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Dangerous entrance

Estuary of A Coruña

The sea is the foundation of the city of A Coruña and one of the leading players in its history, although navigation in the estuary has never been easy, as evidenced by the numerous shipwrecks recorded in this bay of the Rías Altas.

The most outstanding feature of the entrance to the port of A Coruña is that it faces north and in the middle there is a rocky bank, As Xacentes, which divides the estuary in two. This makes it necessary to avoid them by two different routes.

The north channel (make for Fiateira point) and the west or Herminia point channel (make for Mera point). The north channel is the most common, but it has been banned for deep-draft vessels since the accident of the oil tanker Urquiola (1976), which must take the Herminia point channel. In good weather the entry into A Coruña with a large vessel is not considered very complicated, but it is in stormy weather.

On land. Its beauty can be appreciated and the stories that happened here remembered, from any point of the coastline that surrounds the estuary. Do you have a favourite viewpoint over the estuary of A Coruña?

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