If you happen to be splashing about in the waters off Spain, Italy, Japan, the Atlantic side of Panama or a growing number of other places and you accidentally swallow a tiny jellyfish worry ye not because you may have just ingested Turritopsis nutricul the only living creature who possesses the secret to immortality.

I’ve no idea if the jellyfish-like creature has made it to the waters of Tenerife yet but if you see me wallowing about open-mouthed in the coastal waters off Los Cristianos – now you will know why. In the meantime, just to prove I am in fact sane and haven’t imagined this fascinating creature follow this link to find The Curious Case of the Immortal Jellyfish as published in Discover magazine.

If you are on holiday in Tenerife at the end of August  you will find lots of free beach-related activity and workshops centred round the Los Cristianos area. It’s all to do with the annual Aguaviva Canarias festival which is held to celebrate the sea and drive home the message that the wide blue oceans of the world are full of natural treasures that need to be tended, protected and loved. It is a collaborative effort with input from scientists, government bodies, musicians and entertainers, educators and the public.

There are free events and activites from August 22 and an open air concert on August 29th which requires payment but at only €15 should be worth the entrance fee.  The whole festival comes to a close on 30th of August with the release of turtles which has been co-ordinated by members of the Neotropico Foundation.  There are also volunteer educational projects like the cetacean research project run by Buena Proa.

Saturday 22 August

10:00 hrs – Beach Clean Up at Playa de Las Enojados, Las Galletas (free)

Sunday 23 August

18.30 hrs – Marine Life First Aid Workshop (seabirds, turtles and whales), Playa de las Vistas, Los Cristianos (free)

19.00 hrs – Marine Graffitti Workshop on the seafront of Los Cristianos, Memorial Plaza (free)

Friday 28 August

11.00 – 14.00 hrs and 15.00 – 17.00 horas, Aguaviva Baptisms – Make a spiritual connection with the ocean (free)

Dive into Aguaviva – Playa de Las Vistas. Playa de Las Vistas.

10.30 – 15.00 hrs – Workshops on the beach of Los Cristianos. (free)

18.00 – 20.00 hrs – Workshops on the beach of Los Cristianos. (free)

21:00 hrs Street Parade with CIRCUS JAM -Paseo Marítimo de Los Cristianos – Plaza de Los Caídos (free)

22.00 hrs – CONFABULADOS in concert. – Paseo Marítimo de Los Cristianos – Plaza de Los Caídos (free)

Saturday 29 August

11.00 – 14.00 hours and 15.00 – 17.00 am Aguaviva Baptisms – Get baptised in the ocean (free)
Dive into Aguaviva.- Playa de Las Vistas

10.00 hrs -  Cleaning the Deep Arona in Playa de Las Vistas. (free)
13.00 hrs -  Human Chain of Pollutionfrom the Playa de Las Vistas to the Centro Cultural de Los Cristianos. (free)
19.00 hrs Round Table in Arona in Playa de las Vistas (next to the breakwater of the port).
Panel discussion on the current state of conservation of the seafloor and the coast of the Canary Islands.Various interested groups are invited to attend including scuba divers, fishermen, scientists, researchers at the ULL and the Natural History Museum, conservationists, politicians and hoteliers.
10.30 – 15.00 hrs Workshops on the beach of Los Cristianos.
18.00 – 20.00 hrs Workshops on the beach of Los Cristianos.

21.00 hrs  AguavivaFest Concert

The Zaragoza pop rock band Amaral are the headliners with We Are Standard, Line, Ramon Dominguez and Adjacant and DT Project also in the line up. See clips of Amaral, We Are Standard and Ramon Domingues below for a wee taster of what the night will hold.

Estadio de Los Cristianos, Annex. Advance tickets 15 euros.

Sunday 30 August

11.00 – 14.00 hours and 15.00 – 17.00 am Baptisms Aguaviva. Make direct contact with the underwater world with a free ocean baptism.

Dive into Aguaviva. Playa de Las Vistas.
10.30 – 15.00 pm Workshops on the beach of Los Cristianos.

16:30 hrs - Turtle Release in  Playa de Las Vistas
21.00 hrs – Cinema on the Beach in Arona in Playa de Los Cristianos.

Looking like something out of War of the Worlds  (the original , not the crappy Tom Cruise version) this picture really does show a Tenerife  invasion of sorts though of course not of intrastellar origin.

