El volcán submarino cerca de La Restinga
NASA pidió a los lectores de su sitio web para votar por la mejor foto del año 2012, y ganó el volcán submarino de La Restinga!
Puede obtener más información (en inglés) en el sitio web propio de la NASA
Tremors this month: the beige dots are from the first two week, and the darker colours are more recent.
El Hierro has the shivers again. Since the beginning of March there have been over a thousand tiny earthquakes just to the west of the island, and in the last week they’ve got bigger. Ten have been big enough to feel, with the biggest at magnitude 4, which was felt as far away as La Palma.
So the far west of the island is on yellow alert. The road has been closed from El Pozo de Salud, west and south round the end of the peninsular up to the junction with the road down to La Orchilla lighthouse and the Zero Meridian monument. The tunnel between La Frontera and Valverde is also closed. In both cases I imagine they’re more worried about the possibility of landslides rather than an eruption as such.
If you have a holiday booked, I’d strongly recommend that you go. Any eruption is likely to be offshore, and last year the authorities very sensibly erred on the side of caution. Just don’t stay in a cottage at the foot of a crumbly-looking cliff.
The road closed (in yellow) on the west of El Hierro, March 2013
Here are some photos of the carnival parade in Valverde
Today we have a guest post by Eva Morales Cáceres who is 11 years old.
The Ram Festival tradition was recovered after the Spanish civil War (1936-1939), thanks Don Benito Padrón , who remembered it when he was young. The celebration is related to the typical pastoral life in El Hierro. On Tuesday 12th February there were fifty one “Carneros” and fifteen crazy men in masks. Los “Carneros” paint their faces and bodies with black shoe polish. They catch the people and cover their faces in black. It was good fun, many people enjoyed it. 
The book on sale in Santa Cruz de la Palma
My guide book to the observatory at the Roque de los Muchachos, “A Breathtaking Window on the Universe,” has arrived on La Palma, and is on sale at the following outlets:
Santa Cruz de La Palma:
Librería Trasera (Calle Trasera)
Papiro Libros (Calle Real)
Molina Artesania (Calle Real)
The Best of La Palma (Calle Real)
Los Llanos
María Luasteida Rodríguez Cabello (The souvenir shop at the bottom of the church square)
Breña Alta:
Museo del Puro
I hope to arrange more outlets soon.
Or you can buy it direct from the publisher’s website for 12€ + P&P.
Click on the image to enlarge
PhotoSub 2012 winning entry for the Environment section, by David Barrio, taken in the Mar de las Calmas
Every year El Hierro hosts an underwater photography competition called Fotosub. Congratulations to David Barrio for winning the environment section with this stunning photo, taken in the Sea of Calms (Mar de las Calmas).
Cover picture for "The Silent Flame"
UPDATE: You can buy this book from Samir at WPM CANARIAS wpmcanarias@gmail.com
A new anthology by Canarian poets called “The Silent Flame” (La Llama Silenciosa) aims to raise money for cultural and social projects in La Restinga (the village which suffered most from the volcano). It contains work by 60 authors, and it’s available from participating bookshops at 10€.
The fire at Mazo, La Palma, seen from the road to the Roque
The Canary Islands have had a lot of forest fires this summer, and two are burning on La Palma and La Gomera. As a precaution, the cabildo (the island’s government) has closed the barbecue areas and roads through the pine forest at the top of El Hierro, because it’s all tinder dry. I think that’s very sensible.
The fire on La Gomera, seen from La Palma
The tremors are still rumbling on, still centred on the western peninsula, although they do seem to be easing off.
A map of the latest tremors
El Hierro has had over 1000 small earthquakes, including one at magnitude 4.which was big enough to feel. These are centred on Julan on the western peninsula, which is the least populated part of a sparsely populated island. The GPS sensors detect that the island has shifted 3 cm, so there’s magma on the move somewhere down there.
It would be nice if it would just stop, but I don’t think the magma cares what I think.
You can generate your own map of recent tremors here.