Sea of Clouds

The weather on La Palma can be many things - and often at the same time around different parts of the island. In fact, when guests arrive here at the finca either at the cottage accommodation or bed and breakfast, they often ask, 'Is it always like this?' And that is no matter what the weather is doing. The answer to the question is, 'It's never always like anything'. (Incidentally though, if I may take the opportunity to mention it, that is the title of our book out on Kindle later this year - Is it Always Like This? And you might be relieved to hear, it's not just about the weather on La Palma but about our journey which led us to come and live on a finca in the most rural part of one of the smaller and less well-known islands in the Canaries and, yes, fun on the finca.)
But talking of weather, last week we enjoyed a particularly hot spell even at daybreak with the air like a pleasantly warm bath.
And this early morning warm air induced a phenomena known in the Canary Islands as El Mar de Nubes, The Sea of Clouds.

The photo above was taken from our car park area right here on the finca in Franceses, looking westward towards Santo Domingo de Garafia. The time was 07.25 in the morning - what an amazing spectacle to wake up to.

And this photo was taken a couple of minutes later looking eastwards towards Barlovento.
La Palma never ceases to amaze me.

Colours of the rainbow

The sun was out to play and miniscule shards of rainwater drifted from the sky like confetti. David seized the moment – and took this photo. It seems to sum up our wonderful Christmas and New Year – bright, colourful and just slightly crazy!
In the lead up to Christmas we had some fairly dramatic weather with a very strong wind. It eventually got the better of the electricity supply and we enjoyed a couple of evenings courtesy of candlelight, as did our lovely guests (hi, Jill and Ian).
In a way, it was quite exciting because the wind was warm, hailing from the south and we also knew that we had been lucky to avoid the worst of it while the south and west had been receiving some sterner stuff.
Meanwhile of course the rest of Europe was being held down by heavy snow storms and freezing conditions resulting in cancelled flights, delays and all sorts of travel chaos and despair. We felt lucky that our guests had made it at all! But they did and were soon rewarded by some absolutely glorious weather with full on sun which stayed with us, more or less, right through the New Year.

So here is wishing everybody out there, guests old and new, a wonderful New Year and hoping that 2010 will bring you health, happiness and your very own sunny rainbow.

Ann and David.

La Cascada

La Palma is often quite rightly described as a mini-continent in addition to which it can change dramatically within the same day. Many factors take a part in this such as altitude, aspect ie East, West, South or North, wind strength and direction. Yes, it really is true that you can be trudging through the snow at Roque de Muchachos, the highest point of the island, and within less than 2 hours, be back down to sea level and laid out on the beach in the sun. However, temperatures are usually around a pleasant 15 to 25 degrees. In contrast at the other end of the spectrum, sub-Saharan winds occasionally drift over the island for a few days two or three times a year. This can take the temperature up to 38 degrees – phew – too hot!

One of the more famous phenomenon’s of La Palma are the cloud formations, especially what is known as ‘la cascada.’ This is where the clouds, which are attracted to the sudden height of the island, literally tumble over the ridge of land which separates the east and west. They spectacularly and literally cascade over, never actually reaching the bottom.