The owners of Rocinante, a 17m long ketch, asking price €50,000, are a rum crew, with a story behind them, writes Damien Enright.

My column of February 26 explained that a unique charm of the Valle Gran Rey on the island of La Gomera in the Canaries is the laid-back “vibe” left over from the first hippies that arrived here, Vietnam War draft dodgers in the late 1950s.

La Gomera offers a uniquely different ‘vibe’ from other Canary islands in one important respect. Apart from its unique cloud forests, unspoiled beaches, walking paths and absence of glitzy resorts, a distinctive laid back feeling abides, writes Damien Enright

The Valle Gran in La Gomera in the Canary Islands is much the same as ever, writes Damien Enright

First, the perennial question arises of who or what is responsible for the condition of the venerable paterfamilias snoring, mouth agape, in his armchair post Christmas dinner, while his wife and children make like mice so as not to disturb his “well-deserved” rest.

Great excitement on the phone last Sunday morning, communicated via Skype from Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, by two friends of ours, British long-term residents there.

Years ago, here, the ould fellas in this Canarian valley used to wear soft hats — like Irish farmers’ Sunday hat, but grey — and carry large knives at their belts, and have bloodstains on their shirts, or so they seemed.

AT NIGHT, here on the island of La Gomera in the Canaries, we hear the pardelas — Cory’s Shearwaters — mewling as they cruise high above the lights of the harbour; their calls echoing against the sheer rock face that rises 1,000m directly above the port beach.

Last week, my regular column, now in its 25th year, returned to the Outdoor page after appearing in the County supplement since August 2012.

The roads that snakes down to the sea from the escarpment 3,000ft above the Valle Gran Rey in La Gomera, Canary Islands, is already dramatic, with curves, hairpin bends and breathtaking drops all the way.

ONE unseasonably grey afternoon during this year’s unusually bright summer, the kilometre-long beach near our West Cork home was deserted but for a single figure in the distance, walking along the top level of the tideline.

I WAS not surprised to read a genetic study of the present day inhabitants of the Canary Islands, revealed that the natives of La Gomera — our second home for over 30 years — retain more of the aboriginal DNA that the inhabitants of the other islands.

THIS morning, in our village, 3km from the sea, on the terraced slopes of the Valle Gran Rey on the island of La Gomera in the Canary Islands, cocks crowded, blackbirds piped, and the fish van passed up the valley leaving skirls of sentimental Canarian music in its wake.

Certain characteristics distinguish the small island of La Gomera which I recently visited from the larger resort islands of the Canaries.

SPAIN: WALKING IN LA GOMERA, CANARY ISLANDS

Seen from above, or from the middle distance, there is something apocalyptic about a scattering of palm trees 50 feet tall standing stark in a vast swathe of blackened landscape.

We arrived at night and woke next morning to hear the familiar music of the fish van passing up the valley, soulful Latin American music issuing from speakers on the roof.

Two firefighters have died battling a wildfire in the Spanish province of Alicante.

Two firefighters have died from injuries sustained while battling a wildfire in the eastern province of Alicante, a Spanish emergency service official has said.

SIX weeks ago, on January 16., an 84-year-old Englishman set out on a raft, built here in La Gomera in the Canary Islands, to drift 2,800 miles across the Atlantic to Eleuthera Island in Bahamas, tracing the route upon which a ship’s 18-foot long jolly boat carried the survivors of the 41 crew of an English cargo vessel sunk by a German ship disguised as a merchantman (but then drawing back the deck-cowlings to reveal cannons and machine guns) during World War 11.

IT ISN’T all blue skies in the Canary Islands.

ON the second day of last week’s storms and spring tides, I walked down the long, sandy beach that stretches away from the village of Courtmacsherry, in west Cork.

THIS morning, dawdling knee-deep in the water at the edge of the port beach at Valle Gran Rey on the Canary Island of La Gomera, I remembered standing in the same spot many years ago with a skinny boy, now a giant of 30 years, and looking at a big manta ray lying in the sand at our feet.

IT IS to be hoped the threatened Canarian giant lizards will not fall victim to the likes of Jereme James, charged with smuggling three endangered iguana into the USA using his false leg.