Estelas islands

Illas Estelas

The Estelas islands highly contribute to the beauty of the cove in Baiona and shelter the bay against open sea. The two islands are Estela de Tierra (Land Wake) and Estela de Mar (Sea Wake); A Porta canal separates them from Monteferro, O Carracuido inlet takes them apart from As Serralleiras. The islands may look like a tinny emerging land where seagull and cormorant colonies settle. However, the underwater world is amazingly crowded with life thanks to the peculiar conditions of its localisation.

To some extent, the reason for that relies on the fact that on January 30, 1976 the Liberian merchant Ivy run aground nearby the islands and sank due to a terrible storm. In an attempt to recover some of the parts, the ship was broken up under the water and thus, huge pieces were spread on the seabed -15 to 25 m. deep today. The pieces provide a broad area where colonies of crustacea, molluscs, holoturians, starfishes, and nudibranchia settle, together with natural sponges, Alcyonium digitatum, and flatfishes, bass and other fishes, which find shelter here.

The islands seabed have an extraordinary artificial reef, foreign to the environment but fully integrated thanks to the action of the sea and the passing time. Diving lovers really appreciate this seabed.
 
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Este lugar pertence a ruta seguinte: Natureza