La Palma, Canary Islands
On our first morning at sea after leaving Madeira, we encountered a pair of sperm whales logging at the surface. We had been introduced to Madeiran whaling, which targeted sperm whales near the island, but which was very limited in time and in numbers of animals taken, and it was a pleasure to observe these two giants living in these beautiful blue waters. Once the whales left us to begin one of their dives, which can take up to an hour, we continued on to theCanary Islands
On our first day in the Canary Islands, for many years known as the “Fortunate Islands” by early explorers, we made a visit to La Palma. Settled by Spaniards in the early 15th century, the Canary Islands were the only archipelago in the collection known as Macaronesia and including the Azores, Madeira, Canaries and Cape Verde Islands to have had a native population when the Europeans arrived. These people, the Guanche, were descendants of Berbers who somehow made it across the narrow strait (50 nm) between Cape Juby in Morocco and the easternmost of the Canaries, Lanzarote and Fuerteventura. From there they spread out to inhabit all the seven Canary Islands, although by the time the Spanish arrived, the Guanche had no knowledge of boats or rafts, so it is unclear exactly how they came over from Africa.
We experienced this beautiful and unspoiled island by coach. The western islands in the Canaries see few tourists, in marked contrast to the islands of Tenerife and Grand Canaria where Spanish sometimes seems the fourth most popular language after Swedish, German and English. During our coach ride, we were able to see most of the major lava flows and volcanic ash and cinder cones which together comprise the island of La Palma, the most volcanically active of all the Canaries.
In particular we visited Vocán Teneguia, the most recent volcano on the island, which erupted in 1971. Many other lava flows spanning the whole of historic time cover the southern part of the island. On the northern end, we visited the ancient caldera of Taburiente which stretches 9 km across and is 2 km deep. Altogether it was a wonderful day in one of the most beautiful of the Canary Islands.
On our first morning at sea after leaving Madeira, we encountered a pair of sperm whales logging at the surface. We had been introduced to Madeiran whaling, which targeted sperm whales near the island, but which was very limited in time and in numbers of animals taken, and it was a pleasure to observe these two giants living in these beautiful blue waters. Once the whales left us to begin one of their dives, which can take up to an hour, we continued on to theCanary Islands
On our first day in the Canary Islands, for many years known as the “Fortunate Islands” by early explorers, we made a visit to La Palma. Settled by Spaniards in the early 15th century, the Canary Islands were the only archipelago in the collection known as Macaronesia and including the Azores, Madeira, Canaries and Cape Verde Islands to have had a native population when the Europeans arrived. These people, the Guanche, were descendants of Berbers who somehow made it across the narrow strait (50 nm) between Cape Juby in Morocco and the easternmost of the Canaries, Lanzarote and Fuerteventura. From there they spread out to inhabit all the seven Canary Islands, although by the time the Spanish arrived, the Guanche had no knowledge of boats or rafts, so it is unclear exactly how they came over from Africa.
We experienced this beautiful and unspoiled island by coach. The western islands in the Canaries see few tourists, in marked contrast to the islands of Tenerife and Grand Canaria where Spanish sometimes seems the fourth most popular language after Swedish, German and English. During our coach ride, we were able to see most of the major lava flows and volcanic ash and cinder cones which together comprise the island of La Palma, the most volcanically active of all the Canaries.
In particular we visited Vocán Teneguia, the most recent volcano on the island, which erupted in 1971. Many other lava flows spanning the whole of historic time cover the southern part of the island. On the northern end, we visited the ancient caldera of Taburiente which stretches 9 km across and is 2 km deep. Altogether it was a wonderful day in one of the most beautiful of the Canary Islands.
