So with a determination to celebrate finishing all of our
assignments and getting the hell out of Preston Izzy and I have jetted off to
Tenerife for a week to soak in some sun and have a well-earned rest before the
summer work season kicks off.
Sooooo, to start at the very beginning, it’s a very good
place to start; we got trains from Izzy’s to Gatwick airport, excitement
increasing especially as those jet engines revved and blasted us into the
air!!! On landing we were greeted by a warm night and a dubious set of faces as
we headed into the arrivals bit, we soon found our hostel pick up and we were
off to Los Amigos Backpackers Hostel; go there it’s great. Acquisition of the
free ear plugs was a definite though as in the silence of writing my journal I
heard it, snoring.
Our adventure properly started! Me being me I got up early
to be ready for the day and what an interesting one it was, we ended up with a
Brummy who gave us a lift into the big city along the coast after saying he
would take us to see the turtles we ended up jet skiing, oh well.
Oh yeah how cool are we, Paul the Brummy ended up on the
back of my jet ski so I swiftly swapped to go behind Izzy as he get said I should
stand up to go faster but I already felt like falling off so my bum was staying
firmly planted on the seat. After getting left behind for being a granny driver
I swapped to sit behind Izzy and actually enjoyed flying up over the waves and
getting spray in our faces. We then went to a restaurant and had the first pint
of the holiday and after Paul showed us a cool little cove we had a swim in
before going back to the hostel.
Next day menu looked like this; a hike, sun, sea, spit
roasting and sandcastles. We headed along the coast towards La Tejita heading
for Montana Roja (Red Mountain) which was a volcanic lump sticking up from the
coastline. Which has some great views, we didn’t realise just how mountainous
the central part of the island was and it looked absolutely fabulous from the
top. At the top the water at the bottom looked glorious so we contemplated
jumping off which amused some tourists nearby, so suicide missions aside we
meandered back down when Calamity Cora struck! I slipped and grazed my shin,
it’s so shallow but actually looks really gross. We walked to bottom where El
Medano sat which is infamous for kite surfing so of course when we were there
the wind was not very strong so alas no kite surfers.
Then it was onto the beach to spit roast ourselves as we
have dubbed the common activity known as ‘sun bathing’. We swam, made
sandcastles with two others we bumped into from the hostel, had a wander around
and got a lift back with them.
Another random day to come
It struck me the night before what odd places hostels are; I
found myself between a Frenchie and an Italian while watching a Latvian and
Hungarian laugh and joke in English whilst also trying to teach each other
their own language. So odd.
Back to the day, it was a trip to the capital city in which
we explored most of the day, thankfully it wasn’t very sunny as we had a few
burnt bits from the day before, anyway the city was quite beautiful especially
all the little plazas and gardens we found. On top of this, looking at it from
the coast it spread out up the hillsides nearby creating a hilly sprawling
metropolis of Spanish houses and buildings. And of course there was an ice cream
slotted in there too, mmmmmm.
The jewel of the week happened on day 5 oh yes it was
amazing. So Jordie a Brit at the hostel found a guy in English bar who was
selling tickets for his boat The Must Cat a huge catamaran. So we managed to
get ourselves booked onto a 4 ½ hour boat trip to go whale and dolphin
watching!! Snorkelling with turtles, lunch and a free bar was also thrown in
whuhooooo!!!
So we were picked up and taken to Las Galletas to meet the
boat and off we went. Due to the unusual wind, we couldn’t get up to the spot
where the turtles were as it was very strong and we were heading straight into
it however we searched and searched and found some short fin Pilot whales which
were apparently sleeping. They were amazing creatures, they were right next to
the boat and we could see them under the water, even the baby they had with
them who playfully (we hoped) slapped his tale on the water which drew some
laughs from the boat. One of the crew likened him to a little kitten when I
asked whether it was an aggressive action. I could have watched them all day
with a big smile on my face but after a while we left them in peace. We saw
another pod further on, which were much harder to keep track of as they were
awake, the dolphins also proved elusive. They popped up every now and then I
saw one right next to the boat but they kept disappearing the little tikes. We
left them behind and they served lunch, so we ate and drank, I mentioned the
free bar right?
We then went for a little snorkel just off a beach, it was a
lot deeper than I thought it would be. One of the crew said there are very deep
waters around the islands, one of the world’s deepest trenches I think he said
which is why some of the whales stay all year around as there giant squid down
in the depths which is what the Pilot whales ate. Apparently the males dive
down for them and bring them up the surface where the squid turn into jelly
which the whales eats, sounds edible right.
Anyway after snorkelling we were on the hunt again for whales,
we were actually followed by another larger cruise boat and we must have been
getting similar reports in as we went in the same direction searching for the
whales. We went chasing after some blasts of water that were the unmistakeable
sign of a large whale; at one point we were next to the cruise boat racing each
other, the crew told us to get our oars out and paddle as their boat was much
bigger!
We continually scanned the surface as we would see signs and
go towards it only to have to go in a different direction the crew said they
can stay underwater for more than 20 minutes so it was hard to find them.
However our patience was rewarded when we saw the grey back and little dorsal
fin of a Brides whale!!!! We were informed that there are only 90’000 left in
the wild so it was a really great find. After this delight the whale
disappeared again and it was time for us to go home too.
As a great end to our awesome day we went to Los Abrigos and
went to a nice restaurant to eat fish freshly caught from the sea. It is
literally so fresh that you’re sitting next to the harbour in the restaurant
and you can see their boat moored in the harbour. Izzy and I went for a mixed
fish grill which was huge there were about 3 or 4 whole fish on it and we did
not manage to eat it all. Good fish good wine and good company ended a great day.
We even got free shots of Limoncello which went down a treat, the waitress saw
us sip them and said no no no, got us some more and had us down it in one!! It
was good Limoncello, yummy.
Our last day L
What a day to end on! We were determined to get to El
Puertito to where you can see the turtles, so we got a roundabout lift to Los
Cristianos and then a bus to Playa Paraiso. We then wondered around as Paul’s
directions to the beach was pretty vague so after asking a few people we finally
found someone who knew what we were talking about and after walking through a
gypsy camp and a nice little walk we saw the cutest little cove!!! It was full
of swimmers and divers so we trotted down and walked along the rocks to set up
our base camp. After sun creaming up it was time for the much anticipate dip.
And we were well rewarded well not with turtles but the water was clean clear
and fresh and there were some really pretty fish of several different
varieties.
After a long snorkel around we got out and sunned ourselves
before having a little dawdle around the tiny village which struck Izzy as
Grecian in style. After some more swimming and sunbathing we headed back up for
the bus. Then after food, a shower and a bag repack we headed off to the
airport for 12 hours worth of travelling back to the UK.
