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Wednesday, February 28, 2018

Emma's rain and wind

                                 
Amazing video of a heavy downpour in La Gomera (Source: Bistro Cafe in Vueltas). Any idea what language that is ?
...and by the way, La Gomera is cut off from the outside world as all ferry sailings and flights were cancelled this evening until the weather improves tomorrow.
The wind even increased this afternoon with the weather station in the mountains at the 'Alto de Igualero' recording a gust of 152 km/h at 4 pm  and the one at the visitor's centre near Agulo had a gust of 122 km/h a couple of hours later, while San Sebastian's harbour had a gust of 92 km/h. Storm Emma isn't quite finished with us yet...

Large breakers today

The above image was taken this Wednesday morning some time after low tide, showing the very rough sea conditions and high waves which did some minor damage to the beachfront in La Playa and the coast road to La Puntilla (statue) has been closed.  Many ferry sailings have been cancelled. Several alerts are valid until tomorrow morning. More details in previous post...

Tuesday, February 27, 2018

Weather two-faced this afternoon

The above image was taken earlier this Tuesday afternoon looking south-west, and without moving my feet I turned 180 degrees and immediately snapped the view up the valley in the opposite direction (below).
... and ten minutes later the cloud in the third picture appeared in the south-east.
Tomorrow storm Emma's southern flank will bring more gales and...read the full story
Ten minutes later

Monday, February 26, 2018

Another cold front to hit Canary Islands - Storm Emma

Gale warnings for late Tuesday and all day Wednesday.  (Weathervane on Vueltas pier)
Updated Tuesday, Feb. 27th 2018, at 9:55 pm:
Latest: 'Alerta Maxima' declared by Canarian Government for La Gomera, Tenerife, La Palma, El Hierro, and Gran Canaria. All below now updated and further information inserted:
After summer weather lasting into December 2017 (well, that's how it felt) and a prolonged drought into February '18 the Canary Islands are finally experiencing some 'normal' winter weather with the Atlantic taking over the reins (sic) from the Sahara.
The extremely cold weather all over Europe allows some low pressure systems to develop further south and to send some more wind and rain to the Canaries. The one that's going to make its presence felt here next started as major storm depression forming off the east coast of the US and achieved 962 hPa in mid Atlantic soon after with hurricane force winds near its centre, then tracked SE, later E to reach sea area just W of Azores by noon noon today as a storm of 968  hPa. Now it will slowly move just SE of Azores as a vigorous  depression of 972 hPa on Tuesday, with the associated wide-sweeping cold front forecast to affect Canary Islands later Tuesday and on Wednesday with potentially very strong winds and a band of heavy precipitation. The large depression has now been named 'Storm Emma' and will affect many parts of Europe when it tracks NE where it will absorb another low off France, and then affecting Britain and Ireland later in the week where extremely cold weather with gale-driven snowfalls is expected.
The situation for La Gomera and the rest of the western Canary Islands:
A gale warning of SW winds gusting 85 km/h has been issued, valid from 6pm Tuesday, February 27th 2018, and the gusts may be stronger in places.
A further status ORANGE warning of SW winds gusting 95 km/h or more in mountains is valid for all of Wednesday.  Tuesday just before lunchtime a gust of 103 km/h was already recorded in La Gomera's mountains).
There's also a status ORANGE warning of very rough seas combined with an increasingly powerful swell, which will be worst  from early Wednesday. It may bring waves of 5 - 6 metres to exposed coasts, not often seen in the Canaries. The warning is valid until Thursday.
FERRIES: 
The Armas fast ferry Alboran which connects Los Cristianos, San Sebastian de La Gomera and Valle Gran Rey has cancelled all sailings until March 1st due to the rough sea conditions and strong south-westerly winds.
News just in: Armas ferry 'Volcan de Taburiente'  serving Los Cristianos and SS de La Gomera, etc.,  has suspended all sailings tomorrow Wednesday Feb.28th 2018.
Fred. Olsen's 'Benchi Express' La Gomera ferry has also cancelled sailings from tonight until weather improves.
... and  I guess that ALL ferry services in western Canaries may be canceled tomorrow. 
Further temporary travel disruption (sea, air and road) may be expected Wednesday.
The rapidly passing cold front will also bring a spell of rain, heavy in places, and heavy squally showers after that. Status YELLOW warning of precipitation accumulating 60 mm in 12 hours and 25 in one hour is valid from 6 pm Tuesday until 8 am Wednesday ...and during the latter day squally showers could affect La Gomera.
Risk of rockfalls and landslips remains high. Avoid steep mountainsides, cliffs and ravines ! Also, be very cautious near exposed coasts.
Latest: All schools, colleges, etc., and all public parks, sports grounds, etc., will be closed on Wednesday. Some damage due to high winds (gusting well in excess of 100 km/h) reported from first-hit island of La Palma. Strongest gust in La Gomera so far: 111 km/h. Some flights have been cancelled, some delayed.
Above was updated Tuesday Feb.27th 2018 at 9:55 pm.
Storm Emma late today, Monday Feb. 26th 2018
Weather chart for 00:01 am Wednesday Feb. 28th 2018, when cold front is expected to arrive in west

Roads during poor weather

Minor road blocked by fallen rocks yesterday (Image: gomeranotias.com)
Main (and the only) road to Valle Gran Rey near Arure tunnel yesterday. (Source: Gov. La Gomera)
All roads are clear now, but bear in mind that rocks may fall AFTER bad weather when the sun heats the material !

Sunday, February 25, 2018

Finally some decent rain, beautiful rain

...and lots of it today! (Image source: Twitter Proteccion Civil LG)
Today's inclement weather brought a fair bit of disruption to the Canary Islands and to La Gomera in particular. There were a good few rockfalls and landslips, treacherous road conditions, some fallen trees, road closures, ferry problems and disruptions, power outages, and flight delays and diversions. On Tenerife flight operations at both international airports were shut down for a while. Wind gusts of around 100 km/h were widely experienced in the Canaries today with very rough seas. Fog in the higher regions and very poor visibilty at times during heavy squalls were adding to the problems. Further gales with very strong gusts are expected tonight and early tomorrow, which may exceed today's values.

Most importantly though, lots of very badly needed rain arrived and brought some water to drought-suffering La Gomera - thankfully without being too heavy. Here are the statistics for the accumulated precipitation today until about 6:30 pm from some stations around La Gomera:

Arure 41,2 mm - La Dama 29,4 mm - Visitor's Centre Agulo 40,4 mm - on the second highest mountain at 1475 m altitude 45,6 mm - Vallehermoso town 31,2 mm - San Sebastian de La Gomera 16,8 mm - but first prize goes to Hermigua with 59,2 mm. 

Some further heavy showers could come down anywhere tonight to add some more to these figures. La Gomera will be a lot greener in a couple of days, that's for sure.

There were lots of large and small waterfalls all over the island and the barrancos of Playa de Santiago and San Sebastian de La Gomera had a good flow of water. Just before sunset the barranco of Valle Gran Rey began to flow as well, but to a lesser degree:
Barranco of VGR beginning to flow
Barranco of San Sebastian de La Gomera this afternoon (Image: RTVC.es)

...and finally a very short video (Source: Twitter PCLG) of the Playa de Santiago flow:

Carnival 2018 comes to Playa de Santiago

Playa de Santiago/Alajero will hold their carnival from tomorrow. The main theme there
will be 'Asia' and the parade will start at 18:30 pm on Friday March 2nd 2018.

Lunar halo - sign of coming storm ?

Briefly visible lunar halo - no time to change to 'good' camera and lens (Image taken 23:15 pm last night)
Severe weather warnings for today Sunday Feb. 25th 2018:  Check latest weather updates now 

Saturday, February 24, 2018

Half sunny, half rainy

Half sunny and half rainy this morning
Finally some rain yesterday with accumulations between 7 and  25mm across the island, less than expected - and much more is needed. More precipitation is expected tomorrow, though. If you're on holidays here, be wise and check the forecast... The images above and below were taken this morning, after that it was mostly sunny today but there are severe weather warnings for tomorrow.  

Another one: Rainbows in Valle Gran Rey

...this one taken last night. Check the weather forecast and be wise.

Friday, February 23, 2018

Waterspout missing boats and entering harbour



Another amazing video of this morning's waterspouts. More about the current weather situation...

Impressive waterspouts hit La Gomera

The above video was filmed earlier this morning near La Gomera's southern town of Playa de Santiago. Another waterspout moved towards the harbour of San Sebastian de La Gomera, where strong gusts of wind were felt, and some minor damage was caused when it hit land (images below and video source: Twitter account of Civil Defence La Gomera)
Make no mistake, the current weather situation is very unstable and worse is expected on Sunday. Some regional flights have been cancelled. More information...(click)

Thursday, February 22, 2018

Adios 22-2

''Adios al dia 22-2'' Sunset tonight with signs of 'incoming' weather. See previous post (click)

A very rainy weekend in store for Canary Islands +

The Atlantic depression to the WNW of the Canary Islands at 9am UTC this morning
Friday
An Atlantic depression of 999hPa now to the northwest of the Canary Islands is expected to track south and deepen a little, passing to the west of the Canaries tomorrow, before dissipating close to these islands early on Saturday. I won't bore you with all the details of the current weather situation, but here's what it means:
While the fresh southerly winds with some stronger gusts shouldn't be a problem tomorrow, the cold front associated with the low has the potential to bring a lot of badly needed rain, especially during daytime tomorrow, Friday Feb. 23rd 2018, and the Spanish meteorological service has issued warnings of rainfall amounts up to 15mm in one hour and 60mm in 12 hours with western and southern areas most at risk. There's also a risk of thunderstorms and the abrupt landscape of the western Canary Islands could bring localised 'surprises'. Remaining unsettled with showers on Saturday, too, but with some longer sunny spells.
All below updated:
Sunday February 25th 2018:
Another, more vigorous Atlantic low is forecast to develop north of the Canary Islands, probably bringing more heavy showers and spells heavy rain during Sunday daytime, and this low is expected to also bring gale force winds. However, it is still too early to know how this weather system will develop, so keep checking the regularly updated weather information on the top right sidebar of this blog as there could be some significant amounts of precipitation. 
Sunday morning: This low of 991 hPa has fully formed to the NNW as expected and will be N of us all of today with 992hPa. The associated cold front will pass over the Canary Islands during Sunday daytime from W to E. See warnings below
Level ORANGE weather alerts for Sunday, Feb. 25th 2018, valid 9am to 9pm:
Rainfall up to 100mm in 12 hours
Winds gusting 90 km/h (southerly first, westerly later) generally
and possibly in excess of 110 km/h in exposed mountain areas.
NOTE: WIND WARNING EXTENDED UNTIL MIDNIGHT
and status yellow warning for SW winds gusting 80 km/h added for early Monday morning
Above values may be exceeded in some areas.
Very rough seas on Sunday. Strong swell. (Status YELLOW warning)
Canarian government has declared highest alert status 'ALERTA MAXIMA'
Renewed risk of thunderstorms. 
Don't be fooled by sunny periods: Better be safe than sorry.
Special advisories have been issued, as have alerts by the government of the Canary Islands and local authorities. It is recommended to stay at home on Sunday and to avoid unnecessary travel. A warning of the risk of localised flooding has been added and very rough sea conditions are forecast. Some travel disruption may be expected during Sunday and several events have already been cancelled. 
Sunday's summary (Click)

Opinion:
To be honest, there have been alerts, warnings and advisories in recent times and then nothing much happened or the situation changed completely in no time at all, leaving disgruntled faces questioning the wisdom of the 'weathermen', meteorologists and officials. However, please bear in mind that weather forecasting in the Canary Islands is tricky and local conditions may vary drastically within a small radius. I've seen damaging floods and evacuations (eg. Playa de Santiago late 2013) when less than ten miles away people had 'a fine day'. So, I feel it is better to be warned when nothing happens thereafter than to get a nasty surprise. The current situation has, but doesn't have to have, some interesting potential anyway, and should not be under-estimated. In the age of weather apps that give you the slightly modified outdated weather for an airport on Tenerife when you look up the weather for any town on La Gomera (check it in depth, but sadly this is true - and it even fools most people in most weather situations) you're better off to be prepared for some severe weather now.
Isn't this a cleverly construed disclaimer so you can't blame me in case the weather gods don't deliver the 'bad' weather the locals are praying for? ☔  Want more ? Here we go...

Next week:
Monday: Status Yellow wind warning valid 00:01am until 6 am:
Southwesterly winds gusting 80 km/h
First half of Monday should see further heavy showers, some squally, but weather gradually improving during second half of the day while a chance of a few showers will remain throughout the day. Winds gradually easing but remaining fresh to strong.
Outlook:
Then early indications for the coming week are for yet another low to affect us, but that's a long way off in meteorology. However, the unstable weather situation appears to continue for a while. 
UPDATE Sun.: This new major storm depression has begun to form and is expected 962 hPa in mid Atlantic soon with hurricane force winds near centre, then expected to track SE, later E to reach sea area just W of Azores by noon Monday as a storm of 967  hPa, slowly moving  E of Azores as a vigorous  depression of 975 hPa on Tuesday, with the associated wide-sweeping cold front forecast to affect Canary Islands later Tuesday and on Wednesday with potentially very strong winds and a band of heavy precipitation . A first warning of SW winds gusting 75 km/h has been issued, valid from 6pm Tuesday.
More late on Monday in a new post. A link to same will be added to the end of this post...

Generally:
After the prolonged drought in La Gomera and most of the Canaries it it advisable to be extremely cautious over the coming days and hiking and other outdoor activities in the mountains and ravines should be avoided. Be very cautious if you're driving, too. Rockfalls and landslides can be expected, which happen as a result of loosening material due to temperature changes, erosion and especially during and after rain. Don't be deceived by longer sunny intervals as the sun can add to the erosive process when the rocks and land expand in the sun's heat after cracks and crevices have been filled with the rain's debris.
Not the greatest news for those on holidays here, but the rain is very badly needed and wanted by locals. It won't feel as cold as during the recent gales, though, with mostly warmer humid air being brought up from the south, but it won't be as warm as in the past few days and it will be cooler especially in the mountains.
I'll keep you informed...weather permitting 🌈💧🙏
Last and final UPDATE of this post was on Sun. Feb. 25th 2018 (09:00 pm)
NOTE: A new post regarding the weather situation from later Tuesday will be published on late Monday and  a link to this has been added here:
https://lagomera1.blogspot.com.es/2018/02/another-cold-front-to-come.html
Lunar halo, caused by ice crystals and often associated with a coming storm (image taken 23:15 pm Sat. February 24th 2018)

Wednesday, February 21, 2018

Stunning TV footage of Valle Gran Rey


Click to see some amazing footage of Valle Gran Rey and surrounding areas on La Gomera shot by Spanish national TV and broadcast earlier today. There's an interview with the mayor of the south-western municipality and it is in Spanish, but there's some fantastic footage dominating the video. Enjoy, and if you don't understand Spanish just lower the volume.

La Laguna Grande restaurant reopened

The restaurant and bar in La Laguna Grande during recent refurbishment work
The restaurant in the centre of the national park which had been closed for about a year, has been refurbished and reopened its doors to the public a couple of days ago. The clearing in the forest of La Laguna Grande is a popular spot for locals and visitors and there are public toilets to the right of the restaurant. The dining room has seating for 90 guests and offers a menu of food typical for La Gomera and there's a separate bar serving snacks and drinks. The building is the only one in the in the national park and owned by the municipality of Vallehermoso. After a tendering process the lease was won by the ferry company Fred. Olsen who also lease the restaurant at the spectacular Mirador de Abrante.

Tuesday, February 20, 2018

Craft fair this Wednesday

La Gomera pottery
A craft fair will be held in La Playa, Valle Gran Rey, tomorrow Wednesday Feb. 21st 2018 from 10am. About 20 craftworkers from La Gomera will exhibit and sell their products. There will be some live music and workshops will be held for those wanting to learn new skills.

