Tambo Island: Galicia's Secret Island Opened Two Years Ago

A common question among children who lived along the banks of the Pontevedra estuary, facing the mysterious Tambo Island, where entry was forbidden. A recurring question, as surely, those parents asked their own the same. Indeed, Tambo Island, located in the heart of the Pontevedra estuary, between Marín and Combarro, is surrounded by a rich history and a wealth of legends.

Tambo is not large. It has a pyramidal and oval shape, with only 26 hectares and 80 meters in height at the summit of San Fagundo. The embarkation took place at the port of Combarro, accompanied, by the way, by the renowned chef Pepe Viera, who never misses an opportunity to explore the intricacies of his Galician homeland and bring them to his exquisite table.

During the short voyage to Tambo, you pass by mussel, oyster, and scallop rafts, and in the distance, at the stern, you can observe the many granaries that characterize Combarro, while at the bow, you see the Naval School of Marín, from which every year the training ship bark, Juan Sebastián Elcano, sets sail on its expedition around the world. Approaching Tambo is exhilarating. It has been closed to the public for many years, and now that it is open, one has the privilege of knowing the fortunes and misfortunes of this small island that harbors environmental, heritage, and historical values.

In the 7th century, the Visigoth St. Fructuoso, Bishop of Braga, while pilgrimageing through Galicia, founded a small monastery in Tambo, in gratitude for the miracle whereby he walked on water from Poio, saving his disciples from certain shipwreck. The Portuguese saint is also attributed with the founding of the Benedictine monastery of San Juan de Poio, to which Doña Urraca donated Tambo Island when the Benedictines were an independent priory, until 1835, the year of disappropriation.

And the legend tells that there were times when, at low tide, one could walk from Tambo to Chancelas Beach in Combarro. People did this often, especially during festivals. A pregnant woman attempted it when she was caught in a storm and, about to drown, a miraculous bubble of foam enveloped her, saving her from the waters, and depositing her on Tambo Beach, where she gave birth.

Sir Francis Drake, who was quite obsessed with Galicia, plundered and burned Tambo Island in the 16th century, destroying the monastery. On the ruins of the old monastery, in the 18th century, the current hermitage of San Miguel was built, whose remnants continue to be venerated by sailors.

In 1745, the Enlightened Fray Martín Sarmiento began a different Way of St. James, traveling through the Rías Baixas. In his travel notebook, he wrote especially about his disembarkation in Tambo, astonished by the island's botany, which he claimed held native species, including the soap plant and other plants and herbs of gastronomic and medicinal interest. Not to forget the marine and fishing wealth that still exists today.

However, Tambo's paths at that time had little to do with the biodiversity discovered by Fray Sarmiento. With the rise of transatlantic travel aboard ships departing from the port of Marín, Tambo became the perfect and necessary lazaretto to house those arriving from abroad during quarantine, both crew and passengers, until it was confirmed that they did not bring contagious infections. This role was played by the Galician island until the late 19th century when it was bought by the Compostela politician Montero Ríos, whose property and that of his descendants remained until 1943, when it became part of the Naval School of Marín.

Upon disembarking at one of the three small docks on the island, a series of contradictory energies are felt. The purity of the site is the first thing that stands out. It smells of those eucalyptus trees, said to be the oldest in Galicia, which the Naval School of Marín planted back in 1945 to hide the island, then bare, among the trees.

Traces of the years of military maneuvers are found throughout the island. There was a permanent detachment in Tambo from 1943 until 2002, when it was declared exempt from military interest and became part of the municipality of Poio. Ghosts of the past appear among the giant ferns, the pristine sandy beaches, and the clear waters, and the eucalyptus forests. It is not difficult to close your eyes and imagine the officer's school and the canteen, now abandoned, filled with sailors enjoying the weekend with their families in such an idyllic setting, sunbathing on one of the two beaches connected at the northern part of the island, Área da Illa and Adreirá. It is also easy to sense in the ruins of the lazaretto the suffering and confinement of those who had to undergo quarantine before returning to their lives. The church of San Miguel speaks of maritime tales, and what remains of the Powder Keg, almost at the water's edge, testifies to the strategic and military role of Tambo Island.

The island is silent, with only the movement of a calm sea. A wall can be seen leading into the sea. These are the stone oyster rafts constructed by Montero Ríos. Ancient rafts that would be revealed according to the tides when one could walk from Tambo to Chancelas before the 19th-century reform of the Pontevedra Port Dock, which diverted the waters towards Tambo, raising the water level. The ferns are enormous, and a varied and lush flora encloses the ancient lazaretto and the chapel of San Miguel. Also, hidden among the vegetation, appears a water tank from when the Naval School frequented the island, famous for its excellent drinking water.

And although fishing was forbidden, more than one old fisherman smiles while recounting how on a day of rough sea, they would sneakily sail to Tambo, where fresh and abundant fish was guaranteed.

Since 2022, when the Ministry of Defense ceded the island to the municipality of Poio, Tambo has been declared open to the public and of natural interest. It still does not belong to the Maritime-Terrestrial National Park of the Atlantic Islands of Galicia, but efforts are being made for it to be included. Four archipelagos make up this park, where it is hoped that Tambo will soon be included. These are the Cíes Islands, the Sálvora archipelago, the Ons islands, and the Cortejada island, which holds the largest floating laurisilva forest.

Back at the port, on a sunny day, when the Atlantic waters appear Caribbean in color and transparency, the boat skirts the island. As it sails, the view of the Naval School of Marín comes closer, and a dreamy lighthouse surprises one, rising imposingly at 18 meters high on the tiny Tenlo peninsula. The Tenlo Chico, as it is called, continues to illuminate the estuary, and to all those navigating it, it winks with its light, being a faithful witness, serene and unyielding of how great the small island of Tambo has been and still is.

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