Finisterre to Ria de Muros

2nd August 2009
Finisterra started buzzing at about 10 a.m. The forecast when we got it was WNW 3-4, ideal for going south so we shall be off again today. Rowed shore for a final sortie and discovered that the celebrations are for the 8th Finisterra Festival of the razor clam which they eat in abundance here but it is one of their more expensive shell fish.

There are lots of small dogs here as there have been throughout the Ria towns and villages, it is really making us miss our own dog Benbow. Here he is on the boat last year.

Left harbour after raising the anchor without difficulty so not fouled as we thought it might be. Light SW wind carried us out of Finisterre harbour shaking out the reefs we put in the mainsail yesterday.  The big swells have calmed down quite a bit, sun is up and the cloud seems to have retreated in land over the hills. As we sail south, now in the Baixa (lower) Rias area, the hills are still very rugged, we are passing one which looks like Tryffan in North Wales but, of course, not so high. This is such gentle sailing at 3.5 knots, I'm trying to catch fish with my home made lure and Chris is trying to get cricket scores on the World Service, it really doesn't feel as if yesterday was in the same month let alone the same week. However, there is navigation to attend to, we are passing close to some reefs where the swell is breaking impressively. We can't go too far out as as there are other outlying reefs that we need to avoid. The temptation with the boat sailing quietly along is to get involved in some other activity (such as sleeping) but it would be very easy to find suddenly we were off course and "standing into danger"!

Entered the Ria avoiding all bulbous and sharp rocks port and starboard and now happily anchored in Ensenada de Muros, the beachy bay just off the town of Muros. This Ria is so enclosed and calm that it is more like being anchored in a lake. Unlike many of our other anchorages there are 9 yachts here, three are English, a couple of Dutch yachts and the rest are French. There is also quite a large Spanish yacht traversing the Ria. This is unusual as we see hardly any Spanish yachts although the harbours are usually full with a variety of hobby fishing boats. Fishing is a major pastime in Galicia, if not from boats then from quays, breakwaters, rocks and harbour walls, fishermen/women in every harbour.

This morning we awoke at low tide to find 60 or 70 women, mostly in their 60s, up to their knees raking along the foreshore for clams. It was all very official with the clams being sized and weighed under the eagle eyes of 2 officials before being packed into the back of a van. In an hour the van was packed full to the roof. I would guess that there are only certain days that this happens as otherwise the beach would soon be stripped bare.

   PS Please could someone identify this creature?