Tenerife Magazine’s round up of some of the most interesting news stories of the week in Tenerife.
The Mystery of the Baby Orca
There seems to have been quite a bit of confusion about the birthplace of an orca calf last week. Local Spanish and English press headlines proudly claimed that the 150kg big baby was the first calf born in Spain at Loro Parque. An impressive achievement that must have come as something of a surprise in SeaWorld, Orlando where the calf was actually born and where mother, Katrina and baby are doing nicely. The mix up may have arisen due to early press reports stating that the calf had been born at a Loro Parque installation. OOPS!
Thanks to the person who pointed out to us that there actually was an orca calf born at Loro Parque on 13th October. OOPS!
What Big Pumpkins!
Here’s an appropriate little bit of news for Halloween. Tenerife’s weather is known for being perfect for growing fruit and vegetables, but in Tacoronte they’re growing to mutant proportions. A local farmer discovered three monster pumpkins weighing 47, 53 and a whopping great 60 kilos in one of his fields. He didn’t deliberately try to grow them that big, he’d simply left them alone and nature did the rest. Two of the pumpkins have been sold whilst the third has been kept to feed the family. Pumpkin pie for breakfast, lunch and dinner till Christmas then for that family.
The Marina in Puerto de la Cruz
There’s been a new round of rhetoric coming from the corridors of power in Puerto de la Cruz about the determination to progress the plans for the marina that will transform the town’s fortunes. Before anyone gets excited it’s worth knowing two things. There are local elections next year and promises to move plans to build the marina forward are always brought out of the closet, dusted down and put on the electoral table. The second is that Puerto’s marina has taken on almost mythical status. Plans have been kicked around for 30 years and amusingly, some tourist maps have been optimistically labelling the expanse of land beside the harbour as “parque Maritimo’ for nearly the same period. It would be far more helpful to visitors if the maps showed what the area actually was ““ a huge free car park.
A Sweet Smelling Result
Tenerife’s petty criminals seem to be trying to outdo each other in the dumb and dumber stakes. A gang of four mentally challenged thieves were clapped in irons quicker than you can say Coco Chanel after stealing €1000 worth of perfume from a shop in Playa de la Arena. And no, the Guardia Civil didn’t track them by following the trail of cheap perfume lingering in the air. The foolish foursome gave themselves away by driving the wrong way along the road. Don’t know about as thick as thieves, but definitely as thick as mince.
The Rat Pack
Something smells in the town of Arona, the administrative centre for Playa de las Américas and Los Cristianos. Neighbours are complaining that the town’s wheelie bins haven’t been cleaned properly in a year and a half. Not only is there an unpleasant whiff in the air, the lack of hygiene has led to an increase in the rat population which, some residents claim, stroll around the town fearlessly. The town mayor responded to accusations of council inactivity by saying that no-one had actually officially complained about a rat problem in the town. One resident said that rats in Arona had grown to the size of rabbits. Mind you if you think about it, Tenerife’s rabbits aren’t that big, so that would make the rats the size of…well, rats.
And finally the TIT (This Is Tenerife) of the week award goes to… The Pilot of the Fred Olson Ferry
Minor car bumps seem to part and parcel of life on Tenerife. I’ve lost count of the number of times I’ve seen a driver “Misjudge’ a parking space and gently bump into another car. But you don’t expect the same to be the case with Tenerife’s ferries. This week whoever was at the wheel of the Fred Olsen Bonanza Express seems to have misjudged the mooring space in San Sebastián harbour on La Gomera and accidentally bumped into the Naviera Armas Ferry. Thankfully there was no real damage and no-one was injured. Could have been worse if he’d been piloting the Gran Canaria ferry and had applied his más o menos approach to “parking up’ in Santa Cruz where the shiny new, scratch-free Queen Elizabeth was docked.
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