Caroline’s El Hierro Diary

We touch down at Tenerife airport after a pleasant flight with British Airways and I look forward to meeting our tour leader, Shane Gray, a well known figure in the Irish community. We are on a familiarization tour to ‘El Hierro’, I will be experiencing the diving and my mum is going to be doing some walking. We are both looking forward to seeing this little known island which is the smallest of the Canary Islands.

After a warm welcome from Shane we are driven to the hotel which will be staying in on Tenerife for our first and last night, Hotel Andrea’s, which is in a central location in Los Cristianos. The rooms are en-suite and fairly basic but clean and comfortable. As we are both feeling a bit tired by this point we make use of the hotel’s pizza restaurant which was very pleasant, and then retire to bed for a good nights rest.

The next morning we meet the group we will be diving and walking with for the next few days. They are all Irish and seem like a friendly bunch. For a couple of the guests it was their fourth time returning to El Hierro! We are then transferred to the ferry port where we grab some breakfast and a coffee before embarking the ferry for the 2 hour journey to El Hierro.

As the big high rise hotels and busy roads of Tenerife disappear behind us I look forward to seeing the majestic island of El Hierro. I wasn’t disappointed! As we near the island I see clouds skimming the tops of the mountains and it looks like something from a fairy tale. We disembark the ferry and commence the 45 minute drive to the South of the island. This brings more wonder as we pass through volcanic landscape with lava flows and volcanic cones, a pine forest and gentle meadows together with rocky coasts of colossal cliff, which plunge down into clear, blue waters. We see vines, aloe vera plants and pass a cheese factory which makes, I later discover, the most delicious smoked goats cheese.

We arrive in La Restinga at about 1.00pm and stop off at the dive centre, El Submarino, and meet Fernando and Silvia, who run the centre and are both really lovely. We drop off any kit we have, and show our log books and proof of dive insurance (it is essential that you have these items). We are told to meet back there for our check dive at 3.30.

We are then shown to the self-catering apartments we will be staying in for the rest of our time in El Hierro. These are situated just up the road from the dive centre and all have a bedroom with en-suite, a living area with cooking facilities and a private balcony overlooking La Restinga Harbour. Again, the apartments are fairly basic but clean and spacious.

After a little time relaxing on the balcony I make my way down to the dive centre which is about a 2 minute walk away and get everything ready for the dive. We walk down to the jetty which is directly in front of the centre (trolley’s are available if you don’t want to carry your gear) and climb onto the RIB. After about 5 minutes we arrive at the dive site, Ponta Restinga, we kit up, are briefed and then fall into the water. I wasn’t sure what to expect from the diving after being used to the Red Sea but I was really pleasantly surprised. Visibility was good at 20m + and the water was around 22 degrees Celsius so very comfortable. We descended the line and hovered at about 8m for a while looking at the coral and fish, and there were a lot of fish! We spotted a beautiful Eagle Ray, big Grouper, Trumpet fish, Hogfish, Wrasse, Amberjacks, Bream, Parrotfish and Moray Eel. Oh this was good! Our maximum depth on this dive was about 18m though it does drop to 30-35 metres. And though it is difficult at times as there is so much to see, remember to keep an eye on the blue, there is a good chance here of seeing your larger pelagics! Reluctantly we complete our safety stop and clamber back onto the RIB with big smiles on our faces.

It is not long until we meet again for ‘Happy Hour’ which is held by Shane and Ollie each evening. Both the divers and walkers get together to share their experiences of the day and choose what they will be eating that evening. Dinner is in a local restaurant and we experience the Irish ‘craic’ and our first taste of the liquor ‘43’ and then finish the evening at ‘El Bar’, the most Southerly bar in Europe.

After popping to the local supermarket and grabbing a few essentials, we meet at the dive centre for 9.00am ready for our next dive. Again after a short ride in the RIB we arrive at ‘Baja Bacarones’. We start the dive on the larger pinnacle and spend a lot of time observing the extensive marine life around. There are plenty of cracks and crevices to explore on this dive. We passed a Spider Crab, Parrotfish, Moray Eel, Trumpet fish, Bream and Grouper. Whilst swimming across to the smaller pinnacle we spotted a beautiful Butterfly Ray cruising above the sand. Well all good things must come to an end and again lots of smiling faces greet us back on the RIB.

As I was returning to Tenerife the next day, I decided to spend that afternoon exploring La Restinga. It is a lovely little fishing village with a beautiful harbour, located on the “Mar de la Calmas” (Tranquil Sea) which is a maritime reserve. There are 2 supermarkets and half a dozen restaurants, a bar and a very nice bakery. Little English is spoken here so a Spanish phrase book is a must. It really is so different from anywhere I have stayed before. I found it so refreshing to be somewhere which is very unspoilt by tourism; it feels like a real holiday! Everybody is really friendly and whilst I was there I only saw one other RIB taking divers out.

The evening is relaxed with ‘Happy Hour’ and another good meal.

Unfortunately we are heading back to Tenerife today, this is a ‘whistle stop’ tour but I really wish we were staying for the rest of the week. The lovely Ollie was our ‘guide’ today and on the way back to the ferry port we stop off for lunch in a beautiful restaurant with the most breathtaking views over El Golfo. It seems such a shame to be leaving.

We spend our last night in Tenerife and explore the town of Los Cristianos and have a lovely meal.

We reluctantly head back to Tenerife airport to catch our flight home.

El Hierro is a beautiful island with so much to offer. The diving is fantastic and with 27 dive sites within a 10 minute RIB ride from the harbour, you are spoilt for choice. If you like something a little bit different this is the place to go. Very few tourists, very little English spoken, all within four hours of the UK, a rare treat!