La Restinga is the only village situated on the southern coast of the island of El Hierro, Canary Islands.
It falls within the boundaries of the municipality of El Pinar, which is the most populous of all three municipalities on the island.
According to the National Institute of Statistics of Spain, the population of the small town in 2012 was approximately 564 people.
With its bright, mostly white houses, La Restinga clearly stands out of the surrounding landscape of black rocks.
Things to Do in La Restinga
La Restinga has a small port with yachts, fishing boats and other not very large vessels.
In the area of the marina there is a small black-sand beach with calm waters.
It attracts tourists who want to swim into the cool and refreshing waters of the Atlantic.
Because of the large breakwater, the beach is practically completely protected from big ocean waves.
La Restinga was until recently just a sleepy and quiet fishing village.
However, the number of tourists in recent years has been increased significantly, and today the settlement gradually turns into an important center of attraction for lovers of diving and underwater photography.
This is not surprising for those who know the advantages of this small town.
The clean coastal waters of La Restinga are very transparent, offering a great variety of marine species and excellent underwater visibility.
Volcano
Traces of volcanic activity are evident at every turn, and the area is the most active in terms of seismic activity in the Canary Islands.
Just a few hundred meters from the village center you will find not one but several volcanic crater.
However, in the vicinity of La Restinga there is a number of volcanoes not only on land but also under the ocean surface.
Between October 2011 and March 2012, at the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean, two miles south of the town, erupted an underwater volcano.
The natural disaster even imposed a temporary evacuation of the local population because of the potential threat of eventual stronger and closer to the settlement volcanic eruptions.