Carnival season 2017 in La Gomera

In the island's capital carnival has begun

The carnival poster of Playa de Santiago and Alajero

Carnival headquarter of VGR is in La Playa this year

Vallehermoso's carnival poster

La Gomera carnival season 2016 begins

Carnival time in the Canary Islands has begun and this is a huge event that doesn't exactly keep to the traditional carnival timetable. It may go on well after Ash Wednesday, even getting close to Easter some years, as each community stages their own and wants participants from neighbouring towns. The main events are in Las Palmas on Gran Canaria and in Santa Cruz on Tenerife, the latter being the second-largest carnival in the world after Rio de Janeiro (see their 2016 programme)

The 2016 carnival season in La Gomera begins today in San Sebastian de La Gomera. Below is the programme of events in the island's capital and I will post information on the carnival in the remaining towns on La Gomera when available:

Carnival continues

While the carnival (see previous post) in La Gomera's capital is coming to an end, it is only starting in Valle Gran Rey tomorrow and yesterday it began in Vallehermoso. 

This photo of the main stage in Las Palmas on Gran Canaria I took on Saturday Feb. 7th 2015

Carnival time once again

Carnival time in the Canary Islands has begun and this is a huge event that doesn't exactly keep to the traditional carnival timetable. It goes on well after Ash Wednesday, even getting close to Easter some years, as each community stages their own and wants participants from neighbouring towns. The main events are in Las Palmas on Gran Canaria and in Santa Cruz on Tenerife, the latter being the second-largest carnival in the world after Rio de Janeiro. In Santa Cruz this year's theme is 'Carnival of the Future' (see their 2015 programme in English).

But wherever you'll be in the Canaries over the next few weeks watch out for local posters and announcements. The actual parades and main events couldn't be missed anyway - the sights and sounds are obvious.

Each community end their festivities with the 'funeral of the sardine' when a large papier-mache sardine full of pyrotechnics  is burnt and pushed into the sea, accompanied by the wailing of 'grieving ladies', i.e. men dressed in women's black clothes.

In San Sebastian de La Gomera this year's carnival theme is 'India' with events starting next week, while Valle Gran Rey and Alajero with Playa Santiago start later (see posters below).The remaining towns here will have their own carnival as well, t.b.a.later.

Last snow on Tenerife slowly melting

Spring has arrived in the Canary Islands but there's still some snow on Tenerife high up on Mount Teide. Its 3,718-metre (12,198 ft) summit is the highest mountain in Spain. In winter the top of this still active volcano is  covered in snow at times while far below the peak at sea level it is very warm and people are out on the beaches sunbathing and swimming in the sea. I took these photos  a couple of days ago from La Gomera and they show the southern slopes of Teide with the remnants of the last snowfalls on its summit.

Mount Teide's southern slopes just one month ago (above) and now (below and top)

White Teide

Tenerife's Teide peak seen from La Gomera yesterday

Mount Teide on Tenerife is Spain's highest mountain at more than 12.000 ft, but given the benign Canarian climate with many visitors getting sunburnt below the peak on the beaches of Tenerife, the past weekend was exceptionally cold and left a rare white mark even on the lower slopes of the volcanic cone of our neighbouring island. They even have got  snow-ploughs to deal with the white stuff over there. On your upcoming trip to the Canaries don't forget to pack your skis along with your trunks and bikinis.

Singing in the rain - better weather today

Today the weather has improved a lot and it feels a lot warmer. The wind has decreased, but there still is the occasional light shower around. Tomorrow further improvement is expected. 

Below I'm posting a few impressions of yesterdays weather which failed to stop the music during the Valle Luna Festival, but a few people got wet nonetheless...

