Spain: Isla de Arosa in the Ria de Arosa

Well our luck is still holding, and we made it here with out incident. No fish though. We steered right into medleys of dolphins and diving birds, but still came up skunked. We have had two rods out, either side, but no luck. We have not caught anything since the Bay of Biscay.

The Ria de Arosa is very similar to ‘Up North’ in Canada. A mixture of rock and sandy shoreline. Lots of rocky islands popping up everywhere. Forested hills are set back a little further. That is where the similarity ends. 100-200m off shore are extensive wooden rafts with rope hanging from them (mussel rafts) Each raft is about 20 x20m square topped with collection equipment and boxes. The shoreline is also heavily populated all along the edge with villages, holiday resorts and fishing ports.

Being typical Brits, our cruising guide is purchased used and 10 years out of date so we found that a sea wall had been built where the anchorage on the North side of the Island used to be. That is ok. We made our own anchorage off the beach on the North East side of the new wall. Lets see if we suffer from the ‘Lemming Effect’ (see former blog if you are unfamiliar with the definition of this term). I doubt it very much. The winds are meant to be gentle and from the South West, so we should be very comfortable nestled between the beach and the mussel platforms.

We have not been to the fishing village yet. The highlight of the Ria is meant to be the village we plan to see tomorrow, Cambados. Apparently you can only anchor off a ways from the town, as it’s harbour has silted up. We are going to anchor off and explore the old town and its history. If the weather remains fair we may stay there for the night. If the winds pick up we will return to the safety of the North End of the Island again. end: