Wednesday 13th May 2009
Today we headed over to the Conil observation point further North up the coast. Although CIRCE has not yet observed Orca there the local fishermen have informed us of their presence around the almadraba here, therefore this site has only recently been added to the study.
Unfortunately the sea state wasn’t particularly good when we arrived and by midday had risen so much to impede all observation effort. As frustrating as this was for us we were all still smiling because of our previous days observations: a group of six Orca at the la Brena observation point.
On the way back to the volunteer house from Conil we stopped off at the Almadraba info centre. I found this really helpful as the information gave me an understanding of the fishing practice and highlighted the sustainable practice of this particular method.
Later on that afternoon a few of the volunteers took the car across along the coast down to the La Roca observation Point in the town of Zahara. This ‘Rock’ has a great view across the Bay of Barbate standing above the almadraba of Zahara and also has a distant view of the Barbate net that the La Brena site looks over. If you climb down the face of the ‘Rock’ you can enter a small sheltered cave where there are cave drawings from the Venetians around 3000 years old! The drawing includes a symbol that represents the Orca (see below).
After our La Roca visit we met up with the other volunteers in Barbate and had an evening drink together before heading back to the house. Despite not having much observation time the day turned out pretty well for all!
Today we headed over to the Conil observation point further North up the coast. Although CIRCE has not yet observed Orca there the local fishermen have informed us of their presence around the almadraba here, therefore this site has only recently been added to the study.
Unfortunately the sea state wasn’t particularly good when we arrived and by midday had risen so much to impede all observation effort. As frustrating as this was for us we were all still smiling because of our previous days observations: a group of six Orca at the la Brena observation point.
On the way back to the volunteer house from Conil we stopped off at the Almadraba info centre. I found this really helpful as the information gave me an understanding of the fishing practice and highlighted the sustainable practice of this particular method.
view from La Roca
Later on that afternoon a few of the volunteers took the car across along the coast down to the La Roca observation Point in the town of Zahara. This ‘Rock’ has a great view across the Bay of Barbate standing above the almadraba of Zahara and also has a distant view of the Barbate net that the La Brena site looks over. If you climb down the face of the ‘Rock’ you can enter a small sheltered cave where there are cave drawings from the Venetians around 3000 years old! The drawing includes a symbol that represents the Orca (see below).
orca drawing
After our La Roca visit we met up with the other volunteers in Barbate and had an evening drink together before heading back to the house. Despite not having much observation time the day turned out pretty well for all!
