Cruising

Today (Thursday) we took a dolphin cruise, during which we saw lots of pilot whales, which feed on squid in the strait off the island. Also, a pod of Atlantic spotted dolphins swimming and skipping alongside the boat. This is the view looking back to Puerto Colon.

It was a lovely day to be out on the water. Jet2Holidays offers a lot of excursions--none of them appropriate for someone mom's age. So this trip was with an independent company.

During the bus trip to the port, I saw this bit of graffiti: Read 1984 NOW. On the bus trip home, people were dropped at a lot of hotels near the coast before we got to our hotel. We are further up the hill and I'm glad, as the coastal area is packed with bars and shops and hotels and likely is noisier than where we are.

So in the afternoon I played golf at Golf Las Americas, a short walk from the hotel--but not short enough after 18 holes of golf!! I'd never played golf on holiday and you are assigned to a group. I played with two Irishmen--who had never met before--and a Belgian. I didn't play great, but neither did they. We played four ball better ball on the back nine and drew.  

One of the Irishmen, Gareth, lives on Tenerife part of the year. It was nice playing with someone who knows the course. He's retired (at a young age!) from one of the big four accounting firms, where he specialised in hedge funds. The Belgian founded a flight school in Arizona, where he lived for 15 years. I didn't get talking to the man from Galway.

I was mostly focused on trying to remember how to hit a ball so I didn't take many photos. In this one, you can barely see the coastal hotels and ocean in the distance. There was a lot of water on the course and I lost at least three, maybe four balls. I think I need to go to the driving range and get my swing sorted out. During this round I just didn't feel like I knew what I was doing. It's such a strange sport. At home, I've been playing off an astroturf mat all winter--required to protect the course. And our greens have been either sodden or icy in the winter. The greens here are very fast and of course no need of mats on the parched ground.

Friday morning I had a massage while mom read by the outdoor pool. Then she joined me in the indoor spa pool and then in the sauna. We read/sunbathed by the outdoor pool for a while then went back to the room and rested--all this spa business is tiring.

I did some research on a planned outing so I know what we're doing, where we're going. While I enjoy the quiet of the hotel, it is quite isolated. The only thing within walking distance for mom is the golf club. So we plan to take a taxi to a little town called La Caleta in two days. Tomorrow (Saturday) will be a second round of golf, this time with mom joining me in a buggy.

9-10 Feb