Ensenada de Mera and Sada – Ria de Betanzos

Just 15 minutes from La Coruna marina is the small sheltered bay of Ensenada de Mera.

We had passed it a few times previously but decided we would use it as a lunch stop having flown in for a few days and left the marina late morning. We didn’t go ashore but it was a small charming bay offering us an excellent sheltered anchorage for lunch and an early afternoon siesta for some, content to get back into the spanish way of life after a 02:45 get up to get to the airport! With the added benefit of a clean anchor when we decided to leave, it will certainly be used again, maybe even for an overnight stop.

A short hop under genoa, back into the Ria de Betanzos, meant we had many choices of where to stay the night, but we opted to head south for a couple of miles to Sada on the western shore of the Ria. The chart plotter showed the favourable anchorage might be a little shallow for us but when we arrived and did the calculations we were able to find a spot tucked in behind the breakwater for a very pleasant evening.

A trip ashore landed us in the marina where we were not immediately taken with the buildings. The marina is however built a little to the north of the main town centre in what appears to be a more commercial environment, and a short walk south along the front took us to the main shopping and eating areas – a much nicer prettier environment. What struck us was the mix of old and new; there are some very old buildings, then closeby some modern glass fronted buildings, but somehow in the main they seem to work together. What we also concluded, is that the town has been hit quite hard, presumably with the recession. There are many closed down and boarded up buildings, some rather nice buildings, and also some very old buildings that have been demolished – strange to wonder down a street and see the last building in a terrace, or half a several hundred year old semi demolished with the rest still standing and occupied.

Worth noting for us is that there is a large modern supermarket just a couple of minutes walk from the marina – so this may well end up being a regular first stop having arrived in Spain!