(08-02-10) In this seventh Discovering Galicia article I will try to show you a small area of the Ría de Muros y Noia, also famous for the great quality of its clamps and cockles…

    This Ría is the domains of “Mergullo Compostela”. It is a company created ten years ago that has, besides its nautical base in Porto do Son, a shop specialised in our activity in the commercial centre of Área Central, in Santiago de Compostela.

    Marcelino, the owner, was born in Baroña, where the “Castros de Baroña”. Marcelino comes from professional diving, where he worked in platforms and for gas companies during 20 years until he was father. By then, he didn’t know if starting a new life with a school for training professional divers or setting up a scuba diving school.

    In the end, everything was perfect. Now, Marcelino works as a teacher of diving in the IGAFA, the Galician Institute to teach aquaculture and diving in A Illa de Arousa. Besides this, he has his diving centre in Porto do Son, the first Galician dive centre approved by Industry and the Xunta de Gacilia to contrast and checking of tanks, and it is the company in charge of reloading air and nitrox tanks. Carmen, his wife, is in charge of the shop, in Santiago de Compostela. She manages the business as anyone.

    Marcelino is in charge of the dive trips, which are on Saturday afternoons and Sunday mornings during the weekends. This trips are in the Mergullo Compostela, a ship designed by Marcelino. Well, it was designed by an engineer but with Marcelino’s basis and tastes. It was built in a small shipyard in the area. It is 14m long, 4m wide, and has a bathroom, a kitchen, a big bathtub, a good bathing platform with two specific stairs for diving. It is wonderful and extremely comfortable. Seriously.

PURPOSE: TO TAKE MORE PICTURES

    On Saturday I had arranged to meet Marcelino at 4:00 pm to go for a dive. I didn’t know still where he was going to carry me, but I asked him for a not deep dive, 20m maximum and 60 minutes to have time enough to take some more pictures and meet the request of those readers who want more pictures.

    Today, it seems it is going to rain, and temperature is about 12ºC. But today it is a diving day, and as we are going to be under water anyway…

    Once together the eight divers that were going to share the ship, and being all introduced to make the trip nicer, we decided to prepare the equipments to go to the sea. In this centre the way of working is very particular: although it is the first time you go with them, you feel as if you were close friends, and it makes diving nicer because you throw yourself into the water more relaxed.

    While the Mergullo Compostela leads us to the dive point, the nine people in the ship talk about the time passed since we saw some species for the last time… seabass in my case, red mullets in the case of Geno, gilthead bream in the case of Damián, and so on, until we arrived to the dive point “As Rouxas”.

    This place starts in huge bedrock that gradually rises among a mixture of big and small caves from a depth of 20m to 6m, where the top is. It is very wide and there is no time in a single dive to know it.

    Time to form pairs. I had told Marcelino that I like to dive slowly, observing each detail in the bottom, so it is difficult to find a mate for me. The best way not to annoy the dive to somebody is going behind the group, so we reached an agreement.

    Marcelino guides, they all go together and I go behind following the rope. The group dives slowly, trying not to lose me, but it is difficult for me to take the pictures of the divers from behind, and I cannot see any fish, so I change my mind and go ahead.

GORGONIAN FIELDS COVER THE SEABED

    Everything changes in some seconds, in some meters. I see fishes, shrimps… Even the image I see of the gorgonian fields covering the place changes.

    Water temperature today is 12ºC and visibility is quite good, 6m I guess, so I try to take a good picture of the environment to show you. This is the result.

    This gorgonian… seriously, was fascinating. Seeing it impressed to me 18m deep. And you see what I meant… better in the front.

    We go on, I don’t know where I am going, but I hope the guide rope of Marcelino leads us back to the starting point, so I try to enjoy the dive without loosing the group. 15 minutes have gone diving and it likes me more each time, seriously.

    In this place there are some impressive gorgonians, crabs cover the seabed as a carpet and even when the rocky area finishes and the sand appears, there are beautiful things to see on it: from a small crab that walks among the starfishes, to a small gemmeous dragonet (Callionimus Lira) (I think it is the lira, the reticulatus is bigger and has more red shapes) that look at me and stops to appear in the picture. Or the red mullet that Geno missed.

    Today I realized that something I do Ander the water: when I am in a sandy area or near an isolated rock, I swim around it and look below to see if there is anything. I think I started to do this in the “pescasub”, and it works, unless to me. I invite you to try it.

Doing this I find a conger sticking its head out. I wait for a bit before taking the picture, to see if it opens its mouth and I can see those shrimps that protect it from parasites cleaning its mouth. Nothing, there is no lucky. It would be too much.

EVERYBODY WAITING… FOR THE PHOTOGRAPHER

    When I look around… I see my seven mates looking at me waiting for me to take the picture. According to them, it took me ten minutes to take it. I think it is too much, but for sure it took me five.

    The thing is that the make the sign to continuous, and we come back and enter the area with rocks again, so I have time to take two more pictures…

    As I think I have enough material, I try to select the last pictures a bit. I see a cuttlefish and try to zoom, to take one of those pictures in which the animal appears completely clear and sharp with some rays coming out from the center… be calm, I will get it.

    Going up a bit more one of my mates come to follow me pointing up something. When I arrive I see a beautiful lesser spotted dogfish that, although it is a bit frightened, let me do the picture you see. I know it is not very good: it is not very sharp, water is a in a bit mess and the gorgonian on the left ruins the picture, but I like the composition.

    We continuous going up. We are close to the end. We have been 45 minutes diving and there are some people with very little air and others very cold and they put me in a hurry to begin the ascent, but I realize that there is an image I like, a small gorgonian forest in the middle of some algae… I liked it, what about you?

    And to say goodbye today… the last picture just in front of the rope in the minute 62 of the dive, a test in black and white to see how it was.

    I am not trying to become a critical of dive centers, but I have enjoyed this dive a lot, and I think that Marcelino and his center will become soon one of the preferred ones in the area.

    With this picture we finish today. As always, I hope you enjoy reading my articles as much as I like doing them. And you know you can contact the magazine or me if you are interested in any particular dive. jacoboalonso@horminor.com Also, I would like to ask you a favour: I would like to know your opinion about these articles, so getting your 10 mark is my aim. Thanks.

Text and pictures: Jacobo Alonso
http://fotosub-jacoboalonso.blogspot.com
We have dived with www.mergullocompostela.com