Blog 19: Ria de Arousa
Praia de Coroso, near Ribeira
This is our first ‘port of call’ in the second big Ria – Arousa – with Rich, Ashley, Eleanor and George on board
Beautiful long sandy beach, turquoise and azure colours of sea and sky.
Good way to keep George under control?!
Rich, Els, George and I swam back to the boat – quite a distance and a challenge, but we did it!
Hauled the anchor up to find it covered in bright green seaweed – looks just like lettuce, enough to feed us all week! Here’s Rich clearing it with a boat hook.
Illa de Salvora
Illa de Salvora is within the Galicia National Park, together with the island groups of Ons and Cies. Boats have to apply for a permit to anchor around the islands of the National Park, and you are only allowed 10 days per year in order to protect the ecosystem.
Approaching the anchorage at Salvora …
… lovely morning, perfect blue skies
Beautifully clear, clean water
A bit of a breeze started to get up – in fact we saw one of our towels (which was hanging out to dry on the boat rails) blow overboard while we were ashore and unable to save it!
We walked to the lighthouse along the only path where access is allowed. The rest of the island is a bird sanctuary and nature reserve. Here I’m with George, Eleanor and Ashley.
Typical rocky island scenery
The crenellated building houses the slightly underwhelming museum of old fishing gear etc – in fact, the lobster pot George found was as good as many of the exhibits here!
The intrepid swimmers (Rich, Eleanor, George and me) swam back to the boat from here – rather a refreshing temperature, but good to do!
Cabo de Cruz
Unfortunately, the weather deteriorated …
… and by the time we reached the marina at Cabo de Cruz it was absolutely bucketing down with torrential rain!
So we only ventured as far as the restaurant at the marina – but that turned out to be a surprisingly good decision. Cosy wooden interior, busy and lively with locals as well as visitors, great tapas and pretty decent local wine in unlabelled bottles at only 7€ a bottle.
The next morning was completely different – dry and sunny. George and Eleanor are trying to catch our supper using a home-made fishing rod – unfortunately without success!
Praia de Barraña
This is an attempt at a panoramic view as we approach Praia de Barraña …
… yet another fabulous long, sandy beach
Good for beach games like Kubb and French cricket, and with plenty of kiosks selling ice-creams and beer.
This is the life!
It’s a very flat beach, the sea goes out miles, with incredibly clear water and nice for swimming back to the boat. We anchored off this beach several times, and couldn’t understand why we were almost always the only boat there as it was so lovely.
Vilagarcia
The ‘anchor party’ at the ready on the last day of their holiday
Final sail to Vilagarcia with Rich and family
Concentration!
Relaxed at the helm
Ashley taking a turn at the wheel
Arriving at Vilagarcia Marina
Vilagarcia also has a nice beach, the sea was warm enough to swim and there was a big grassy area (though rather prickly!) to play beach games.
Brother and sister – and George photo-bombing in the background!!
We had bubbly to celebrate all our wedding anniversaries (within 4 days of each other, different years of course!) then dinner at the marina restaurant.
Easy walk to station through Vilagarcia.
Now we have a quick crew change – Amanda and Yves are arriving just after Rich and family leave. We’ve just got time to spend a morning in the (very efficient) laundrette in the town washing towels and sheets, and clean all the sand off the boat – actually pretty easy when in a marina with a hose and unlimited water.
Praia de Barraña
We had a very late lunch in the cockpit on our first day with Yves and Amanda – it’s almost 6pm!! We really have got used to late Spanish meal times!
Amanda and Yves relaxing in deckchairs on the aft deck
When the tide is out this far on Praia de Barraña it’s perfect for hunting for shellfish.
Amanda immediately (having lived in France most of her adult life) did what all French people love to do and began searching for our supper! She taught me how to recognise the breathing holes of clams and tell the difference from those of worms, then we dug down for them with our hands.
We managed to collect enough for dinner! Back on board we cleaned the sand from them by leaving them to their own devices in a bucket of fresh seawater – they squirt the clean water through their ‘antennae’, sometimes several inches into the air and over the sides of the bucket – quite fascinating!
Then Amanda cooked them in their shells in onions and white wine until they all opened. We removed the clams from the shells using an empty clam shell as ‘tweezers’ to pinch them out, then added cream to the liquor and poured it over spaghetti – absolutely delicious!
Weeks later someone told us that collecting shellfish on the beach in the typical French way is not allowed in Spain – we had no idea! Thinking about it, though, perhaps we should have wondered why we were the only people doing it …?!
Illote Guidoiro Areoso
The next day the Ria was like a millpond
We motored through dozens of ‘Viveros’ (mussel rafts)
Close-up of one of the Viveros – you can see the ropes hanging beneath it where the mussels are attached and grow. The concrete blocks lying on it are positioned to weight the raft down and keep it stable.
This is the best seat on the boat!
We anchored off the tiny, beautiful, tropical-looking islet of Illote Guidoiro Areoso – soft, white sand and azure sea, though definitely not a tropical sea temperature!
This traditional boat came and anchored next to us
We went ashore and walked round the island – such clear sparkling water
Yves stopped here to paint a watercolour
Quite a lot of people on the beaches as it is some sort of Fiesta today
The other side of the island is more rocky
An interestingly eroded rock – you can’t help wanting to climb to the top!
Back to the sandy dunes on the other side
A few brave wildflowers growing in the inhospitable soil
Areoso actually comprises two small joined islands – by the time we returned from our walk the tide had come in so we had to wade back to where we’d left the dinghy!
Yves, Amanda and Charles
A peaceful sunset – lovely deep indigo colour of the sky
Very early the next morning we awoke to find ourselves surrounded by dozens of small boats (maybe more than 100) hand-dredging for shellfish – quite a sight!
We left so early in the morning that the ‘anchor party’ were still in their dressing gowns!
Great sailing – perfect wind to get the sails up and Amanda on the helm
Yves’s turn!
Cambados
Cambados is a lovely little historic town. We went there a couple of times …
The second visit was in the late afternoon when the sun lit up the stonework beautifully …
Vilanova de Arousa
At first Vilanova seemed a rather nondescript little place, but it has a thriving fishing industry and an attractive old part, an excellent laundrette and decent supermarket! Important considerations when you are ‘living aboard’. And when the sun is shining, it also looks more attractive than I at first thought!
I look shockingly blonde after having my hair in the sun for 4 or 5 months!
Praia de Su a Laxe and Punta do Cabalo Lighthouse
We had one more stop in a quiet little bay on Illa de Arousa on our way to our winter boatyard.
Xufre – Illa de Arousa
We were happy that Astraia was safe for the winter as they had special security guards at Xufre …
… you had to make sure you made friends with them first so you could get back into the boatyard after a night out! Sensible boat owners made sure they always had a dog biscuit handy!
So that’s where our 2018 cruise finished – now on towards Portugal in 2019.
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