I went back to La Salemera with my friend and her grandchildren, to find that the tide was put at the rock pool we’d swum in before was now too shallow for swimming. This was a great disappointment to the five year old until we found the hermit crabs. Then, of course, she was fascinated. After some googling I found that they’re Clibanarius erythropus
If you haven’t seen hermit crabs, they’re crabs that live in abandoned seashells. The bits that poke out are hard, like a normal crab, but the abdomen is soft – so it’s find a shell or get eaten. As they grow, they have to move house to bigger shells. When they feel safe you see the shells wandering around the rock pool, but whenever they’re startled they zip back inside almost too fast to see. The ones that live at La Salemrea are tiny (1.5 cm long), and of course they live in salt water which is murderous to expensive cameras, making them hard to photograph. Today I went back to see if I could persuade the crabs to be photographed. It took about half an hour of trying to get these shots.
The sally lightfoot crabs are still there, still hanging out in the splash zone.
I found a green one, which looks like an alien to me. At least I think it’s a sally lightfoot – it’s certainly the same shape.
I spotted many more of the juveniles this time. I think I’m getting my eye in. They’re very well camouflaged and I only noticed them when they moved.
In less happy news there’s been a wildfire in Garafia, in the north of the island. It seems to be almost under control now and the weather forecast for tomorrow is cooler and less windy, so here’s a good chance they’ll get it properly controlled, but no guarantee. 300 people were evecuated and I believe several family have lost their homes. It will be clearer when people can get back home to assess the damage. I know the fire burnt the area around the house in Llano Negro where I stayed in July. I do hope the house is mostly OK although I don’t hold out much hope for the garden.
And I have some writing news.
The beta readers haven’t got back to me yet, which is heardly surprising. Meanwhile I’ve written a draft cover letter and synopsis and started to list potential agents. The Spanish 3rd edition of the guidebook, Una espectacular ventana al universo is in layout, and that’s meant dealing with queries about missing captions, and checking that any words bolded in the English version are also bolded in the Spanish one, and things like that. Plus making a few notes about a possible second thriller set on La Palma, this time in the Caldera National Park.
And finally, I think this is a barnacle feeding, but I’m not at all sure. Does anybody know for certain what it is?