Monday, February 19, 2018

British walker rescued after fall on treacherous path

Mountain rescue (Archive image)
A 70-year-old British woman had to be rescued by helicopter on Saturday afternoon after falling while walking in the Las Lecheras, El Guro, area of Valle Gran Rey. Emergency services say that they were called out at around 4pm after reports that the woman had lower leg injuries, and she was airlifted to San Sebastián and then taken by ambulance to the island’s Hospital Nuestra Señora de Guadalupe where her condition is said not to be serious.
The Las Lecheras path is one of the most treacherous in La Gomera and is officially closed as erosion and rockfalls have made it almost impassable and hard to find in places. There are some misleading goat paths in the area which add to the danger. This path and the dangerous path up (or down) the Argaga ravine are the two paths which are definitely best avoided and and often the cause for complicated rescue operations.

Sunday, February 18, 2018

Carnival 2018 Vallehermoso

Poster for the 2018 carnival in Vallehermoso where the main theme will be 'horror'.

Sunday live last minute change

Caro Spiller from Argentina (above) with Tony Reece and friends will play at the bus station this Sunday afternoo instead of Poisoned Folk (due to illness), who'll be there again next Sunday Feb. 25th  2018 at 1:30 pm, I've been told.

Friday, February 16, 2018

Sunday afternoon live music

Poisoned Folk (above) will play at 1:30 pm this Sunday, Feb. 18th 2018, at Ramiro's
bus station bar in La Calera, Valle Gran Rey (in front of Sunday market).
From about 3:30 pm an open music session will follow, where anything can happen...

Thursday, February 15, 2018

Superfast catamaran in port

The catamaran 'Gemini 3' (above) visited Vueltas harbour today. This superfast ocean racer can reach speeds of over 38 knots (about 70 km/h) under sail, has won many races and even broken a few records in recent times. The ultra-modern design with the towering 100+ ft mast  and ultra-wide 44 ft beam is an impressive sight. The vessel is one of the fastest sailing vessels in the world and was built for skipper Roman Paszke, sailing under the Polish flag. 
More and more yachts are visiting Vueltas port, showing the need for a marina (most yachts have to anchor in the bay now) and proper facilities. This in turn would generate much-needed employment and extra revenue.
Gemini 3 showing off the very tall mast against the backdrop of La Gomera's towering cliffs                     

Wednesday, February 14, 2018

Blue sky is back

Valle Gran Rey this morning with 3-masted sailing ship 'Alva' from Stockholm in fine weather and not enough wind for sailing. The settled, warmer conditions will last for the next couple of days. Still a bit cold in the higher regions, though.

Tuesday, February 13, 2018

Drive carefully...

Scene of today's accident. (Image: gomeraverde.es)
...on La Gomera's roads. Today's accident shows that you have to treat the roads here with the greatest respect. It happened just around midday in good driving conditons on the main road between La Gomera's capital and the northern town of Hermiga (GM-1). This road is in very good condition, but all roads here have a lot of twists and turns. The cause of the accident is still being investigated, but the barriers on the side of the road are said to have slowed the vehicle on impact, preventing the vehicle from tumbling into the ravine below. The two ''younger'' occupants of the crashed car thankfully escaped with minor injuries.
Image: pclagomera
GENERAL ADVICE (not relating to this accident):
There's a lot more tourists about in hired cars these days and most of them are not used to rural mountain roads, often driving erratically and/or being distracted by the beautiful scenery, adding to the danger. If you're driving on La Gomera, stay alert and always indicate and let locals pass when/where possible. This allows you to enjoy the scenery at your own pace and lets the local driver meet his appointment. Local drivers are generally driving with a lot of foresight, communication and skill, and even if it isn't immediately obvious to the visitor, they generally know what they are doing. So don't rely on the fact that accidents on La Gomera are few and far between and do your bit to keep the roads safe. They can't be straightened here, you know...

