Cold front

A cold front brought good rainfalls to Valle Gran Rey last night and further showers can be expected today. The polar air that came with it makes it feel pretty cold today and the minimum temperature on my thermometer last night read only 10,5ºC, making it the coldest night during my time here. By now (10am) the temperature is back up to 15ºC, but this still is colder than usual. The low pressure of about 1007hPa that has formed over the Canaries will remain stationary for today, but is expected to fill and move away in 48 hours and the normal, warmer weather with more sunshine will have become established again.
Hiking and walking in the mountains is inadvisable as for the rest of the day there are weather warnings of heavy showers and thunderstorms.

A fairly overcast and cool morning Jan. 9th, 2014

Urgent meeting demanded to discuss ferry service

 The mayors of Alajero (which includes Playa Santiago) and Valle Gran Rey have called for an urgent meeting with the representative of the Canarian government responsible for public transport to discuss and analyse the proposal by 'one ferry company' to reinstate the ferry connection between the three ports of La Gomera and Los Cristianos on Tenerife. The two mayors both have stated that the meeting should be held on La Gomera and should involve all authorities concerned as well as the government of La Gomera 'as soon as the Christmas festivities are over'.

It is understood that the proposal is by Garajonay Express, the company which successfully operated this ferry service up to a few years ago. We're keeping the fingers crossed...

Caution: Big waves today

All the way from the storms in Ireland...

La Puntilla, Valle Gran Rey at lunchtime Tuesday Jan.7th, 2014

Procession of 'Ramo' to Los Reyes chapel today

Some images of today's procession below. See: Second Christmas Presents and Fiesta

The Ramo (centre)

New tourist office and interpretative centre

Church La Asuncion (left) and new tourist office with interpretative centre  (2 doors on right)

The previous tourist office in the small colonial customs house near the main square in San Sebastian de La Gomera, which in its courtyard boasts the well which is said to have provided the water for Christopher Columbus to baptise the New World with. This is now closed for renovations and will reopen as a museum. The tourist office has moved 200 yards up the main pedestrianised street to a beautifully-restored Spanish colonial house occupying the corner of the square in front of the historic church La Asuncion.

The new tourist office in La Gomera's capital is already open to the public and will be launched officially in a few days' time. The same building also houses a very attractive new interpretative centre themed on the island's geology and culture, titled The Memory of Stones. All displays and exhibits are labelled in English as well as in Spanish and very attractively presented, making this interpretative centre a must-see when in San Sebastian. The entrance is through the bright courtyard and the remainder of the building will be used for exhibitions.

Inside La Gomera's new interpretative centre 

Second Christmas Presents and Fiesta

In Spain and some Latin American countries,the 6th of January is called El Día de los Reyes (The Day of the Kings). It marks the day when the Three Kings or Magi, as related in the second chapter of the gospel of Matthew, arrived to worship and bring their gifts to the baby Jesus after following a star in the sky.  In Spanish tradition on January 6th (Epiphany) the kings  Melchior, Gaspar, and Balthazar (representing Arabia, the Orient, and Africa) arrived on horse, camel and elephant, bringing respectively gold, frankincense and myrrh to the baby Jesus. Children (and many adults) polish and leave their shoes ready for the Kings' presents before they go to bed on the eve of January 6. The next morning presents will appear under their shoes as the kings  take the role of Santa Claus here . Most towns in Spain arrange colorful parades representing the arrival of the Reyes Magos to town a day or two before, so children can see them on their camels or carriages and hand them letters listing their wishes.  Wine, snacks, fruit and milk are left for the Kings and their camels. In Spain, children typically receive presents on this day, rather than on Christmas, though this tradition has changed a bit in recent years, and children now receive presents on both days.

Ermita de Los Reyes in El Guro, Valle Gran Rey

The Ramo

In Valle Gran Rey the Kings begin their tour in the mountain village of Las Hayas on Jan. 5th at 4 pm and then continue through all the villages and barrios of the valley and will finally collect the letters addressed to them near the town hall.

V.G.R.'s oldest church is in El Guro and dedicated to Los Reyes. Every year the Fiesta de Los Reyes in honour of them takes place there and this year the proceedings begin on Jan 4th with all night dancing to the usual salsa bands from 10 pm. On Jan. 6th the 'Ramo' is made in the morning at the cultural centre in La Calera, from where the procession to the chapel of Los Reyes starts at midday with the typical dance steps and chants. After arrival there's a mass in the chapel in El Guro followed by more salsa bands and partying.

