Exploring the Rias Baixas

For the last three weeks, we have been pottering around the Rias Baixas (three lower Galician Rias). We have covered nearly a hundred miles in total but only advanced thirty miles up the coast! We have however, enjoyed (free) sheltered anchorages off traditional Galician towns and lovely sandy beaches.

                               Daisy chains in Bayona

Bayona waterfront, with old grain store

We spent a couple of days anchored off Bayona, and wandered around the town and its waterfront walks, which are dotted with sculptures. We were amazed to see fins in the water one morning as we had breakfast. A pod of dolphins was feeding around us in the bay, apparently unconcerned by all the moored boats!

Dolphin sculpture in Bayona

Real dolphins feeding in Bayona bay

Next stop was the top of the Ria de Vigo to a large lagoon/basin called the Ensenada de San Simon. We had a pleasant couple of nights anchored there, surrounded by trees and green hills, with San Simon island (a former convent then leper colony), sitting serenely in the middle. We didn’t set foot ashore but explored in the dinghies, passing the immense Rande suspension bridge and around the entrance to the ria de Redondela.

approaching Rande suspension bridge

Kids in their own dinghy

It turns out that this was the site of the famous battle of Vigo back in 1702. The Spanish galleons had taken refuge here with cargoes full of silver brought back from the Americas, and a fleet of French ships were guarding them. Somehow, the British got wind of this, sailed down to attack, and managed to destroy the entire Spanish fleet. Many boats still lie on the bottom here, possibly still containing holds full of gold and silver. Opinion is mixed on this, however, as the Spanish claimed at the time to have already unloaded most of their cargo, but an excavation team has recently offered over 50 million euros for salvage rights so you would assume that plenty remains.  The children were fired up by the thought of digging down for treasure until they realised it would now be covered by several metres of mud!

Battle of Vigo, 1702

The Galician rias are famous for seafood and contain rows upon rows of mussel rafts. Each one is made from enormous baulks of wood, with hundreds of ropes hanging down for the mussels to grow on. Many of them have huge water containers on top (to weight them down?) and some even have little sheds on top too. The fishermen come out in large steel boats to harvest the mussels, each equipped with a HIAB (mini crane) and machinery to shake the mussels off and sort them. It is quite an industry.

mussel raft

ropes hanging from mussel rafts

We anchored inside a maze of mussel rafts at Moana, and although it wasn’t sunbathing weather, we spent a happy morning digging in the sand. We found ragworms, lugworms, a whole variety of shells, and most importantly, live clams for tea. Along with mussels pulled from the rocks at low tide, we had a veritable feast, served with spaghetti and white wine sauce. Delicious!

lovely patterns on clam shells

We took the ferry across the river to the city of Vigo, where a friendly American pointed us in the direction of the main city park. The rain held off while we climbed to the top of the park and took in the wonderful view over the whole ria. The park was once a fortified settlement, and is now the site of formal gardens, with several fountains, and a display of three huge anchors from the sunken galleons.

T-Rex bush in Vigo

Vigo park, with anchors and cannons from sunken ships 

The next stop was Cangas, an attractive town with several playparks along the waterfront, and to the kids’ delight, a whole variety of pic ‘n’ mix sweet shops at reasonable prices. Reuben was delighted to get a huge ‘Spiderman’ cone of goodies for just one euro! We stocked up on groceries too, and the children tested their strength by insisting on carrying a 6-pack of milk each back to the dinghy.

old washroom still in use, Cangas

Kids carrying groceries in Cangas

Finally, the weather cleared, and we headed out to the islands off the entrance of the ria, the Islas de Cies. They are one of four groups of islands along the coast here that have been made into a National Park. We had heard about them on our way south, but too late to get the necessary permits to visit in time. This time, we applied online and obtained permission.

We arrived just before sunset and anchored off a deserted long beach along with three other Spanish yachts. This was Rodas Beach, which, according to a leaflet on the Vigo ferry, was voted the ‘best beach in the world’ by The Guardian.

arriving at Isla de Cies

The next morning, we had a leisurely breakfast, then packed a picnic for a walk around the north island. We motored ashore in the dinghy at just the same time as an enormous trip boat arrived with over 200 passengers. The noise from the boat’s twin Detroit two-stroke engines was impressive!

The beach was long, white and sandy as promised, but didn’t stay deserted for long, as the hordes of passengers went to find themselves a good spot, and more big trip boats soon followed behind. It was Sunday after all!

anchored at Islas de Cies

Reuben taking notes along the trail!

We were pleasantly surprised to find the trails weren’t very busy at all. We came across a group of volunteers cleaning up the ruins of an ancient house (complete with forge), and another group of students catching and studying butterflies. They seemed to be fluttering about everywhere – Katie and Reuben were allowed to hold some captured by the students, and were soon picking them up on their own.

Reuben holding a butterfly

Katie holds a pair of butterflies!

We walked north to the lighthouse, through tall, eucalyptus trees. The children were fascinated by the strips of bark hanging off each tree, they apparently shed it to keep cool. We laid one long strip of bark on the ground and measured it out in paces, roughly 14 metres long!

Dave among the eucalyptus trees

Kids peeling loose bark from eucalyptus tree

The path spurred off to an incredible viewpoint on the other side of the island. Not only were there crazy eroded pools in the clifftops (panhandles apparently), but wonderful views over the southern island, and the lagoon between the two. A natural fault-line had basically cut the island into two, and the fallen rocks had formed a dam between the two parts. Sand had then collected on the lee side of the islands (our lovely beach), creating a tidal lagoon between the rocks and the sand. All very beautiful, and tying in nicely with Katie’s school topic of ‘coasts’!

Eroded rocks at the viewpoint

Looking down over the beach and lagoon (just visible on the right)

After descending, we crossed the walkway built alongside the stone dam, and walked around the lagoon. Several varieties of fish come to feed in the lagoon and no swimming is allowed. The children were relieved to get back to the beach after all the walking and cool off in the sea. They didn’t stay in long, mind you, as the water is freezing cold compared to the Canaries!

crossing to the south island, lagoon to our left

braving the chilly water

We had a relaxed Monday – ‘school’ consisted of a sandcastle experiment on the beach. ‘Houses’ were built from either sand, mud, stones, or sticks, and were squirted with water to mimic centuries of rain. The sea eventually washed them all away to nothing but comparisons were made and duly noted. The stone houses fared best, although the mud and stick one took a fair bit of drenching before disintegrating!

sandcastle experiment

writing up the experiment!

The most beautiful beach in the world??

The following day, we followed the trail around the south island. This wasn’t so much a butterfly day as a lizard day. We saw loads of them, clambering up walls or sunning themselves on the rocks until we got too close. Most were fairly small, but Dave seemed to have an eye for spotting larger ones half-hidden in the bushes. These were a much brighter green, and up to 30cm long. Beautiful!

Pedra de Campa rock

large colourful lizard

view N over lagoon & north island

Again, we saw some crazy rock formations (how does rock get eroded so high up?), and lots of nesting gulls. We followed the trail to the lighthouse on the southern tip of the south island, then wandered back along the coast via another stunning white beach. A visibly pregnant lady donned a white dress and flower crown and waded into the sea to have her photos taken, it was really quite beautiful to watch! (Wish I’d taken a sneaky photo!)

The children talked me into joining them in the sea, but it was so cold it gave you instant ankle-freeze. After a while, your body chilled down so you couldn’t feel the biting cold any more, and it really was a gorgeous spot to swim. Just not for too long….

Nosa Senhora beach

we braved the sea!

We made a brief visit up the Ria de Pontevedra, where the pilot book says ‘It would be a shame to visit this part of Galicia and miss seeing Combarro’. We were surprised, after so many quiet little villages, to find it was a thriving tourist town! Complete with souvenir shops all along the front, coachloads of visitors traipsing through the town, and stacks of waterfront bars and restaurants. For some reason, the shops all seemed to be selling witch figures. I asked in one shop and was told they were for good luck!

Combarro waterfront, tide out

Good luck witches

Admittedly, aside from all that, the town was picturesque. The old stone houses were separated by winding alleys, leading past allotments full of vegetables, grapevines and chickens. Traditional fishing boats and gear surrounded the quay, and there were huge numbers of the local old grain stores dotted about.

chickens among the grapevines, Combarro

one of many old grain stores, Combarro

The following day, we headed out to the next National Park island, Isla de Ons. It also had a stunning white beach and enticing hills to clamber over, but after anchoring, we realised the swell was running too high to safely land in the dinghy. We contented ourselves with a dinghy ride along the coast, looking into the many caves along the shore. One had nesting shags on a ledge inside, with three young birds in the nest.

freeing starfish caught in abandoned crabpot

So on to the ria de Arousa, the biggest of them all and full of rocks, bays and islands. Just to give you an idea, the pilot book fills twenty pages on all the various places you could visit inside this ria. It takes several readings just to work out which place is where, and had confused us so much on the way down that we skipped it completely! We met an Irish yacht at the Isla de Cies, who recommended Pobra do Caraminal, so that’s where we headed. We had a lovely sail up the ria, passing rocks and small wooded islands that reminded us a little of Maine.

rocks and wooded islands in the Ria de Arousa

Pobra do Caraminal was a very handy restocking point. As well as a good selection of shops, there was a very handy supermarket, and a marina, where Dave was able to fill up our water tanks. This is quite a big job, involving several trips in the dinghy loaded with 8-litre water bottles. These can easily be lifted up on deck and tipped into the tanks.

Pobra do Caraminal with mist rolling down

Dave doing the water run

217 litres at a time

There were also some natural swimming pools in the hills, which again we heard about from the Irish boat. We had a long trek uphill (with bikes) to find them, but it was definitely worth the effort. We left the bikes at the end of the road and hiked through more eucalyptus trees to an old ruined convent. The path got steeper (and hotter) here as we followed yellow and blue markers alongside and over a river. Just when the children were ready to give up, there were the pools. Heaven!

Waterfalls near Pobra do Caraminas

natural swimming pools

A waterfall rushing down into a wide, deep pool, which in turn ran over a ledge to another waterfall and another pool. Etcetera…  An amazing and beautiful feat of erosion. And believe it or not, the water was warmer than the sea! We had our very own infinity pool, with a view down over the ria, warm rocks for sunbathing and not a soul in sight.

floating level with the treetops!

warm rocks to dry off

That was a day that will take some beating! We had lunch aboard the Irish boat the following day and the children couldn’t stop talking about it. ‘Did you go down the slide?’ ‘I swam across the pool eight times and two times without armbands!’ ‘Did you hear the frogs?’ (We saw one sitting underwater in the pool for a while, and heard them on the banks). Poor Abe couldn’t get a word in sideways!

After a day of wind and rain, the 'Anna M', with Captain Joe and Abe aboard, left to sail back to Ireland, and we headed deeper into the ria. We sailed past mussel beds to Escarabote, at the top of the little bay. The children made a Spanish friend on the beach, and they happily hunted for sand-prawns together.

Spanish friend Miguel

We crossed to the NE corner of the ria, and anchored off oyster beds near Vilagarcia. We went ashore on the National Park island, Isla de Cortegada. This was a tiny island, originally inhabited but now left to grow wild with trees and creepers everywhere. You are allowed to follow the trail around the coastline (1 ½ miles in total) and visit the beaches. The children had fun making a raft from driftwood on one beach. With a little help from Dave, and some string found on the beach, it was made safe to launch, and took the children's weight easily.

overgrown house ruins on Isla Cortegada

the big launch!

It floats!

Katie with improvised oar

I was fascinated by the ‘sparkly’ rocks that we have seen in so many places here. Silvery pebbles lay on the beach, and silver streaks ribboned through nearly all the rocks around. You would pick up a chunk of what looked like silver, but it would flake into almost see-through plastic-y layers. Having googled it, I believe this is mica, but would love to know for sure. 

A nugget of silver...

... but it flakes into plastic-y scales

The next beach around the corner was completely different – simply made of thousands of white shells, piled a foot deep. Either they wash ashore here or get dumped, but either way, it was an incredible beach!

Shell beach on Isla Cortegada

Katie's beach find - no messages!

One sailor we met remarked that, ‘the rias are all the same, once you’ve seen one beach, you’ve seen them all!’ I disagree! The towns may all look similar, with orange tiled roofs, and sandy beaches, but they each have their own separate character. We have thoroughly enjoyed our time in the rias, and there are still plenty of places we haven't seen!