'd hoped to move on today. We're in a nice enough marina, very secure, with British neighbours (blue ensign) and decent facilities (if you don't mind there being no door on the showers). The problem is that it's across the river from the city, next to the airport, on the outskirts of an industrial estate. We tried to walk to the city centre but couldn't get across the motorway.
There's a commercial centre with a large supermarket that should be within walking distance but getting to it is something of a challenge. We took the bus today (20 minutes walk to bus stop) to stock up and it dropped us off on the motorway slip-road! We got a taxi back.
And it's a pricy marina. We're having to pay about a third more in Spain than we did in France and that's if you stay for 3 nights and get the third night free. It eats into the budget. So we'd like to move on, preferably to an anchorage or buoy in a more scenic spot. The trouble is you need the weather. Our three nights in the marina were up this morning and after a sunny day yesterday Neil had plotted our route to San Vicente de la Barquera. As we listened to the rain and thunder overnight it didn't seem promising, though. Still , ever hopeful (or maybe just stir crazy) we prepared to set off. Another downpour and a lousy weather forecast changed our minds. So we've booked another three nights.
http://www.sailblogs.com/member/serenmor/128950
We've learnt a new word in Spanish - "lluvia". In case you don't know, it means "rain". For some reason we never learnt this when living in Javea. And, believe me, the rain in Spain most definitely does not stay on the plane. The forecast said showers but this is just unrelenting, merciless rain.
We'd like to go into Santander but we'd be drenched before we got to the bus stop and besides, what would we do when we got there? It's even too wet to use the shore facilities or talk to the neighbours. And it just keeps on coming.
Inactivity doesn't suit Neil. He's gone back to bed with a book. I've turned the heating on again. I'm trying to occupy myself - looking at photos, reading magazines and doing my best to resist working my way through a packet of biscuits. I've even cleaned the heads.
It's made worse by the fact that we don't have a decent internet connection. We have a tantalisingly weak signal that allows us to slowly load some pages then disappears - very frustrating. Neil could happily spend hours browsing the web. We could catch up on the news and answer e-mails. I could also put something on the blog (loading photos has been impossible). Heaven knows when anyone will get to read these entries.
It's looking like it will be an early lunch and a long siesta. Wine might even be involved.
http://www.sailblogs.com/member/serenmor/128949
We'd hoped to move on today. We're in a nice enough marina, very secure, with British neighbours (blue ensign) and decent facilities (if you don't mind there being no door on the showers). The problem is that it's across the river from the city, next to the airport, on the outskirts of an industrial estate. We tried to walk to the city centre but couldn't get across the motorway.
There's a commercial centre with a large supermarket that should be within walking distance but getting to it is something of a challenge. We took the bus today (20 minutes walk to bus stop) to stock up and it dropped us off on the motorway slip-road! We got a taxi back.
And it's a pricy marina. We're having to pay about a third more in Spain than we did in France and that's if you stay for 3 nights and get the third night free. It eats into the budget. So we'd like to move on, preferably to an anchorage or buoy in a more scenic spot. The trouble is you need the weather. Our three nights in the marina were up this morning and after a sunny day yesterday Neil had plotted our route to San Vicente de la Barquera. As we listened to the rain and thunder overnight it didn't seem promising, though. Still , ever hopeful (or maybe just stir crazy) we prepared to set off. Another downpour and a lousy weather forecast changed our minds. So we've booked another three nights.
http://www.sailblogs.com/member/serenmor/128950
We've learnt a new word in Spanish - "lluvia". In case you don't know, it means "rain". For some reason we never learnt this when living in Javea. And, believe me, the rain in Spain most definitely does not stay on the plane. The forecast said showers but this is just unrelenting, merciless rain.
We'd like to go into Santander but we'd be drenched before we got to the bus stop and besides, what would we do when we got there? It's even too wet to use the shore facilities or talk to the neighbours. And it just keeps on coming.
Inactivity doesn't suit Neil. He's gone back to bed with a book. I've turned the heating on again. I'm trying to occupy myself - looking at photos, reading magazines and doing my best to resist working my way through a packet of biscuits. I've even cleaned the heads.
It's made worse by the fact that we don't have a decent internet connection. We have a tantalisingly weak signal that allows us to slowly load some pages then disappears - very frustrating. Neil could happily spend hours browsing the web. We could catch up on the news and answer e-mails. I could also put something on the blog (loading photos has been impossible). Heaven knows when anyone will get to read these entries.
It's looking like it will be an early lunch and a long siesta. Wine might even be involved.
jimi
Well-Known Member
Middle daughter worked in Santander for a year, we visited a couple of times. I loved the place. Nice town and excellent countryside around.
SV Kittiwake
Well-Known Member
The town is nice, but the anchorage near the town centre (and therefore the ferry dock) is probably the worst we stayed at all of last year. The ferries seem to really hate you being there and fly past with a massive bow wave. We went to the anchorage further in, near the airport, but then you're miles from anywhere and the view was a bit industrial. We did a nice day trip out to the rock near the entrance which was quite nice, but to anchor out there overnight would be really exposed. I think there may be another anchorage though that we missed.
It's got a restaurant called Zissou (after Steve), which I really wanted to go to, but as per usual in Spain it didn't serve food until we were tucked up in bed.
It's got a restaurant called Zissou (after Steve), which I really wanted to go to, but as per usual in Spain it didn't serve food until we were tucked up in bed.
LadyInBed
Well-Known Member
RobinBirch
Well-Known Member
The area is known as the Costa Verde - there's a reason for that.
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