The comings and goings that make an island what it is

Illegal African migrants disembarking at Valle Gran Rey, La Gomera, Canary Islands.

The other morning, an unfamiliar fishing boat, sitting low in the water, was spotted off the beach at the bottom of this valley on the island of La Gomera in the Canary Islands. Its 'cargo' was 37 African migrants, and it was directed into the port, where they disembarked, helped by the local lifeboat crew and a unit of the Red Cross, under the eyes of the Guardia Civil.

For a couple of hours, they sat on the ground, under the shadow of the pier wall, as they queued to be tested for Covid-19. Afterwards, they spent three days in substantial cabin-tents on the pier, to which the Guardia blocked any entrance or exit, day and night. Afterwards, they were taken by ferry to the big island of Tenerife.