In Santa Cruz in the north of Tenerife, Spanish is the most common language heard on the streets. In the southern town of Los Cristianos, it is English. The town seems to be the tourist hub of Tenerife (1) (2).
A dive shop in Los Cristianos offered a discounted combo pack of activities. The scuba dive began with a walk to the beach (3), fully laden with weights, tank &c. Graceful is not the right word to describe my lumbering across the loose rocks. The slope of the sea floor was gradual down to about 40 feet, with many colorful fish.
After lunch, we paddled out to a fish farm and watched a pod of dolphins. A cliff-sided cove is the place to jump off the kayak into the water to snorkel while looking for turtles. No luck today.
The drive back north on the dry east side of the Island included many windsocks so drivers can see the direction of the wind, which is quite strong here. Various electricity-generating windmills are situated along the eastern shore. On the car radio, RNE (Radio National de España) was playing choral pieces by American composers performed by Orchestras and Choirs from Universities in the American Midwest.
(1) There are a large number of English and German (a) pensioners who appear to spend part of the winter here. They all seem to converge on the seaside promenade at midday, so many sitting in electric scooters that an NFL wide receiver would have trouble dodging them.
(a) While scanning through stations on the car radio, I noted at least one broadcasting in German.
(2) According to the official statisics, more Britons visit the Canary Islands each year than Spanish people from the mainland.
(3) My (limited) previous scuba experiences involved jumping off a boat, which seems to be easier than walking in from a rocky beach.
We were diving beneath these sailboats
Snorkeling behind these cliffs
Truth in advertisng? A lad could go broke betting on sports (sign in Los Cristianos)
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