Sheltering during a shower

Another shower

Singing in the rain

One of the many rainbows

A cool and windy Sunday

Taken at 10am this morning

While here in Valle Gran Rey the wind seems to have died down considerably since yesterday, on the other side of the island a gust of 88 km/h was recorded in the capital San Sebastian this morning and the weather warnings for strong winds and heavy seas remain in place. The temperature has recovered a bit and today shouldn't feel quite as cold as yesterday, but it will still be below the average for this time of the year. Right now it has reached 16ºC and will rise more later in the day. There are some showers expected today, but not as frequent and as heavy as yesterday, when I took the picture below during one of the blustery downpours in the afternoon. The photo appears to be fuzzy but that is the rain and you can just make out the wild state of the sea on the top of the image:

La Gomera received a lot of rain yesterday. The official weather station in Agulo  in the island's north registered 82.2mm of rain, while the mountain village of Chipude which thrones over the south had 77.4mm and the second highest peak in the centre had 81.4mm. The latter station also registered the highest wind gust (90km/h) and the lowest temperature at 0.1ºC - you can call that freezing. Add to that total a power outage in the whole island lasting for about two hours, rockfalls, roads closed to traffic, heavy seas and you'll know that yesterday was an unusually unpleasant day for La Gomera and most parts of the Canaries.

There still is a lot of debris like fallen rocks and blown-off branches on the roads. Crews are out clearing this, but please drive carefully. Hiking in the mountains is not advisable today and tomorrow.

From Monday the weather is expected to improve a lot with much more sunshine, higher temperatures, less wind and a few scattered showers.

Here's a few impressions of yesterday's rare conditions:

Image of a traditional roof with hail and sleet accumulation, taken
yesterday afternoon near the mountain village of Igualero  ©gomeraverde.es

...and this impressive video of a stretch of road at about 1200m altitude (source Gomera Today):
                      

Cold front updated: Ice and snow on La Gomera

One of the many storms which have been battering northern Europe and especially Ireland and Britain has dragged down polar air in a cold front as far as the Canary Islands. There is a noticeable drop in the temperature here and heavy showers have been falling all night. More showers are expected today and on Mount Teide on Tenerife snowfalls have been reported even in the lower regions. A small depression over the western Sahara is squeezing the isobars of the high pressure in the central Atlantic, causing northerly gales over the Canaries which make it feel even colder. Warnings have been issued of winds of up to 90 km/h, heavy showers and high waves. Today is probably the worst day of this weather situation and early next week we should be getting back to the usual more settled and warmer weather. 

Taken at 8am this morning

Update at 12 noon:

It is an exceptionally cold and blustery day with very heavy showers here. There is a thunderstorm nearby it is beginning to rain again and it is only 15ºC. The worst winds are expected from later today until tomorrow morning. The sea is very rough already. 

There is ice and wet snow on some roads in the mountains above 1000m altitude and some stretches of road have been closed to traffic. Worst affected seem to be the areas around Igualero, Chipude and Las Hayas. 
Just now the main road through the national park has been completely closed between Degollada de Peraza (where the road to Santiago branches off) and Apartacaminos (above Arure). Traffic between Valle Gran Rey and the capital San Sebastian de La Gomera is being diverted via the north road through Vallehermoso and Hermigua and vice versa.

Image: gomeranoticias.com

Record tourist numbers in December

islandconnections.eu reports:

''According to figures released yesterday by airports authority AENA, December saw over a million foreign visitors to the Canaries.

14.01.2014 - In total, 1,063,844 tourists flew into the archipelago, 124,239 more than in the previous year, an increase of 13.22 per cent.  During the year, 10,591,260 passengers entered the Islands via the airports, 4.85 per cent up on 2012 – almost half a million more tourists.

The Deputy Minister for tourism in the Canaries Ricardo Fernández de la Puenta underlined that, “these figures confirm the good condition of the tourism sector in the last quarter of the year…Provisions in the sector indicate that this tendency will continue.”

