The Purple Penguin

Monday started well, got up early, had breakfast, and down to the harbour to go whale watching. Were far too early, as is normal, so found a bench and watched the boats. Saw the ferry come in and so checked the timings and realised we can get the ferry back to San Sebastian when we leave and it will be on time to get the afternoon ferry back to Tenerife. So we’re sorted for Thursday. But then we got a call saying whale watching was cancelled due to wind. So no spending the morning on a boat. Met up with four other people who were also there to go on the trip and who had not received a call (found out later one pair had but hadn’t answered!) So we waited until after ten and several phone calls – our options were to try to get to Valle Gran Rey tomorrow morning or do the trip on Thursday. Well, we’re leaving on Thursday and don’t care to try to get to the other town tomorrow morning (not even sure what time we’d have to be there but it would involve a taxi and faff to get back so). So no whale watching from La Gomera. We do have another whale watching trip planned for El Hierro (if we can get to the port).

So a slow wander back to the hotel, check to see if the tour person was there (she was not and wasn’t all day so have to sort that tomorrow). Then back to the room and as the day was disappointing anyway, we decided to do some hand washing. So have clean clothes for the rest of the trip now. We also found out the Laguna is closed from Wednesday for a private event, so will have to do our last day at our favourite pool tomorrow. We did have lunch by the main pool today and it was quite nice.

So we had a lazy couple of days at the last hotel. Spent Tuesday lazing by the Laguna pool (salt water) and a bit of swim. It did look like the pool was open on Wednesday with everything else shut off but we stayed up at the main complex and rested. Too hazy to see the Geminids though – we had haze from the Sahara the last few days.

Thursday got up early and had a quick breakfast before getting out bags and hoping in a taxi to the port (only a few minutes by car but ages by foot, especially with rucksacks). We had thought we’d go by road to San Sebastian for the ferry to Tenerife, but decided the ferry was easier and we’d seen the drive in. Were early (of course) so watched the sun through the haze while waiting. Rode on the upper deck to San Sebastian where we had a long layover (arrived just after 9 and our ferry to Tenerife didn’t go until 2pm) and we had to wait for the 10:30 ferry to put our bags in. Once we’d put our bags in the lockers for the ferry, we went for a brief wander around. We went into the Iglesia de La Asunción (church) and found out the whole festival things we’d seen early was probably to do with the Virgin of Guadalupe – not the Mexican one which is what I was thinking! So we’ve possibly seen the statue, maybe. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bajada_(festival) Or if you can read Spanish: https://guadalupegomera.com/ or https://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Virgen_de_Guadalupe_(La_Gomera) The Bajada only happens every 5 years, so we got the 2023 one. Loads of shops selling things related, but we resisted.

Rode on the upper deck outside back to Tenerife, but haze was so bad La Gomera disappeared quickly and couldn’t see Tenerife until we were nearly there. It was funny because everything I was reading indicated you could see Tenerife from some of the lookouts on La Gomera on a clear day – actually you can see Tenerife from just about everywhere on La Gomera – well all the bits facing toward Tenerife. We could see it from the beach by our hotel. It was only the last couple of days with the haze that we couldn’t see it.

We had a shorter wait in Tenerife, so grabbed lunch at the port and watched the people. The ferry loading was a lot more casual – Joe saw people heading that way so we followed and ended up on the ferry. Armas isn’t as slick as Fred Olsen, but it wasn’t a bad ride – two and half hours, but most was in the dark. So we arrived at El Hierro in the dark, found our taxi, and were driven to the Parador. Couldn’t see much of where we’d arrived (and I think we go back in the dark as well!) just the road ahead (twisty again) and vaguely what was alongside (much more shrub than La Gomera – we think). At one point we sat at a traffic light for absolutely ages, then when it finally turned green we turned into a one lane tunnel which was quite long!

The Parador is toward the end of a dead end road, right on the sea with the mountain right behind it. We got checked in and offered a sea view room, which we took. Turns out we’ve probably got the best room in the whole place – upper level, right on the corner, with a wrap around balcony overlooking the sea and views of the mountian. Had a lovely dinner, tried to watch for Geminids from our balcony but still hazy, and then fell asleep to the sound of the sea. When we woke up we had a brilliant view of the sunrise over the sea (still hazy) and finally saw the view which is spectacular. There isn’t much here though, including walks, and the pool is closed due to erosion from the sea, so we are taking it easy on the balcony watching the sea and thinking about a walk later.