So on the 10th January 2022 we left to El Hierro. It was a beautiful sunny day. The only problem was that there was no wind so we had to use the motor. We stopped it twice to try to use the sails but we were only doing a mere 2 knots meaning that we would reach La Estaca at midnight.
When we reached there we found a half empty marina so parking was a piece of cake. We went to the office where the guy said that we could come tomorrow then my mum cooked her signature “after a sailing trip” dish – pasta. We met with Bouzouki who took us to La Villa de Valverde the next day so my dad, the dog and I could enjoy a two hour hiking trip. We had a great trip where clumsy me fell. We even took my mum on the very same path to show her what she had missed (this time I didn’t fall).
At first glance El Hierro is this boring island where nothing is happening – exactly the opposite if La Gomera – but when you go to other places that are more uphill it starts getting interesting. It reminds me of England – there was even very green grass and similar trees. The only difference was the tuneras/nopales (cactus) in popping out in the background. The fences that separated the land looked like the ones in England. I thoroughly enjoyed that part of the island. Then there was a part in the middle, like El Piñar, that resembled Tenerife’s Corona de Piñas (Crown of Pines) on Teide. Then the coast is normally quite volcanic where you can see black or red volcanic rocks. The only downside of the island is that the beaches are mainly rock.
We stayed in La Estaca which is quite a new. It has a pretty beach that is rock but it has concrete sunbeds and a concrete path to help you go in the water without hurting your feet. There is also a pontoon where you can go and rest after swimming. It would be a perfect place to stay for longer if it had a shop nearby. The closest shop is 2km away which is a half an hour walk – half of it on the road because there are is no pavement. Its a small local shop that doesn’t really have everything you need. If you always eat frozen meat and chips (fries) then you’re in luck but if you want to buy beer they might not have alcoholic beer left.
We met a lot of people during our stay mostly because some of the boats on the pontoon including us had BBQ on a beach close to us (in the town where the closest shop was) that Dina from Merdeka had organised in our yoga class. We met Merdeka, Mindelo, Kick em Jenny, Windbreaker, Alegria, Pachific and many more in the marina. We also met a fisherman called Alvaro in El Hierro. That made us enjoy the island more. Most of the boats had similar directions and dates to us so we formed like a mini regatta where we cheered everybody for leaving.
Overall I enjoyed El Hierro and I would certainly visit it again. I know I staid this about every island in the archipelago but they’re all interesting in their own way. I quite enjoyed my visit in the canaries.