By islands:Tenerife saw an increase of 10.06 per cent in December, five per cent over the year; Lanzarote received 19.99 per cent, 9.77 per cent over 2012, Gran Canaria has 13.71 per cent more visitors in December, and an increase of 4.87 per cent in the year; Fuerteventura 14.38 per cent and 0.73 per cent more respectively and La Palma an increase of 3.9 per cent and 13.89 per cent over the whole of 2012. ''

Ridley Scott to film in Canary Islands

Ridley Scott spotted
in the Canary Islands
Photo:The Canary News 

Film director and producer Ridley Scott, whose extensive work includes films like 'Alien',  ‘Blade Runner’,, ‘Gladiator’, ‘Hannibal’, ‘Robin Hood’ and ‘Thelma And Louise’,came to in the Canary Islands recently with several members of his crew to scout for film locations that could be used in his future projects.

The Oscar winning director remained tight-lipped about his plans, but revealed that he is looking for wild landscapes with tall mountains and deserts in their natural state for a ''great movie'', and that he found several suitable locations. There are rumours that Scott's new project will be 'Exodus', the biblical story of Moses leading his people through the wilderness.

If this project would indeed be filmed here in the Canary Islands, it would make it the second such large-scale film production after the announcement that Ron Howard is to begin shooting 'In The Heart Of The Sea' here on La Gomera this autumn (see: La Gomera a location for Ron Howard's new film 'In...)

UPDATE:

It has transpired that Ridley Scott will be shooting his new film in Spain, with about 60% of the production being done in the region of Almeria, with further locations in the Seville area, and some 5 weeks of preliminary work plus 3-4 weeks of filming will also be done in the Canary Islands in one ore more locations yet to be confirmed. Casting is to take place in Madrid and the production company is said to be looking for extras and tradesmen in Almeria already. 
+ Second film shooting in Canary Islands

Thief traps himself on Gran Canaria

After breaking into a house in the town of Jinamar on Gran Canaria the thief fled the premises with his booty, jumping over a  perimeter wall a few days ago. Tough luck for the man, who hails from the same town: He jumped straight into an empty 10ft deep water tank ! In the fall he he broke his wrist while holding onto the stolen goods, twisted his knee and couldn't get out again. The hapless 46 years old culprit had to spend the night in his self-set trap and was discovered the following morning by workmen who heard his pitiful wailings and calls for help. They then alerted the emergency services to rescue him.
After that night the thief will probably appreciate the comforts of a prison cell...

New attraction fenced off

The new viewpoint 'Mirador de Abrante' in Agulo, which was officially handed over less than three months ago (see previous posts:Spectacular New Attraction: and:'Mirador De Abrante' Sky Walk Officially Handed Ov...) has just recently been fenced off with an ugly-looking tall fence which was secured to the existing fencing, plus a padlocked gate with a sign saying 'Entry to this site prohibited'. It could hardly be for safety reasons because the sheer cliffs to either side of the 'skywalk' and landscaped viewpoint are still accessible and a hiking trail leads along the cliffs. While I was there a couple of days ago I saw visitors just bypassing the fence and entering the area from the West of the gate, which is a bit dangerous to do, but open. The administration of Agulo is planning minor works at the viewpoint (such as installing a pay-telescope, a sun dial, seating, etc.) but this hardly justifies the erection of security fencing fit for a prison. Wouldn't it be more important to finish the access road ?
UPDATE Aug. 9th: Area around Agulo 'sky walk' now reopened

Mirador de Abrante sky walk now looks like a prison

World's largest message in a bottle

A bit of controversy has surrounded the Norwegian soft drinks company Solo's  release of 'the word's largest message in a bottle' in the open seas of the western Canary Islands after it was towed past La Gomera and then left to itself just off El Hierro.The 'bottle' weighs 2.5 tons, is 26 feet long and has the required navigation lights for a drifting object in international waters, not to mention solar panels, satellite-connection and tracking technology. A 140-liter fresh water tank with remote controlled nozzles will clear the lenses of the custom made camera which will upload a picture every 8 hours. While some admire the PR stunt, others fear the object will pose a hazard to shipping.
Well-known polar explorer Jarle Andhoy is the godfather of the expedition and there is a competition  to predict the area where the bottle will end up. For every mile the object has travelled the winner will receive one bottle of the soft drink. You can follow its progress here: http://www.solo.no/en                
Maybe they should have launched it on April 1st ?

