Los Gigantes - Day 1

Last weekend I took friday off and went to Los Gigantes for the weekend. A few years ago, some bad stuff happened on this weekend so now I take myself off and have a fun time instead of sitting home and remembering. Plus last weekend I spent the weekend sick in bed so it was nice to out.

It takes a tram ride and 2 buses to get there. Unfortunately google maps failed me and told me to get off at the wrong bus stop. (I followed their instructions honestly!) I ended up having a longer walk than I expected (though thanks to a lovely older couple I stopped for directions, not as long as it would have been as I was going in completely the wrong direction). Still the walk had some great views, and the weather was gorgeous.

lost but good view

Los Gigantes cliffs

I finally found my hotel and changed into summer clothes again (La Laguna is a bit cooler). My apartment was lovely. Right on the harbor front (though my balcony was overlooking the court yard) and massive, sleeping 6 people. After a quick unpack (i.e., dumping everything on a spare bed), I got to the harbor in time to take a catamaran out for a few hours. 

Sailing

I love being on the water so would have been happy just sailing. But we found a pod of dolphins so even better! This is the first time I have actually seen wild dolphins close (that I remember anyway). Usually they hide from me.

Dolphins!

Going under

Up for air

And there was a baby in the group.

Baby!

Running ahead.

"Hello?"

Baby saying hi

Racing mom.

Checking us out

After watching for a while, we sailed to Masca Bay to stop for some late lunch. There is a hike you can do down from Masca, a small town in the hills. You get a bus/taxi to the village, hike down the gorge and then get a boat back to Los Gigantes. I thought about doing it this weekend but my current level of fitness isn't great. And chilling out and sailing are much more fun!

Masca bay (boat for scale)

Lunch was good and I managed to get in a quick swim, which was nice though a little cool. The staff lent me a mask and snorkel which unfortunately was rubbish and leaked. :( But still, that might be the last swim of the year.

Great view for a Friday lunch

The only bad part was, after lunch, we had to pick a up a bunch of hikers to take back to Los Gigantes so the trip back was a bit crowded. (For the first part of the trip though there were only ~12 of us on the boat.) The trip back is along the Los Gigantes cliffs which are huge! The photos don't really do the size justice. I think I have some photos from the Saturday trip with a boat for scale, which gives a better idea.

Back in harbor I got some food from the supermarket (and was very shocked at the prices - nearly 3 times what I pay in La Laguna) and feed the fish for a bit.

Fish feeding frenzy

They did however have some ... interesting different foods. I am not sure whether this is a big tourist flavor or what. I haven't tried them yet. Haven't really worked up the desire to be honest!

Because I could

The Kinder Surprise was a treat! And the toy was perfect, even in the perfect color for the weekend. She is actually more purple in person! And she has a little comb on the stand so you can brush her tail. Yes, I am a big kid at heart and proud of it!

Perfect color for the weekend

I had asked for some advice on where to watch the sunset. The location I was given was spot on. The time of the sunset however was not. And I missed it. :(
But it was my own fault for not checking the time. And honestly I feel asleep too.

Late sunset

I did managed to find a nice restaurant on the harbor that served food very early for Spain (~8pm) and had an amazing French style seafood stew and a couple of nice glasses of wine. Which was good as the  Lanzarote wine I brought was unusually really bad and got put down the drain after a few mouthfuls.

Kayaking with dolphins

On the Saturday, I booked diving and sea kayaking in Palm Mar, just south of Playa de Las Americas. I was the only one so for the morning dive I had the 2 instructors all to myself. We went a little deeper (14m) than you are supposed to go as a beginner (12m) but that was fine with me. I couldn't take any photos and honestly it was to murky to see much. But I did see some sting rays and an octopus. :) However I think having dived the Barrier Reef, I may be spoilt for life. 

Getting out was a mission. We dived from the beach which is stones and has a sharp drop off. Getting out with tanks and weight belt, plus my legendary grace and balance ... never going to be described as elegant or particular effective. Some people on the beach were watching and laughing. I dare them to do any better! 

Palm Mar beach

After lunch, Paolo took me sea kayaking. A family had booked the use of some kayaks but went off on there own. We headed out to look for dolphins but they didn't want to come and play that day.

Around the fishery again.

Good view.

It was insanely hot on Saturday. I ended up dumping my cap in the water a few times to cool off. Thankfully I had loaded on the sunscreen so I didn't get kayakers leg. (I saw an example of this while in Virgina. Not a style I want to try. Though I appreciate Kenny showing this style off so I could avoid it.)

Calm waters

We wondered/paddled around, chasing glimpses of dolphins but they were much too quick for us. (Though it is amazing how much quicker you can paddled when you are trying to get somewhere. Or not show your partner exactly how useless you are at this.) There were only 2 lone dolphins and they were babies, which apparently is unusual as they are usually in pods. I think these were 2 teenagers off on a joy ride and didn't want to get caught out on their own. The adults are more curious than the babies so we only caught glimpses as the dolphins fished around the nets (spoiling their dinner I bet).

Checking out the cliffs.

Dolphin!

It was around this time my waterproof camera decided it did not like the heat. So the photos became increasingly washed out. (I think it is time to save up for a new one.)
We checked out a sea cave which on my own, I would have avoided. Thankfully Paolo knew what was safe.

Sea cave

If it had of been down to just me, I would either still be out there or would have never managed to get out in the first place. I would like to think I managed to pull my weight in the paddling department, but I can't delude myself to that extent.
We were out for about 2-3 hrs and that is a lot more upper body than I have done in a while. It was a lot of fun, but I still ache now, 3 days later. 

Whale Watching

Sunday we intended to be up and out and either at the beach or science centre in the morning. That didn't happen. We slept in instead! I was exhausted after the drive and late night so it was very needed.
In the afternoon, we drove down to Long Beach to go whale watching. We didn't get much time to look around the area before getting on the boat but it looked fun. There were some cute little building. I would have liked to spend a bit more time there. Maybe next time I am in LA.

Lighthouse

Along Long Beach Marina

Long beach

Music theatre 

Once we got on the boat, we grabbed some seats and some drinks. Though I had to drink my wine quickly when the boat started off as it was a little windy and rocky.

Enjoying a drink on the boat

While still warm

Trying to keep my top down - breezy!

Once out of the harbor, we found a pod of common dolphins.

Dolphin!

Momma and baby!

After watching the dolphins for a while, we moved off to find doe whales. We didn't see any Blue whales, which were the ones we were looking for but we did see some (or maybe just one moving about a lot) fin Whales. They are the second largest animal on the planet and still cool.

Always see the spurt first

Diving down

Most of my photos are of the whales back as it dove under. But I was so excited I managed to get a picture of its face. They are odd looking whales. But you can see the mouth and blow hole.

Fin whale just coming up

We were hoping to see a tail flick. But apparently it is rare so see them with Fin whales as they are so big, it is usually just too much enough to flick their tail up. So I need to go see humpback whales so see the tail flick. 

We were really lucky with the weather (given the last few days). It was cold enough with the wind and we were very glad we had brought our jackets with us.

Sunny ride

Crane ride

When we got home we celebrated seeing whales by opening the $75 bottle of wine (it really was worth every cent) and a selection of cheeses followed by the chocolates form last weekend. So good!

Yummy dinner!