New mayor in Valle Gran Rey

The new mayor of Valle Gran Rey, Cristopher Marrero (image: gomeranoticias.com)

Valle Gran Rey's new local administration has now been formed and Cristopher Marrero of the PSOE is the new mayor, even though his party holds only two of the eleven seats on the council. His election was facilitated with the help of the two councillors of the Si Se Puede grouping and the two of the Nueva Canarias party, leaving La Gomera's strongest party ASG in opposition with five seats. See all La Gomera local election 2019 results...

Local election results La Gomera 2019

Casimiro Curbelo

The independent La Gomera socialist ASG party of the island's president Casimiro Curbelo (image on top) was the clear winner in the recent local elections, followed by the socialist PSOE. The graphics below (source: gomeraverde.es) first show the results for the election to La Gomera's cabildo (island government) followed by the results in all five municipal areas of La Gomera, where in some it is not clear yet who will form the new local government ('escaños' = seats). Left environmental group SSP (Si Se Puede) won two seats for the first time in Valle Gran Rey and Vallehermoso as well as one in San Sebastian de La Gomera, plus two seats in the cabildo.

                                                                             CABILDO:

MUNICIPAL AREAS:

Chaos once again

Fred. Olsen and Armas ferries in the port of Los Cristianos

The past weekend once again brought traffic chaos to the port of Los Cristianos as many more people were travelling to and from the western Canary Islands through the Tenerife port due to the end of the Christmas holiday season. All the traffic has to pass through the bottleneck of the port access road in Los Cristianos and the congested port itself, where several lanes of disembarking vehicles have to go through the small roundabout into the single lane that then has to pass through the centre of the town. It often happens that two or three ferries arrive at the same time leading to delays in berthing the ships, and parked cars and trucks waiting to board add to the traffic congestion. The ferry companies' sailings also often serve two islands during one trip, i.e. stopping over at La Gomera on the way to and from La Palma. When two ferries arrive at the same time in Los Cristanos discharging hundreds of cars and trucks and even more foot passengers laden with luggage, delays are inevitable. Be warned and expect hold-ups of up to one hour if you need to catch a flight, as taxis and buses often can't get in nor out of the busy port during peak times. The traffic delays sometimes also upset the ferries' sailing schedules and the past weekend's heavy seas added further problems, resulting in some visitors missing their flights home.

The complications are particularly serious on weekends, the busiest time for traffic to and from La Gomera, La Palma and El Hierro, but no-one appears to have a solution for the long queues of vehicles at a virtual standstill for up to an hour in some cases. Port Police do their best to keep the traffic moving but are severely hampered by the narrow exit. The often heavy traffic through Los Cristianos town adds further delays on the road to the motorway. The negative image generated by the hold-ups also worries the officials and has led to calls for the ferry companies to work together to ensure their ships do not arrive at the same time in Los Cristianos. La Gomera's president has suggested the new port of Granadilla in Tenerife's south could be used provisionally for at least some of the sailings. Los Cristianos is much too small a harbour for the current volume of traffic and additionally is used by numerous fishing vessels, excursion boats and pleasure craft. Passenger and vehicle numbers continue to grow every year and recent fare reductions for residents of the Canary Islands have produced an even steeper increase of traffic through Los Cristianos, a popular and very busy holiday resort, prone to congestion anyway.

Hope on the horizon for some rain

The 'Rainbow' enhancement of today's 12 noon satellite image

While the remainder of today should be mostly sunny with few cloudy intervals, there is some hope for badly-needed rain for tomorrow, particularly during the first half of the day. A minor Atlantic depression of 1004 hPa is approaching and will soon be to the north of the Canary Islands near Madeira while filling before finally dissipating. 

There is already a lot of convective precipitation and thunderstorm activity around the low centre, but once again most of that rain is likely to pass to the north of the Canaries. There is however a good chance that La Gomera and the western Canary Islands will get some good showers and/or spells of rain, potentially even heavy ones, from late tonight until Wednesday evening.

We've also got an upper level low sitting over the same area which should aid the convective precipitation and a forming trough.  Warnings of some heavy downpours in parts of La Palma and Tenerife have been issued.

There's also the risk of some scattered thunderstorms, but the good news is that this time the winds will only be light to moderate from a mostly southerly direction. 

The weather should dry up late on Wednesday with a return to mostly sunny conditions and moderate north-easterly winds forecast for the remainder of the week.

This winter season has been much too dry in La Gomera and let's hope that this small depression will deliver some precious water before the dry weather returns.

To be on the safe side, mountain areas and ravines should be avoided tomorrow, though.

Ferry schedules for holiday season

There will be a revised ferry schedule operating over the Christmas and New Year holiday period. The most important changes are on Christmas Day and on New Year's Day when both ferry companies Fred. Olsen and Naviera Armas will operate only one crossing between Los Cristianos on Tenerife and San Sebastian de La Gomera and only one return journey on this route, and all those sailings have evening departures. Intending passengers over the busy holiday period are advised to book in advance and to check ferry times. For direct links to ferry schedules and bookings in English you can go to my TRAVEL page.