Sunday, February 11, 2018

Surprise in island tourism statistics

Beach in La Gomera's busiest resort of Valle Gran Rey during peak season this winter
I recently came across the following post and statistics on buzztrips.co.uk, an online travel magazine and I researched the figures further. The statistics compare the number of visitors in island holiday destinations worldwide with the number of island inhabitants. The figures are based on 2016 statistics and since then there has been a decline in population on La Gomera and an increase in tourism numbers. So I wonder where La Gomera would rank now. Here's the main part of the article:

''...Islands are a different matter. There’s generally more space to absorb visitors so that personality and culture aren’t necessarily unduly diluted… as long as the balance doesn’t shift too far.
Meeting the challenges posed by the impact of tourism on popular holiday islands is (was -ed.) an agenda item for the Smart Island World Congress in Mallorca between 20 and 21 April 2017.
In the run up to the conference, Spanish tourism news portal Hostaltur published a report about the numbers of tourists per 100 residents on 25 islands. The results were interesting and might surprise some people.
The island which had the fewest number of visitors per 100 resident was Trinidad & Tobago with 30, followed by Cuba with 35.
Topping the chart with 2,217 visitors to every 100 locals was Fuerteventura in the Canary Islands. Second was Lanzarote with 2,097. After that was the Balearic trio of Ibiza (2,096), Menorca (1,520), and Mallorca (1,258).
What’s particularly interesting about Fuerteventura and Lanzarote is that Tenerife (648) and Gran Canaria (503) are often seen as the bad boys of mass tourism in the Canary Islands. But they didn’t even come third out of the archipelago. That position went to La Gomera with 782 visitors to every 100 Gomerans. Both La Palma (279) and El Hierro (156) came out with quite low visitor to resident ratios, no surprise to anyone who knows those islands. But not as low as distant neighbour Cape Verde where numbers were almost on a par (101).
These figures don’t necessarily mean an island with a high visitor to resident ratio is more spoiled in tourism terms than an island with a low ratio, that’s clearly far too simplistic a formula. Many other factors need to be taken into account.
However, there’s no doubt that when the visitor/resident ratio is high, local culture can be diluted more when there’s not a significantly large resident population to counter the impact of high numbers of tourists...'' (buzztrips)

Surprised like I was? Anyone who knows La Gomera will agree that La Gomera still comes across as a quiet, laid-back, rural  island 'untouched' by mass tourism and full of natural beauty where vast areas are protected and left to nature. In fact the whole island of La Gomera has been declared a World Biosphere Reserve by UNESCO a few years ago and the uninhabited national park and forest have been a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1986. La Gomera, 'the island without traffic lights', has a population of only about 20.000, though. Also, what may be distorting the tourist/inhabitant ratio are the day trippers and organised day tours from Tenerife (a lot !) - and maybe to a much lesser degree the increasing cruise ship traffic, but that is counted in the rest of the world, too. Anyway, the list of the top 12 islands in the world receiving the most visitors per 100 inhabitants comes as a surprise:
  1. Fuerteventura: 2.217 turistas por cada 100 habitantes.
  2. Lanzarote: 2.097 por cada 100 habitantes.
  3. Ibiza-Formentera: 2.096 por cada 100 habitantes.
  4. Menorca: 1.520 por cada 100 habitantes.
  5. Mallorca: 1.258 por cada 100 habitantes.
  6. La Gomera: 782 por cada 100 habitantes.
  7. Tenerife: 648 por cada 100 habitantes.
  8. Islas Cook: 587 por cada 100 habitantes.
  9. Gran Canaria: 503 por cada 100 habitantes.
  10. Bahamas: 361 por cada 100 habitantes.
  11. Maldivas: 326 por cada 100 habitantes.
  12. La Palma: 279 por cada 100 habitantes.

Saturday, February 10, 2018

Sundays at the bus station

Poisoned Folk (above) will play at Ramiro's bar in the bus station near the bridge in La Calera, Valle Gran Rey from 1:30 pm this Sunday, and again there might be some special guests joining them.
At about 3:30 pm an open music session and sing-song will follow. Below is an image taken exactly one year ago of some musicians who played there and a good few of them will be there again this Sunday. There's also a 'parranda' (open music session) at around 3 pm on Wednesday afternoons at the bus station bay view bar.

