Ria de Arousa

Pearl of Persia
Andrew Lock
Sun 10 Jun 2012 09:14
We left Cangass and headed down river and into Ria de Arousa which is the
next river north. It was a beautiful day, with the sun shining. There was
no wind to start with but as we headed out it picked up and we managed to
put the sails up. We anchored off the small island of Salvadora just at the
mouth of the river. It was a spectacular spot, with not another boat in
sight. The photo shows a view from the island which is a national park. We
took the dingy onto the island and walked the path towards the light house,
and on up onto the rocks The cormorants and gulls were extremely noisy,
trying to protect their eggs. Nests were everywhere. I did feel that we
would be dive-bombed by them all if we didn't get out of their way.
Another hot and sunny day. A little maintenance work on the engine, and
then we decided to be really good and go for a run on the island up to the
light house and back. We had to do it twice, to make it a 5K run. (not used
to running up hill!) No other boat seen all day.
What a difference 12 hours make. We woke to strong winds and a big swell
so went in search of shelter up river to Cambados. This is where the
wonderful local wine Alborino comes from. Always a good excuse to go
somewhere like that. Unfortunately having navigated through shallow waters
and rather misty and foggy conditions, we found that the anchorage was not
suitable. It was exposed to winds from the South so a big U turn and back
across the bay to Proba do Caraminol. It was raining quite hard at this
stage so the sight of the marina was a very welcome one, especially as it
was quite easy to get into
We stayed a couple of nights, and then we headed for Isla de Arousa which is
a small island with very picturesque anchorages. It's quite interesting
sailing between the fish farms where they cultivate mussels. Large wooden
rafts or bateas with ropes hanging down where the mussels grow. Quite
dangerous to navigate between them in the dark....which means we don't do
it. This part of Spain supplies 60% of the worlds mussels.
The following day was again hot and sunny so decided to stay and enjoy the
sun and views for the day, then towards the end of the day we headed out
towards Villa Garcia.
The winds picked up as we entered the harbour and we made several
unsuccessful attempts to set the anchor so eventually we headed into the
marina. This is the capital of this area and is by far the biggest town
around. Today the weather turned for the worst again! Light drizzly rain,
and mist.....(just like a normal English summers day!) Its Saturday, so off
we went to see the delights of the town. We're getting use to the local time
scale. Lunch around 2:30 then drinks from 8:30. Nobody eats before 10:30...
The fish market was astonishing, the best we have come across. The variety,
abundance and freshness just make us you want to buy it all. And cheap. Not
sure what we bought for dinner, a big fish with yellow stripes. but at just
3 Euros