La Palma, Canary Islands (Spain)
Today was our first of two days to be spent exploring the Canary Islands. This interesting archipelago consists of 13 islands located about 60 miles off the west coast of Africa. They are spread out just north of the Tropic of Cancer, which is about the same latitude as Florida. Because the islands are maritime in nature, they generally maintain a year round ambient temperature in the 70°s F (20°s C), with no extremes. The Canaries are volcanic in origin, and there are still a few active volcanic sites in the western islands (where we are now). These islands have the richest biodiversity of any of the Macaronesian archipelagos, which is most likely a result of their being the closest group to any continent, i.e. Africa. As a general rule, the distance between archipelagos and the nearest source of species inversely determines the level of biodiversity. Not surprisingly, there is considerable endemism to be found in the Canaries, and we were on the lookout for several very special species of birds and reptiles…most of which we found during the afternoon. It is interesting that the various Macaronesian island groups have received their founding flora and fauna from different sources, including the obvious regions of Iberia, northern Africa, and western Africa, but some of the species have their nearest relatives located in southern Africa, eastern Africa, South America, and even central Asia and Australia. Scientists think these odd ball species must have come from common ancestors that are linked with the ancient continental landmass known as Gondwanaland that existed many millions of years ago when all the modern southern continents were interconnected.
We are spending all our time here in the western Canaries, which are noted for having better climate, more dependable rainfall, and richer soils than the eastern islands. The mineral-rich volcanic soil is ideal for both temperate and tropical agriculture, so the early Portuguese settlers were quick to introduce sugar cane in the early 1500s. This “white gold” proved to be a great success and lead to many years of huge profits. By the end of the 16th century, wine grapes had been introduced, and Canarian wines also were very successful. By the end of the 17th century, the Canary Islands had become an important trading center with ties to many European countries as well as the Americas. Today, however, the most important agricultural product, indeed the most important economic entity of the island, is the banana. Much of the landscape is composed of terraces to accommodate the valuable banana plantations (left photo).
We arrived at La Palma just before lunch and quickly berthed the ship in the colorful little town of Santa Cruz, which gave us plenty of time to organize various excursions for the afternoon. Right after lunch, we set off to explore the interesting island, which is a two million year-old, leaf-shaped volcanic structure measuring approximately 13 by 29 miles (21 by 47 km)…the center of the island is dominated by the enormous Caldera de Taburiente. Many people consider this to be the most beautiful island in the entire archipelago.
Some of us headed off on the very scenic mountain road to the eastern part of the island, stopping at the viewpoint near the little church of San Bartolo before continuing to El Cubo de la Galga. Here, we went for a 2.5 hour-long hike on a well-maintained road/trail along a dry river bed that took us through the Laurel forest. Much of the trail had a good canopy overhead, which produces plenty of shade and allows for a very impressive growth of ferns on the forest floor and on the exposed rock faces of the surrounding cliffs (right photo).
The rest of us drove to the Church of Nuestra Señora de las Nieves (Our Lady of the Snows), located far above the town. This also provided a nice view over the surrounding countryside. We then continued on to the famous Caldera de Taburiente National Park, where after a stop at the visitors center, most of us enjoyed a nice walk along a good trail along the rim of the caldera.
On the way back to the ship, everyone managed a stop at one of two restaurants for a chance to enjoy some local wine and cheese, as well as meringue, salt potatoes, macaroons made with locally grown almonds, and bananas. We were in no hurry to depart La Palma, being as it is quite close to tomorrow’s destination, so some of us went back ashore in the evening for some Saturday nightlife.
