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DISCOVERING EL HIERRO AND JAPANESE INVASIVE ALGAE
March 8, 2026 · 30 min · 3K views · Puerto de la Estaca, El Hierro
Hand points to volcanic rocks under bright sun
What this video covers
Sailing into La Restinga on El Hierro, Canary Islands, the crew of Odin paid €81 for five nights at a well-maintained marina run by maritime police, with hot showers and flat, quiet conditions despite 25–30 knot katabatic winds off the mountains at night.2:15 The port of La Restinga itself is impassable for sailboats — sharp volcanic rock makes berthing impossible — but the surrounding lava flows are accessible on foot.8:49 The crew rented a car for two days to circumnavigate the island, passing through abrupt landscape shifts from volcanic rock and cactus to pine forest, visiting the wind-twisted juniper grove at El Sabinar, natural rock pools, coastal arches, and a summit picnic.6:46 A second day included an ecomuseum built inside an abandoned 1950s village preserved largely intact, with dry-stone vaulted structures and a lava-tube wine cellar.19:57 The scientific highlight: a crew member identifies and explains Gratelupia turuturu, a red invasive alga nicknamed "devil's tongue," introduced to the Atlantic from Japan in the 1970s via imported oyster spat during a European oyster disease crisis.25:44 It now ranges from Brittany to Portugal and the Canaries.26:27 She demonstrates how to press and dry a specimen into an algae herbarium using coffee filters and heavy books as a substitute for proper materials.27:43 The local specialty quesadilla — a dense cake flavored with lemon, anise, and cinnamon — gets a firm endorsement.28:55
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