La Gomera's population decreases

In 2012 La Gomera had a population of 22.350 and this went down to 21.153 over the past year, leaving the island with 5.36 % less residents. The latest figures by the Spanish National Statistics Institute (INE) reveal that more than half the decrease of the total number took place in the municipal area of Valle Gran Rey with 620 residents less than at the end of 2012 leaving a total of only 4.240 people living there. The second highest loss of 356 was in the island's capital San Sebastian de La Gomera which now has 8.699 residents. In the remaining four municipal areas of Vallehermoso, Hermigua, Agulo and Alajero (which includes Playa de Santiago) the population loss was less marked, but none had an increase.

Valle Gran Rey had an alarming loss of population of -12,8 % in 2013

2014 La Gomera

Shipping confusion at four ports in Canary Islands

There was a lot of confusion in the port of San Sebastian de La Gomera and to a lesser degree in the harbours of Vueltas in Valle Gran Rey on La Gomera, Los Cristianos on Tenerife and Santa Cruz de La Palma over the past couple of days. 

San Sebastian de La Gomera

First, the medium-sized (about 1000 passengers and crew) Malta-registered cruise ship Saga Sapphire docked in San Sebastian on Saturday instead of Santa Cruz de La Palma where it should have been according to the Saga Cruises programme for its mainly British passengers. This ship then was to dock in Valle Gran Rey's harbour on Sunday on its way back from the island of La Palma, but it remained in San Sebastian all day Sunday, leaving expectant V.G.R. wondering. In San Sebastian, meanwhile, the scheduled visit by the Balmoral, operated by Fred. Olsen Cruises, with about 1700 passengers and crew couldn't come into the harbour due to the cruise ship berth being occupied by the Saga Sapphire. The Balmoral went on to Santa Cruz de La Palma instead (probably taking the berth left vacant there by the Saga Sapphire) and then further on to Funchal,Madeira.

Part of San Sebastian pier
from the deck of the Armas
ferry Volcan de Taburiente

Next there were problems with Sunday's last ferry sailing by Naviera Armas. Their ship Volcan de Taburiente left Los Cristianos on the last scheduled sailing early Sunday night, but had to return to said port about a quarter of an hour later due to 'technical problems', which according to some reports concerned the doors of the vehicle decks of the ro-ro ferry. Back in Los Cristianos port passengers were told over the public address system that the sailing was suspended and because it was already getting late many passengers left the vessel. However, at about 11:30 pm the technical problem was repaired and the vessel left for La Gomera with remaining passengers to arrive in San Sebastian at about 00:30 am, leaving lots of those behind who had decided earlier to temporarily disembark.

Now back to the saga of the Saga Sapphire: This cruise ship was still in the same port early on Monday morning which, according to some crew members, was 'due to poor weather', but the weather was reasonably fair, and locally those 'in the know' said it was a failure of the side-thrusters - needed to propel a large motor vessel off the pier against the wind or current). The captain was quoted in some media reports as having asked for a tug, which La Gomera doesn't have and no visiting cruise ship even in the worst weather conditions ever needed here. 
At the same time another cruise ship, the Bermuda-registered Aurora, was sailing for a scheduled stop-over at San Sebastian de La Gomera with about 2500 passengers and crew aboard, and on coming closer to La Gomera this vessel had to resolve to to sail in ever widening circles off San Sebastian while waiting for the Saga Sapphire to vacate the cruise ship berth in the harbour. Meanwhile a good number of buses, tour guides, taxis, car rental reps, etc., were waiting on the pier for a long time, ready for the Aurora's pre-booked passengers. 

At lunchtime the berth was still blocked and the Aurora decided to wait no longer and sail on, bound for Funchal on Madeira. The larger cruise ship had barely rounded La Gomera's northern point when the Saga Sapphire finally left and vacated the berth, also bound for… you've guessed it - Madeira. This left La  Gomera free of all cruise ships for the remainder of yesterday and ready for the scheduled berthing of the Italian-registered Aida Vita cruise ship with about 1500 passengers and crew this morning. Keep the fingers crossed !
All  these cruise ships originally came here from Las Palmas on Gran Canaria, by the way.
I wonder who'll be claiming what of whom for the above chain of events...