The black spiky things in the picture are lime urchins. In a balanced eco-system they have a very important role to play in  keeping the reefs and corals healthy but in Tenerife, the lime urchin population has exploded. They are hungry little blighters and munch their way across wide swathes of underwater landscape leaving not much edible matter in their wake. (Sort of like when my brother comes to visit)

Like the Tribbles in Star Trek  (again the original version) the urchins are insatiable and unless controlled they may end up eating the whole spaceship!!!  Aaaahhhh ….

Bumping back down to earth, the lime urchin invasion is not actually news. Plans have been afoot to curb the voracious  little buggers for some time – including turning them into a lunchtime delicacy – but as Pamela Heywood of  Secret Tenerife said:

It just goes to show you how important balance is, with the right number of the various members of the food chain hierarchy, each having their part in the “grand scheme” and, how important it is that we protect these marine areas and not keep overfishing them, nor tipping heaven knows what kinds of waste into them.

See this picture and more scuba diving photographs at the Tenerife Diving Gallery.

The Feria Flores y Plantas is a regular event in Las Galletas held along the Rambla at the front of the Cultural Centre. It is on  a little earlier this year with the opening at 5.00 pm on Friday 22nd May. The official inauguration is at 7.00 pm followed by a musical performance.

On Saturday 23rd May the flower festival stalls open at 10.00 am with the beautiful plants and flowers available for sale. A photo exhibition called III Maratón Fotográfico de Las Galletas opens at the same time and the children’s play area opens at 10.30.

The  flower arranging class which was very popular last year is at 10.30 and later in the day there is class in Infusions and Canarian Remedies which I bet would be very interesting.

The day is rounded off by another musical performance at 7.30pm.

On Sunday the stalls and kids’ play area open at the same times but this time the 10.30 class is about growing salad vegetables, the musical performance its at 6.00pm and at 7.00 pm there will be a presentation of prizes and certificates for the photography exhibition participants.

Here is a post about the  Las Galletas Flower Festival 2008 .

Okay, so I understand that not everyone will appreciate my excitement at finally capturing a few of my batty friends on video. I admit the quality is not great and as yet David Attenborough has nothing to worry about but you would have to know that one of these guys nearly clipped me on the head one dark morning.

Ever since, I have tried to catch a glimpse of one of the bats.  I hear them nearly every morning but its always dark and they fly past so quickly it is hard to get a good look. Describing the feeling of some substantial creature whizzing past my ear at six o’clock in the morning tends to have people nod wide-eyed and inch away but it is when I get into imitating the noise that they actually reach for the strait-jacket.

Now, after weeks of laying in wait, I have proof. Ha ha!  ( Well, you try laying in wait for wildlife with a 55 kilo Presa Canario and a Boxer with a hip impediment!. David Attenborough has it easy!)

Though I suspect I know the spot that the Bard of Ely is referring to in his post, ‘Strange Creatures Call From the Sea’, I couldn’t name or describe the sea creatures that live there.

Much better and far more interesting if you go  along with the Bard for a poke about in the rock pools along the Costa Del Silencio coast line and let him tell you all about the creatures and plants you find there including this colourful Sea Hare from the ‘Strange Creatures…’  hub.

I left the house to walk Tito with the two kids in tow yesterday afternoon and headed to the coast. A man at the head of the track I wanted to take waved me off from a distance. I recognised him as the ‘cat walker’ and presumed he didn’t want my huge Presa anywhere near his precious puss.

That was fine. He was leaving the area anyway so I just waited far enough away for him to collect his cat and wander off up the road and then we all carried on to the rocky coastal path. With my attention on Tito, I had almost walked into a swarm of bees before I noticed it. Maybe that was what Cat Man had been waving about?

There were so many bees that I could feel the buzzing in my sternum. Or maybe that was my heart pounding. I’m not usually a big fearty but I didn’t fancy attracting the attention of this lot.
Even after we’d past the main mass of bees we were passing stragglers (or scouts?) for ages and they all seemed to be frantic about something.

‘Imagine if this was Tom and Jerry,’ Sami said, ‘…they’d whistle for the rest of the swamp.’

I didn’t actually hang about long enough to get a good look at the insects so have no idea if they were honey bees or indeed bees at all. While Tenerife produces excellent award-winning honey and there were a couple of hives on spare ground at the village at one point, most of the apiculture tends to be done much higher up where the pollen-rich broom grows.

Lastly, after my little bee experience with the kids, I poked around on the internet (as you do) just to find out a bit more about bee swarms. I found a little fact sheet which includes the sage advice: Get away from bees as quickly as possible. Oh. Okay then.

For more information about Tenerife honey visit the Casa de Miel .

photo credit:
fussball_89