Canary Islands – A Physical Geographer in Heaven

On my winter break I chose to head to the Canary Islands. This decision was made by the following criteria: It had to be over 20’C while I was there and the plane ticket needed to be under £100. I am embarrassed to say I probably wouldn’t have been able to spot the Canaries on a map before I committed to the trip, but the decision could not have been more perfect.

For those who share my geographic ignorance, the Canaries are a group of 7 islands about 100 kilometres off shore from the most southern tip of Morocco. Much like the Islands of Hawaii, the Canaries are a product of an oceanic plate moving slowly over a hot spot. Essentially this means there is a weakness in the crust where lava has been allowed to escape, rise and cool into these geologic wonders. The oldest of the Islands, Fuerteventura and Lanzarote are actually in their erosional stage but have experienced seismic activity as recently as the 1800’s.

Lanzarote

To fly into Lanzarote is what I can only imagine the descent of a commercial airline to the moon would feel like. The landscape is riddled with volcanos and glows a subtle copper red that twinkles in the sunlight. The contrast of the deep blue ocean that surrounds this landscape is quite literally breathtaking.

Volcanic landscape of Timanfaya National Park in south central Lanzarote

Playa Papagayo 

The southern coast of Lanzarote is riddled with pocket beaches subject to intense winds and rough waves. A few of these mini beaches are accessible by car, but if you are feeling adventurous and have a good understanding of tides, you can hike along the coast and find a few places to enjoy in complete solitude.

Playa Papagayo

A beach hopping hike in Playa Papagayo

El Golfo

El Golfo is a crater that is partially submerged and eroded by the ocean to expose the inner striated wall of this cone volcano. Within this crater the Charco de los Clicos lagoon has formed and boasts an extravagantly green colour due to seaweed blossoms which thrive well in the extremely high salt content of the lake. Olivine, a bright green semi precious stone can be found within the walls of this crater.

Inner and outer rocks from the cone volcano of El Golfo are slowly mixing through natural coastal erosion.

A hike into the crater displays the quick transition between the outer and inner geology of the volcano, from the red surface to the black of the cooled lava. All this frames the green lake spectacularly.

Cuevas de Los Verdes

The eruption of the Corona Volcano in Timanfaya National Park and subsequent lava flow towards the ocean formed this 6 kilometre long cave system. The caves are stacked threefold with parallel tunnels. As the area exposed to the air hardened, the internal laval continued to flow carving these extensive tunnels. These volcanos are technically still active and and the tunnels are home to a geologic centre tasked to monitor seismic activity. Additionally, the acoustics within the tunnels lends themselves to a subterranean concert hall.

Inside the Cuevas de Los Verdes.

Fuerteventura 

Anyone traveling to Lanzarote should reserve a day to take the ferry to Fuerteventura. The Parque Natural de Corralejo features impressive sand dunes that will simply stun you after spending time in the rugged volcanic landscape of Lanzarote. One would expect sand dunes to be flowing and soft, however this is not the case. As wind carries away smaller particles the larger sand granules are left behind and subsequently compacted by rain, gravity, soil creep, thermal expansion and many other factors. This results in a varnished shell on top of the sand called desert pavement. I couldn’t get enough of this and geeked out super hard in these dunes.

Strong winds lead to a perfect layer of desert pavement. Dunas de Corralejo.

Tenerife

It’s very easy to go to Tenerife and only experience an impersonal touristy island. Our goal was to avoid all things resort and were pretty successful.

El Teide

This impressive volcano in the centre of Tenerife is a must see and at 3,718 m it is the highest point in Spain. The drive to the summit brings you across the temperature inversion layer of our atmosphere. What exactly does this mean? Well, we all know (hopefully) that the higher you go the colder it gets. At the temperature inversion layer this switches, where your continued ascent begins to get warmer as you are getting closer to the sun. You are quite literally out of your typically known atmosphere and above the clouds. I regret not visiting the summit in the nighttime as I hear the star gazing is unparalleled.

The tops of clouds from the summit of a snow covered El Teide.

Playa de La Tejita

Tenerife has a plethora of beaches varying in colour. The most interesting to me were the black sands of Playa de La Tejita. When the lava flow of El Teide hit the cool waters of the Atlantic at El Medano the lava shattered into fragments small enough to be called sand. As the ocean eroded these pieces down they softened and glistened with hues of grey and red. Black sands are unsurprisingly warmer to the touch than white sand, and far more dynamic in colour and facet.

Black sand sparkling in the sun.

In the interest of keeping this post “short” and legible in one sitting I will skip some info on dolphins, coastal erosion and the saltiest ocean waters I have every experienced. Feel free to contact me for tips and more information. Here are some concluding photos that I simply had to include.

Local boys jumping into the ocean from an abandoned pier in Tenerife.

Sunset in Tenerife.