Tour buses waiting a long time in vain for the Aurora on the pier of La Gomera's capital © gomeranoticias.com

Hotel in Valle Gran Rey receives award

The Hotel Playa Calera in Valle Gran Rey has received the Gold Customers Choice award from tour operators Kuoni and Apollo. The companies say that 'The Playa Calera ensures a superb hotel experience by offering guests great service and a high quality holiday. Our Apollo customers have awarded the Playa Calera with the highest scores in category 3+ and 4 star hotels in 2012/2013.' 

Hotel Playa Calera (Source: booking.com)

Spectacular video of landslides after El Hierro quake

I came across a new video on YouTube of some of the widespread massive landslides after Friday's 5.1 El Hierro island earthquake. Several stretches of minor roads to remote areas in the west of the island remain blocked (see photo below video).

Experts remain divided on whether a new magma intrusion is taking place west of El Hierro, but further deformation and elevation of the island at some GPS stations has been observed. Earthquake activity remained very low overnight until this morning and there were no alerts issued.
UPDATE Dec. 30th, 2013: 
Only two minor shocks in the past 24 hours, but deformation at some GPS stations shows a further increase, with some parts of the island now elevated by 20 centimetres (8 inches) when compared to values before seismic activity began on El Hierro in July 2011.
UPDATE Jan. 3rd, 2014:
Hardly any earthquake activity since last update. Deformation, while remaining high, shows some stabilisation and even a minor decrease at a few stations.

Official of the El Hierro government assesses the damage standing on the left margin of a road. © canariasahora

Aftershocks following 5.1 El Hierro quake. NO tsunami

There were a number of aftershocks following yesterday's 5.1 earthquake on El Hierro and up to now (2 am) the strongest of those were a 3.7 (at 20 kms depth) and a 3.3 (at 12 kms depth) in the same sea area just west of El Hierro as the 5.1 at about 5:45pm yesterday. This quake was widely felt all over the western Canary Islands and on La Gomera. I heard it and slightly felt it myself here in Valle Gran Rey and met several people who did feel it even more. It is interesting to note that this earthquake was of a relatively long duration of up to 15 seconds, according to some reports.

Some scaremongers are trying to connect the big waves coming in from the Atlantic to the recent quake(s). This is absolute nonsense: The strong swell is due to the very deep depressions in the North Atlantic that have produced hurricane force winds over parts of Northern Europe, especially Ireland, Britain and France. Even bigger waves are expected to arrive in the Canaries today and Sunday emanating from the succession of storms there over the next few days. The El Hierro quakes do NOT cause any waves/tsunamis !
There were no reports of damage caused by yesterday's shock, but some minor roads were hit by rockfalls and subsequently closed.
Update lunchtime: 
The seismic activity has decreased considerably and the 30 tourists trapped at two remote beaches due to blocked access roads are reported to have been brought out of there.

Yesterday's El Hierro tremor location and magnitude

This is how yesterday's
El Hierro 5.1 quake
registered on La Gomera

Earthquake of 5.1 on El Hierro

The strongest earthquake since the beginning of the increase in seismic activity on El Hierro in the summer of 2011 was widely felt by the population about half an hour before sunset. The magnitude was measured as 5.1  and it occurred at a depth of 11 kilometres  in the sea area just west of Frontera. The quake was also felt on the islands of La Palma, Tenerife and here on La Gomera. Several GPS stations had reported a rising of the terrain on El Hierro by up to 5,7 centimetres in just four days. There also were abnormal radon gas levels measured just before the current renewed activity began. Several minor aftershocks were recorded after the 5.1 quake.
On El Hierro some roads were closed as a precautionary measure, leaving some people stranded in remote locations. There are no reports of damage at this moment, but the tremor caused many rockfalls and landslides in unpopulated areas. Here's a short video of some:

Stranded tanker worries Lanzarote

A tanker stranded on the Moroccan coast near Tan Tan only about 260 kilometres east of the island of Lanzarote is loaded with 5000 tons of fuel, some of which appears to be leaking into the sea. The government of Lanzarote has called on the Moroccan consulate to take urgent measures to remove the fuel and to give an estimate as to how much fuel has leaked out already. Due to worsening weather conditions nothing seems to have been done yet. The stricken ship is named Silver and registered in Laayoune.
Update Dec. 28th:
The Moroccan authorities have stated that they have the situation under control and that experts and equipment have been transferred to the tanker to prepare the pumping of the fuel to waiting tanker trucks ashore.
Update Jan. 3rd, 2014:
About one third of the fuel has been safely pumped ashore from the stranded vessel and the Moroccan authorities are confident that the operation to make the ship safe can be completed successfully.

