Garrucha Puerto seems to have been quite busy recently, for on several occasions since I've been here while one large bulk carrier is being loaded, another two or three are queuing off-shore. In addition, a fleet of small fishing vessels head out of port before dawn, and return just before sunset.
Late afternoon today, I walked up to the port as the fleet was returning, and glimpsed the fish market in progress. While the crew laid out their nets and lines to dry on the quayside, others gathered and chatted with them. I wondered which fisherman was being visited by his wife with babe in arms. At the other quay of the port, where quarried stone was being transferred by crane into the giant holds of the bulk carrier, hardly a soul could be seen standing around, apart from an occasional figure on deck, checking progress by radio with the crane operator in his distant cab. Such a contrast between two of the three main industries of the town. The third is tourism and this is a quiet time of year, when many in the hospitality business take a well earned holiday.
Apart from a handful of fishermen, there were very few people walking or sitting on the beach. Many I guess, taking an evening stroll, find the promenade of the Paseo de Malecon above the beach easier going. There was a mother down on the shore with an infant in a push chair, but her son of 8-9 years had taken himself off a few hundred metres to a raised stone bed about a metre high, boasting a large palm tree. Using this as a launch platform, he was practicing back-flips and somersaults with great energy and confidence, all on his own, just for pleasure. That was my treat of the day. Here he is.
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