Official launch in the Marina of San Miguel de
Abona, Tenerife (C)Photo: Stuart Wilson/Solo

New Transatlantic World Record !

Charlie Pitcher has broken the world record for solo-rowing across the Atlantic ! He set off from La Gomera on this row for charity on February 6th and had to beat the previous record of 40 days and about 10 hours ( see my previous post: Transatlantic solo rower set to break world record... ). Yesterday he arrived in Barbados well ahead of that in just 35 days. The rower and his boat are reported to be in good condition. Congratulations from La Gomera ! You can read the press release just published here:
https://www.dropbox.com/sh/5obmyy6dgafbj1j/gZkD25oq89/Press%20Release%2013%3A03%3A13%20Charlie%20Pitcher.pdf

Charlie Pitchers rowing boat in which he broke the world
record - it is only about 20ft long. ©transatlanticsolo.com

Snow on Tenerife

Yes, there's snow on Tenerife, but high up on Mount Teide. Its 3,718-metre (12,198 ft) summit is the highest point in Spain and the highest point above sea level in the islands of the Atlantic. In winter the top of this still active volcano is often covered in snow. At sea level it is very warm and people are out on the beaches sunbathing and swimming in the sea.

Mount Teide on Tenerife seen from La Gomera

Transatlantic solo rower set to break world record

See also latest UPDATE: New Transatlantic World Record !

Charlie Pitcher is well underway to break the Transatlantic solo rowing world record. In his attempt he will have to row the 3000 nautical miles from La Gomera to Barbados in less than 40 days. 
He initially set out from the port of San Sebastian de La Gomera on Feb. 2nd but decided to turn back after six hours of battling strong currents and headwinds. He finally left port
on Feb.6th when conditions were much more favourable. By now he has already covered more than one fifth of the distance and has at times reached speeds of over 14 knots when surfing waves. Charlie is hoping to raise funds for charities in his daring attempt.
You can find out more and follow his progress on his website:http://transatlanticsolo.com/home/
Here's a video of Charlie Pitcher on his boat in La Gomera:

Carnival in Canary Islands

It's carnival time in the Canary Islands and this is a huge event that doesn't exactly keep to the traditional carnival timetable. It goes on well after Ash Wednesday, even getting close to Easter some years, as each community stages their own and wants participants from neighbouring towns. The main events are in Las Palmas on Gran Canaria and in Santa Cruz on Tenerife, the latter being the second-largest carnival in the world after Rio de Janeiro. In Santa Cruz this year some events have been cancelled because during the election gala for the carnival queen one of the contestants' elaborate costume caught fire and she was severely burnt.
But wherever you'll be in the Canaries over the next few weeks watch out for local posters and announcements. The actual parades and main events couldn't be missed anyway - the sights and sounds are obvious.
Each community end their festivities with the 'funeral of the sardine' when a large papier-mache sardine full of pyrotechnics  is burnt and pushed into the sea, accompanied by the wailing of 'grieving ladies', i.e. men dressed in women's black clothes.

Images from my archive of the carnival in...

...Valle Gran Rey, La Gomera in 2007

Winds Easing in Canaries Today

It's been a windy day yesterday in the Canary Islands, but today the north-easterly gales should ease gradually and we'll be back to dry, sunny conditions with moderate winds, dominated by high pressure. The chart for Friday looks promising (unless you pray for rain): 

4th Valle Luna Festival Program(s) 2013

Here are some of the programs of the Valle Luna Festival 2013, that has just started in Valle Gran Rey, La Gomera. As the organisation is 'a bit behind' again this year, this is only a taste of all the events that are going to happen here in the next few days - or even weeks. Musicians and artists are still booking gigs as I write...

Click on images to enlarge:

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