The stranded vessel (Source: gomeraverde)

Did you enjoy your X-mas dinner ? These dogs did.

I was shown this video yesterday and liked it so much that I want to share it with you:

Big party on Christmas Eve

There was a super party on La Gomera on Christmas Eve. Although privately organised, the party was open to all and locals and visitors alike danced the night away to several DJs. It definitely was a welcome change to singing 'Silent Night'. Thanks, guys, and hopefully the same again on New Year's Eve! 

El Hierro earthquake activity increase in Dec. 2013

On the neighbouring Island of El Hierro erthquake activity has increased quite substantially once again. While the past few months were relatively quiet seismically, the stronger and more frequent activity has started again on Sunday, Dec. 22nd 2013. when 73 shocks were recorded and yesterday 100. Most of the earthquakes were minor and below 2,5 on the Richter scale, but also some of around magnitude 3 were registered and these were felt by the island's population. Scientists say that the activity is a harmless natural process as new lava seems to be thrusting upwards and this tension is causing the earthquake 'swarm'. Most of these quakes happened directly under the island, but the majority were at depths of between 13 and 18 kilometres, which is considered safe. Since the start of the activity in the summer of 2011 more than 20800 earthquakes have been recorded on El Hierro, most of them minor shocks.

See previous post about the El Hierro earthquakes and eruption.
Important update: 5.1 quake
Further update: Aftershocks...

Earthquake locations since Dec. 22nd, 2013

A very Happy Christmas to all

Spotted in Valle Gran Rey

Tall ship in Valle Gran Rey

A regular visitor to La Gomera was in the harbour of Valle Gran Rey again a couple of days ago. The tall ship Alexander von Humboldt II is a German sailing ship built as a replacement for the original 1906 sail training ship Alexander von Humboldt. She was launched in 2011 and just like her predecessor, the Alexander von Humboldt II is operated by Deutsche Stiftung Sail Training out of Bremerhaven and offers sail training for persons between 14 and 75 years of age. She can accommodate 79 crew and trainees, is about 200 ft in length and has a 750 hp engine in case there is no wind. If you're aboard and in luck your food might be cooked by part-time Gomera resident Otto, who used to run a well-known establishment in Ireland. When she is in port visitors can come aboard at certain times to view the bark - visiting times are displayed at the gangway.
CORRECTION (Dec. 26th): 
Otto was never cooking on the A.v.Humboldt. He does however sometimes cook the delicious food on the Norwegian tall ship Roald Amundsen. My apologies to Otto.

Shooting 'In the Heart of the Sea' all wrapped

Many thanks to Ron from La Gomera
(Photo © RealRonHoward)

After a week's further filming on Lanzarote all the exterior scenes for In the Heart of the Sea were in the can on Tuesday and now begins the long wait for the film's release, which is said to happen on March 13th, 2015. A lot of post-production work, I guess.

This is how Ron Howard, the film's hard-working director put it on his Twitter account:

Ron Howard ‏@RealRonHoward

17h

That's a wrap on In the Heart of the Sea. An extraordinary creative experience Thanks to all involved pic.twitter.com/UpPdS9izJO

…and in a personal letter to La Gomera's government and the island's president which was published yesterday, Ron Howard expressed his satisfaction with the material shot here, stating that filming here couldn't have been better. He's also quoted as stating that filming on La Gomera was an 'incredible experience'. He lauds the warm welcome received on La Gomera and the cooperation by all involved. Before thanking La Gomera again for the hospitality afforded, Ron wrote that he hopes to return soon to enjoy the rest of La Gomera.
Yes please come again, and thank you and your team for an unforgettable experience. Personally, I feel this film repaires at least some of the economic damage last year's fires did to La Gomera - with the prospect of greater rewards in the future. Good on 'ya!

Ron Howard directing 'In the Heart of the Sea' on location in La Gomera recently. Image ©Keller