The unique whistled language of La Gomera

Above UNESCO video is still one of the best introductions to El Silbo, La Gomera's unique whistled language. It was released by the organisation when El Silbo became recognised by UNESCO as Intangible Cultural Heritage in 2009. Click El Silbo to find out more...

Cruise ship season has begun

With the visit of the large cruise liner 'Mein Schiff 1' the cruise ship season has begun in La Gomera. While a few cruise ships visit La Gomera all year round, the winter months are the busiest time for La Gomera's main port San Sebastian and five cruise ships will dock here this week alone. A good few smaller  cruise ships and sail training vessels  also visit the southwestern port of Valle Gran Rey and even the very large 'Thomson Majesty' is scheduled to dock there four times this winter.

Cruises are becoming an increasingly popular form of holidaying and there's a further 65 large cruise ships under construction at various shipyards all over Europe at the moment.

La Gomera has rated very highly with passengers, who are very impressed with the island's beauty and atmosphere, praising the quality of the shore excursions. Many passengers have voted the visit to La Gomera the highlight of their cruise.

This is good news, as even though most passengers do not spend all that much time and money here, some will return for longer stays and many more will recommend La Gomera as a holiday destination to family and friends. As we all know, word of mouth endorsements are the perfect publicity, of the type that money can't buy.

Some of the many buses awaiting passengers booked on shore excursions

Praise for La Gomera's genuine laid-back atmosphere

The following is an excerpt from an article by Damien Enright, who like me will spend the spring and summer at home in Ireland. It appeared in the Irish Examiner last Monday and eloquently describes the type of atmosphere La Gomera calls its own:

''A king’s ‘ramson’ wouldn’t keep me from West Cork

IT’S goodbye to La Gomera and the canaries, their bubbling morning song from the fruit trees when we stayed in a friend’s house in the mountains, and from our neighbour Gerardo’s spacious aviary when we dwelt in the valley, writes Damien Enright.

A wild canary taking the evening sun on a tree in La Gomera, Canary Islands. Picture: Damien Enright

...  As you read this, we will be journeying home. We’ve greatly enjoyed the walking, swimming, meeting old friends and the food in La Gomera. Holidaymakers who visit the island always say what they most love is that it is so laid-back.

‘Laid-back’ is, of course, a 1960s hippy-term, now used by upright citizens who never actually got laid-back, back then. Why do they find La Gomera so easy-going? Well, they’re no hurry, not much traffic, no bustle, no hustlers, no crime, no aggravation. There are no garish tourist shops or waiters waving one into restaurants, girls in high-heeled cowboy-boots and short shorts handing out time-share leaflets, or signboards for monkey parks, excursions, whale-watching boats or dolphin aquariums blocking the pavements.

‘Laid-back’ has become a high saleable quality for many stressed-out city dwellers. There are, we know, hundreds of sun-blessed Caribbean, South American, and Asian beaches where commercial action is unknown: but holidaymakers ask themselves if they can relax in places where there are no other foreign footprints on the sand. These days, the locals may no longer be happy with just “livin’ on coconuts and fishes from de sea”.

A big plus for Gomera’s laid-back feeling is that there is no crime. Women can safely walk alone on remote trails. They can go out at night to a restaurant or bar with no fear of being approached, much less accosted, by intrusive locals or other holidaymakers. It is to be admitted that there isn’t a lot of after-dark action. There are no nightclubs or discos — not the place to take your teenage kids on holiday! — but two bars stay open late. Small groups of local and international musicians play impromptu sessions in others.

Most visitors are ‘into’ the island, its natural charms. Many are walkers, and German. German walkers eat dinner early, are asleep by 11pm and up at dawn to set off, a Nordic walking stick in each hand, rucksack on back, valderee-valderah. Then, there’s the ambience. There are no amusement parlours, McDonald’s or Starbucks.

Only one hotel is owned by multinational operators, The Tecina in Playa Santiago, a sort of luxury mini-Tenerife resort owned by Fred Olsen international. Elsewhere, towns have small, family-owned hotels or pensions. In Valle Gran Rey, the handful of hotels are small, low-rise and locally owned, with one or two four-star establishments.

Laid-back may also be a result of local families owning most businesses, being comfortably off, and living traditionally. At least a dozen Germans, long-term residents, have set up successful activity or amenity enterprises, which ‘fit in’.

Local families build their low-rise, small apartment blocks or rented accommodation units themselves; there’s always a builder in the family. The restaurants are largely locally owned, staffed by sons and daughters, with fresh fish and succulent sun-infused vegetables supplied by family members; there’s always a farmer or fishermen in the family.

So, the money is kept at home. The land is locally owned, not sold to conglomerates. The profits are not shipped out. The locals are not just waiters. They have a stake, and the island’s ambience, morality and laid-back way of life is theirs.

The same can be said of tourist villages in Ireland. Tourists say what they like best in Ireland is the atmosphere and the people. Our village in West Cork is a lot like Gomera, but for the weather. However, it will be spring — and we have to go home anyway, because we’ve run out of Barry’s Tea.''