Friday, February 09, 2018

Carnival 2018 in Valle Gran Rey

Above the programme for the carnival week in Valle Gran Rey which starts on Monday, February 12th 2018. This year the main theme is 'cinema'' and the carnival headquarters will be on the pier in Vueltas harbour where a marquee has already been erected. The main attractions are the parade which sets off from the town hall in La Calera on Friday Feb 16th at 5:30 pm and then passes through La Playa, La Puntilla, then back up through Borbalan to the harbour where late night dancing to salsa bands will follow from 11 pm. The following day the 'sardine procession' will start from La Playa and then follow the same route as the parade and once the sardine has been 'buried', all-night dancing will follow once again to end this year's carnival.

Thursday, February 08, 2018

Carnival in Agulo 2018

The picturesque town of Agulo in La Gomera's north will celebrate its carnival for three days from Sunday, February 11th 2018, which also is the main day when a street carnival starts at 12 noon with several samba drumming groups (batucadas) leading the colourful participants and shows on arrival the carnival grounds.

Wednesday, February 07, 2018

Special concert today


...and this is just one of the nice live music gigs and sessions happening in Valle Gran Rey these days. Check posters and flyers as well as local bars and restaurants - or just just take a stroll and pop in where you hear music, as some of the sessions and gigs are not advertised. Note that all live music in bars and restaurants sadly must end at 11 pm and that the musicians are not paid anymore by the venues on this island and are thus depending on your donations.

Monday, February 05, 2018

Yoga lesson for dog owners

Sorry, but that's the most aesthetic example I could find. Note the sulphur powder that had been spread to deter dogs.
Yoga for dog owners in just 3 simple steps:
Step 1: Bend over
Step 2: Pick up your dog's poo
(This exercise is known as the 'downward dog position')
Step 3: Put it in a bin and relax with a grin.
...sadly La Gomera, too, suffers from too many poorly trained pet owners.

Saturday, February 03, 2018

Cold spell in Canary Islands set to continue

Icicles on a special carnival edition Dorada beer bottle. Well, the ice wasn't  due to the weather...

The cold spell which lasted all week in the Canary Islands is set to continue well into the coming week. There was some snow in the mountains of Gran Canaria, and the peak of Tenerife's Mount Teide is wearing a white winter coat. Even lower areas of Lanzarote had a sprinkling of soft hail, leaving the black lava with a white dusting just briefly. The fresh to strong northerly winds are continuing to bring cold air down over the Canaries with some days a bit warmer than others, but generally the cold airflow with spells of scattered showers is set to continue according to forecasts. 
In La Gomera's mountains above 3.000 feet the temperature stayed in single figures all week and the lowest recorded at the weather station on the second-highest peak here, the Alto de Igualero at about 4.500 ft, was only 2ºC while the highest temperature there during the week just briefly reached 6.1ºC. It is a different story down by the sea in the southern resorts of La Gomera where the temperature can reach 20ºC, but only in sunny spots sheltered from the northerly wind which blows down from the cold mountain regions. Nights are colder than normally, too, but the sea temperature will be around 20ºC keeping it milder near coasts even at night and making an ice cold beer a feasible option.
Daily weather updates on top of right sidebar >

The Sunday sessions

... followed by an open music session (called a parranda here) from 3:30 pm. All welcome.

Friday, February 02, 2018

Red tape

Who said you can't win ? Anyone who's dealt with Spanish bureaucracy will understand and have a good laugh watching this Spanish video with subtitles (click below) which I found on Youtube:

Thursday, February 01, 2018

Wind turbine blown down

The blown down wind turbine near Epina (Images: gomeranoticias.com)
The recent gales and storm force winds have blown down one of La Gomera's two wind tubines situated on a high ridge near the village of Epina in the island's west. The two windmills there were erected in 1996 and ironically the one destroyed had only recently been refurbished, while the other which survived the gales was turned off at the time of the incident awaiting refurbishment. The two wind turbines generated over 500 kw/h of electricity last year. The strong winds gusted over 100 km/h in La Gomera's mountains several times in recent days and for the next few days it will stay very windy and gusty in exposed areas. Warnings of strong winds gusting 75 km/h have been issued for Friday Feb.2nd 2018, and for Saturday. For Saturday there's an additional warning of rough seas. However, even today it is very windy here again and the weather station on La Gomera's highest peak recorded a wind gust of 93 km/h at 9:40 am.