Tenerife Magazine’s round up of some of the most interesting news stories of the week in Tenerife.
El Hierro Eruption Update
The situation in El Hierro remains uncertain and there’s not much to add to the regular reports we’ve been posting on Facebook. The residents of La Restinga have been allowed to return to their homes during the day after being evacuated on Saturday following two sudden spurts in the sea above the area where the undersea eruption is taking place. The geysers reached a height of between 20-25 metres. On Friday El Hierro experienced the most powerful earth tremor to date, reaching 4.4 on the Richter, which was felt on La Gomera and even on parts of Tenerife.
There seem to be some confused rumours about increased volcanic activity in other Canary Islands but these are completely unfounded. It is only El Hierro that is affected by this current volcanic activity.
The Queen Mary 2 Comes to Santa Cruz
Although Santa Cruz saw four cruise liners dock in the capital on Thursday with a combined total of over 10,000 passengers, the ship that everyone wanted to see was the one that evoked nostalgic thoughts of the golden age of liners. For some reason, the Queen Mary 2 remains a ship that stands out from other cruise ships. Maybe it’s those unmistakeable Cunard colours which signify quality and class, but there’s no denying that seeing the Queen Mary 2 sends a little thrill down the spine.
It was the ship’s first visit to Tenerife since her maiden voyage in January 2004.
Tenerife at the World Travel Market
Tenerife Tourism is at the World Travel Market this week. The event, one of the most important in the tourist trade calender, attracts tourist boards, tour operators, journalists and media companies from all over the world and is a showcase for the industry. Representatives from the Tenerife Tourist Board had the honour of kicking the event off with a breakfast presentation and some of the first tweets out of the event were about Tenerife. So what was the verdict? Well some attendees liked the tortilla but bemoaned the absence of jamon Serrano.
Spain’s Prince Felipe and Princess Letizia were at the opening day of the event and received a quite unique present from the Canarian President Paulino Riviero; two chunks of pyroclastic rock from El Hierro’s eruption.
Tenerife’s Supercomputer
The Tenerife Government have acquired a supercomputer capable of operating a million times faster than conventional computers. The computer, called Teide 1.0, will be one of the world’s supercomputers and the fastest in Spain. It will be located at the NAP centre in Granadilla and should be fully operational from June 2012. Teide 1.0 will be (and this is a roughly translated quote) ‘an unbeatable tool that will provide a service to all companies wishing to increase productivity, reduce process times, differentiate themselves from other businesses and become more competitive.”
We’re all for embracing new technology and undoubtedly in terms of the world stage, the NAP centre and Teide 1.0 put Tenerife firmly on the IT world map. But it does seem deliciously ironic that the island will be home to a supercomputer when many businesses still don’t have websites. Social media is a thing of the future for lots of people and there are even businesses who haven’t mastered the use of email and who are still using faxes. Still, as everyone knows, Tenerife is an island of contrasts.
November’s Here and so are the Big Waves
An orange level weather alert was issued on Tenerife for last week as the winter season introduced itself with some spectacularly high waves. The north coast of Tenerife experienced the brunt of the sea’s power with waves of up to 5 metres assaulting sea defences. Whilst in many places the alert resulted in little more than a thrilling show of nature in the warm sunshine, in El Pris in Tacoronte and in Garachico, coastal roads were closed by the police because of the danger posed by the wild waves. In Bajamar and Punta de Hidalgo the waves caused damage to paving tiles along the seafront.
Tenerife’s winter waves can be an incredible sight and although there may be a temptation to get as close as possible for that potentially prize-winning photograph, please don’t ignore police tape, it is there for a very good reason ““ our safety.
And finally the TIT (This Is Tenerife) of the week award goes to”¦A Bad Tempered Hunter in GüÃmar
Most of the time when you ask someone for directions on Tenerife, the response you get is friendly and helpful. But two young men near GüÃmar discovered that this isn’t always the case.
When they stopped a 64 year old local to ask him directions his response was to discharge a shotgun into the side of their car.
Admittedly there’s more to this story than meets the eye. The two men were looking for a party and it was 4.30am at the time so may have given the old fellow a bit of a shock…but still no reason to take a pot shot at them.
And what was the man doing skulking about at that time in the morning with a shotgun? It is the hunting season but only on Thursdays and Sundays and this was a Tuesday morning. One thing’s for certain, if I get lost near GüÃmar I sure as hell won’t be stopping anyone to ask directions.