From Island To Island

Painting 'Mid Atlantic' by Carol Cronin, reproduced by kind permission of the artist
Her gallery in Dingle, Co.Kerry is a worth a visit when in the southwest of Ireland

When you are reading this I'm already on my way back home to Ireland. I will of course keep in touch with La Gomera and will report anything important regarding my second home, La Gomera, on this blog.

La Gomera one of Telegraph's greatest 20 destinations

Below the article in the Telegraph's travel section:

La Gomera: the Canary island that time forgot

''This small island was Columbus's last port of call before his voyage to the Americas. It is still a secluded beauty for winter sun travellers today 

La Gomera: getting to know the island is like peeling the layers from an onion.  

The jeep juddered to a halt on a dusty red mountain path 400 metres above sea level. With a foot to spare at the side of the track, I looked down as if into a kaleidoscope that had broken open. Below was an intensely green and fragmented world of giant palms, banana trees, huge ferns and mossy boulders blanketed by flowering vines. Beyond, the colour of mercury, the Atlantic Ocean seemed to stretch into infinity. A Cleopatra butterfly floated lazily by, its yellow wings tipped by tiny pink spots. 

It was early December. I was little more than half-a-day’s travel from wet-and-windy London, and just 50 minutes by ferry from the egg-box apartment resorts of southern Tenerife. But standing spellbound on the side of that mountain, on the lesser-known island of La Gomera, I felt light years away from the chaos and brashness associated with the Canary Islands’ more obvious tourist destinations. Bathed in sunshine and silence, with only sea, sky and nature for company, I could have been in a different century. 

The second-smallest of the seven Canary Islands - near-circular and with a diameter of only 25 kilometres - La Gomera feels like the island that time forgot... Read full article...

Video of yesterday's heavy rain on Gran Canaria

While here on La Gomera the eastern half of the island had some good showers yesterday, here in Valle Gran Rey I'm still waiting for the rain. However, for today until 7pm we again have an 'orange' level rain alert, and from then until Sunday night a level 'yellow' one.

On Gran Canaria and on Tenerife some areas had torrential rain yesterday, and the town of Telde on Gran Canaria, where over 100mm of rain fell in a short time, even had to declare a state of emergency, but luckily no one was seriously hurt. See video below:

The new municipal mayors of La Gomera

Angel Piñero of  Valle Gran Rey (Image: gomeranoticias.com)

Valle Gran Rey: 

Angel Piñero has been elected mayor of this municipal area on La Gomera last Saturday. His Coalicion Canaria party came out strongest in the recent local elections, winning four of the eleven seats on the local council but unable to gain a majority. However, his candidature was supported by all but the two Si Se Puede councillors and it now appears he will form a minority local government with the support of most elected councillors.

The other 5 municipal mayors on La Gomera were elected as follows:

San Sebastian de La Gomera: 

Now ruled by the new socialist party ASG (6 seats)  in coalition with Antonio Luis Arteaga of Nueva Canarias (1 seat) with Adasat Reyes  of the ASG as mayor. 

Vallehermoso: 

Emiliano Coello of the ASG elected mayor with absolute majority held by the ASG.

Agulo: 

Rosa Chinea (ASG) is new mayor, also with absolute majority of the seats held by her party.

Hermigua: 

Pedro Negrín of CC (2 seats) elected mayor, forming local government in coalition with ASG (2 seats) and PSOE (1seat). Former mayor Solveida Clemente's party is now in opposition with four seats.

Alajeró: 

Manuel Ramón Plasencia of the Spanish Labour Party PSOE managed to go against the trend on La Gomera, now being the only mayor to be re-elected with his party gaining an absolute majority of the seats.

Cafeteria shipshape in ship-shaped ferry terminal

Los Cristianos ferry terminal, built in the form of a ship

The refurbished bright interior

Good news for travellers to an from the western Canary Islands of La Palma, El Hierro and La Gomera: The cafeteria in the ferry terminal on the pier in Los Cristianos on Tenerife has reopened under new management this week. The upstairs facility had been closed for a long time and it was a fairly long walk to the nearest bar or cafe in the port to get any food or drink. Now the refurbished bright interior with its long self-sevice counter and the large terraces overlooking the harbour once again provide sustenance and rest for weary travellers while watching life in the busy harbour. 

Meanwhile the cafeteria in the ferry terminal of San Sebastian de La Gomera is still closed, but the rental contract has been awarded to new management by the authorities (the terminals are public buildings) and it is expected to reopen soon as well.

The upstairs entrance. Photo taken early in the morning just after opening

Left and above: The ample terraces

Canary Islands seen from space at night

The Canary Islands seen from space by night. The population centres on Tenerife and Gran Canaria produce the most light pollution while La Gomera and El Hierro islands are fairly dark in comparison. Image: nrlmry.navy.mil

El Hierro clearly seen from La Gomera yesterday

Russian frigate visits Canary Islands

The ‘Shtandart’, a replica of the Russian frigate commissioned by Peter the Great in 1703, spent the winter in the Canary Islands and offered 4 itineraries for young people to experience sailing in the 18th century as well as explore the islands. You can find out how this came about and the purpose of the Shtandart Project by clicking the link.

The above was first published by Queenie's Daily Snippets