La Gomera
Our guides for the day, Penny and Jurgen, welcomed us to the small, enchanting island of La Gomera. We learned that it had been founded in 1477 by Count Hernan Praza, later succeeded by his son, who was beheaded in a local rebellion. His widow, Dona Beatriz later became linked with Christopher Columbus. The Admiral made San Sebastian, the island’s capital, his base for refitting, R&R and refilling his water casks prior to crossing the Atlantic yet again.
We enjoyed a picnic lunch amid a grove of 40-foot tree heathers at Laguna Grande, in the heart of Garajonay National Park. We learned that the park’s name derives from a tragic but poetic legend of pre-Spanish days: Jonay, a brave Guanche from the island of fire, Tenerife, swam the 15 miles to La Gomera. There, he met the local chief’s daughter, Gara, whose name meant “water.” They fell in love and requested her father’s agreement to their betrothal. He sent them to drink from a magic spring. Gara was unable to do so as the water turned cloudy. Her father read this as a bad omen – that fire was not meant to mix with water --- and forbade the union. The lovers fled into the hills, pursued by the tribe. The couple were found, dead, impaled through their hearts by a single stake, cut from the forest. The names of the lovers, united in death, are remembered to this day in the name, Garajonay.
We left San Sebastian, headed south towards another Atlantic archipelago, the Cape Verde Islands, with an escort of Cory’s Shearwaters and a lone tropic bird.
Our guides for the day, Penny and Jurgen, welcomed us to the small, enchanting island of La Gomera. We learned that it had been founded in 1477 by Count Hernan Praza, later succeeded by his son, who was beheaded in a local rebellion. His widow, Dona Beatriz later became linked with Christopher Columbus. The Admiral made San Sebastian, the island’s capital, his base for refitting, R&R and refilling his water casks prior to crossing the Atlantic yet again.
We enjoyed a picnic lunch amid a grove of 40-foot tree heathers at Laguna Grande, in the heart of Garajonay National Park. We learned that the park’s name derives from a tragic but poetic legend of pre-Spanish days: Jonay, a brave Guanche from the island of fire, Tenerife, swam the 15 miles to La Gomera. There, he met the local chief’s daughter, Gara, whose name meant “water.” They fell in love and requested her father’s agreement to their betrothal. He sent them to drink from a magic spring. Gara was unable to do so as the water turned cloudy. Her father read this as a bad omen – that fire was not meant to mix with water --- and forbade the union. The lovers fled into the hills, pursued by the tribe. The couple were found, dead, impaled through their hearts by a single stake, cut from the forest. The names of the lovers, united in death, are remembered to this day in the name, Garajonay.
We left San Sebastian, headed south towards another Atlantic archipelago, the Cape Verde Islands, with an escort of Cory’s Shearwaters and a lone tropic bird.