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| The Victoria being towed in |
We left St. Jean de Luz about 11.00 a.m. but I felt very ill with a pounding headache. I tried to sleep most of the way but was also very sick. This was the first time I had been sick, but it was a virus rather than seasickness. We berthed alongside the waiting pontoon at Getaria, but the harbour master said there was no room for us. Then the skipper of a Spanish boat who had helped us tie up, said he was leaving in the evening, and we could go in his space. I was too ill to go anywhere!
We’d arrived just before Getaria’s big festival which happens once every four years. Juan Sebastian Elcano and his 17 crew had set off with Magellan in 1519 trying to find a passage to India across the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. All the other boats and crew, including Magellan, had perished, but Elcano returned in 1522 with his crew, the first to have circumnavigated the world. The festival is a re-enactment of their ship Victoria returning to Getaria. There were hundreds of people lining the quayside (I thought they were there for us) and as the fishing boats full of people set off to escort Victoria into the harbour they all began to sing.
I was still feeling very ill and went to bed. Roger wandered around Getaria and started chatting to a French couple and some Spaniards moored near us, and invited them on board to look around. Luckily he didn’t invite them into our cabin, as I just wanted to die quietly and peacefully.
GETARIA MARINA: 14 euros, free showers; very friendly staff
Diesel: 99c
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