Long time exposures at the sea and another drive through Teide NP - Tenerife, the diverse island - 13

TravelogueSpain

12 Mar

Fri., 17th Sept. - Long time exposures at the sea and another drive through Teide NP

The plan for this morning is to take some long exposures at the sea. The clouds are just moving away and during breakfast, it even rains a bit. So I'm hoping for some nice waves that I can soften with a few seconds of exposure. I haven't scouted a specific place to do this, so why not start on the beaches here in Puerto de la Cruz?

Freya is joining even she is not taking pictures. For her, it's more about being out of the hotel and walking along the promenade a bit.

The beaches near the Castello turn out to be very nice for what I have in mind. They are black lava beaches with plenty of room for those who want to sunbathe. On two of the three beaches, the waves are too strong for most people to enter the water. Red flags are up on all three beaches today. Only a few surfers are in the water trying to ride the incoming waves. But even for them, this beach is not ideal. The waves don't break until they're close to shore, and more than once a surfer has just missed a rock as he lost the battle against the waves. For me, however, the rocks near the shore and the waves lapping over them are exactly the conditions I was looking for.

We spend all morning at various spots here before buying some food and returning to the hotel. Later in the afternoon, Freya asks about a sightseeing tour to the Teide. Even though she is not able to hike the trails, she wants to see where I spent my last few days.

The weather is like the last two days: Clouds and rain starting halfway up and disappearing shortly after El Portillo.

Our first stop is at Mirador Minas de San José Sur and the trails here are so easy that Freya can walk a bit without problems.

We continue to Roques de García. Although it is already after 6:30, the parking lot is full, including three buses. We park across the street at the visitor center, where most of the parking spaces are empty. From there we walk to the traffic circle and a bit more on the path along the rocks. The ground is not so pleasant for Freya to walk on and so she is glad to be back in the car.

Initially, I wanted to drive back on the TF-24 to show Freya another part of the park, but the clouds are still there and there wouldn't be much of a sight. But when we were at the first Mirador I thought to see the observatory. So we will drive there and hope for the best. At Portilo Alto the clouds are back. We turn onto TF-24 and the road slowly gains altitude. And indeed, just before we reach the viewpoints at the observatory, we come out of the fog.

We take some photos in different directions and are glad that I made this short detour. On the way back to the hotel we stop at another viewpoint to take some pictures of the setting sun shining through a hole in the clouds cover.