Slow Life
80 miles off the coast of Africa lies the stunning Canary Islands. Even the name draws images of tropics, luxury, and a little bit of adventure. After spending 4 different Christmas’ with different parts of our family and spanning from Seattle to the UK, we desperately needed a slow down.
With a few months of snowboarding ahead of us we opted to slow down somewhere warm and sunny, so we packed our bags and said goodbye to Edinburgh and hellooooo to Tenerife. Sleepy tucked away corners dripping in sunlight fed into bustling market streets on the waterfront mirroring my own tendency to drift from relaxing to adventuring.
Dolphins, Whales, & Sunsets, Oh MY!
Relaxing and sleeping in was my activity of choice for the first two days, and then as I do, I got a little stir crazy and booked us a sunset whale watching tour. Almost immediately as we pulled out of the harbor a sizable pod of dolphins started playing on the bow of our boat. I happened to have secured the best spot in the house and simply had to look over the tip of my toes to see them playing.
Enthralled with the dolphins, I have no idea how much time went by before we came upon a group of pilot whales. They got so close to the boat I could see their eyes peering back at me just at curious, but maybe not as emotional and excited as I was. They stayed with us long enough for me to have quite a bit of footage and then went on their merry way.
Snorkeling was the last activity on the agenda, and surprisingly only Oli and I got in at Naked Hippie Beach, the beach of my people. We kept our clothes on of course, there were children on the boat, perve. The snorkeling was more of a nice way to be outside rather than seeing anything of note. We were surrounded by fish, until we realized that the fish were swarming nearby because someone had flushed the toilet on the boat.
Calling it a night after that, we were handed some snacks and wine as we leisurely made our way back to the dock. Happy hearts and a little buzzed, both from the wine and the days treasure moments fresh in my mind.
Escape Rooms & Zoom Zooms
Food was our second activity of choice but only because we had access to the VIP buffet and lounge at all times. We did venture out to try some local cuisine, but where we were staying they left a lot to be desired. In between stuffing our faces at our hotel, we managed to do every escape room at Island Phobia while we were there and they are still some of my favorite rooms.
In an attempt to get out of the tourist area we chose to rent a scooter and explore the other side of the island. We pointed that baby North, and I hit 135 kilometers per hour (83MPH) for the first time in the open air. We took a random exit and ended up winding our way through small farm streets into the mountains. We went what I have deemed Oli hiking, which is to just go straight through bushes, trees, tall grass, anything really and make your own path. We ended up finding an actual path that we took as far as we could before I got nervous that we wouldn’t find our way back and we turned around and made a stop for dinner in Santa Cruz.
Tenerife wasn’t quite what I expected but it was exactly what I needed and I happily went back to snow after a soul filling few days in the sun.
Wandering Wild 