The budget for next year’s Carnival in Santa Cruz has been cut by 50%. This cost reduction will result in fewer entertainers and celebrities, and the firework display will be nowhere near as spectacular as it has been in the past.

Deputy Mayor of Santa Cruz, Ángel Llanos, said that due to the worldwide economic situation they were faced with no alternative.

The decision has caused a public outcry as many believe that cost cutting is false economy, as the world-famous carnival brings many thousands of visitors to Tenerife and a much needed income to Santa Cruz.

On 26th November local police in Puerto Santiago became suspicious of a man acting with aggressive behaviour. Upon questioning, the 39 year old man with initials A.R.B, he became agitated and nervous, further investigation led to his arrest as a warrant for his arrest had been issued by the courts in Santa Cruz. The man was detained at the Guardia Civil station in San Juan.

Sometimes it is not all doom and gloom, and this morning my day was suddenly enlightened when I heard that my teenage heart throb Rod Stewart is to perform in Adeje, next May.

It brings back memories of being a teenager in trouble with parents for sticking his posters all over my newly papered bedroom wall. I did win this argument because removing them would have ruined the wallpaper, I remember being grounded for a weekend for the offence, but it was well worth it.

The concert date is set for 16th May 2009 and is being organising by “Sun Live Canarias”, the same company who organised the Elton John concert last January.

A press conference is being held in the next few days to confirm the venue and ticket arrangements and a spokesman from the company says further superstar concerts are in the pipeline for Adeje.

Watch this space for more info – but I’m first in the queue for a ticket!

Eleven members of an organised crime gang, all Romanian and living in the south of Tenerife, have been arrested by the National Police and charged with robberies of several jewellery shops. One of the shops raided was believed to be in Los Gigantes on November 8th , when the thieves evaded capture and got away with a large number of cigarettes.

The investigation, “Operation Brasov”, which commenced in October led to several house raids and the arrests.

During the raids the gang had tried to dispose of their haul by throwing it out of the window. It was picked up by police and around 1,800 items of jewellery were confiscated, at an estimated value of 155,000 Euros. According to a police spokesperson the goods amounted to a virtual Aladdin’s cave of stolen goods, there was 8,200g of precious stones, perfumes, tobacco, and clothes.

The daring thieves even robbed the same Las Americas jewellery shop twice, escaping with 70,000 Euros worth of goods the first time and 85,000 Euros the second time.

Traffic on the motorway near Las Chafiras was at stand still last night caused by a lorry which had overturned.

The accident, an articulated truck which had jacknifed, blocked both northbound carriageways causing long tailbacks and delays on a stretch of motorway which is one of the busiest on Tenerife.

No one was injured but several families missed their flights due to the delays.

While out on a routine patrol, Civil Guard officers in Playa San Juan came across a man climbing balconies, looking in windows and checking if doors were open.

When the man realised he was being watched he panicked and ran . In his haste he fell and was instantly arrested by the officers.

An inquest will open today into the death of a Nottingham man, who drowned on holiday in Tenerife.

The body discovered at Punta Blanca on 31st October has been identified as Alan Baker, 53, of Station Lane, Farnsfield, Nottingham.

Mr. Baker, a company director, had been on a family holiday staying at the Costa Los Gigantes Hotel, in Playa Arena.

Police were called after Mr. Baker failed to return from an early morning walk. His body has been flown back to Britain.

The Spanish traffic authorities are launching a campaign to crackdown on drivers who use mobile phones at the wheel.

The D.G.T. plan to stop and check 500,000 drivers in Spain and the Canaries. The clamp down started yesterday and will continue until November 25th.

Earlier in the year the number of road deaths decreased but recently numbers have risen again.
Lack of concentration and distraction, due to smoking, changing CD’s and use of mobile phones while at the wheel, was responsible 38% of road accidents.

Last year, over 100,000 people were fined for using a mobile phone while driving.

The campaign is mainly directed at mobile phone users, as the risk of an accident is 4 times greater whilst using a mobile. Radio and television adverts are being produced with the slogan “At the wheel, only the wheel. Do not become distracted” and “There are histories that end with a phone call”

As from this month Unelco will be deducting your electricity bills from your bank accounts monthly, rather than the bi-monthly system used at present.

The new system will bring them into line with other utility providers and it is hoped the changes will improve their billing system. You will receive an estimated bill one month and a meter read bill the next.

“I’ve tickets here for the fun scrabble night on Nov 10th, you two will want tickets – won’t you”? It was John Broadhurst from The Asociacíon San Francisco de los Animales. Well, neither of us stood a chance of winning. We’d never played scrabble in years and without Microsoft Word and spell check there was no hope for us.

However, it was for a good cause as all the proceeds would be used for the benefit of stray and abandoned animals. As I am currently looking after a Mum and 5 kittens which were abandoned near me several weeks ago, and they all need to be neutered, we happily bought the tickets and joined in the fun.

Read the full story on their web site

There were bargains galore and fun for the kids too at the 3rd Santiago Del Teide Trade Fair. This event was held in the plaza at Puerto Santiago on Sunday 9th November.
Forty stalls were originally planned for by the Council but demand was so high an extra ten were supplied for local traders. Those who waited until the last minute to book a stall were disappointed.

Rescue services had to be called over the weekend when a man fell whilst walking down the Masca Barranco.

The seriously injured man, aged 60, fell from a cliff suffering a fractured skull and internal injuries.

The injured man was airlifted out of the barranco and flown to the North airport then transferred by ambulance to the Candelaria Hospital, Santa Cruz.

The annual World Travel Market opens its doors at the Excel Centre in London today. It is a unique opportunity for the whole global travel trade to meet, network, negotiate and conduct business under one roof.

Almost 200 countries are represented at the show making it one of the biggest holiday events in the world and it is estimated that in the regions of 50,000 visitors will pass through the doors over the 4 days of the event.

The new Canaries stand, which takes up 680 square metres of the hall, was opened this morning by Rita Martín, the minister of tourism in the Canaries.

Part 1 Diving with Turtles

I have not neglected the news this week, there just hasn’t been anything interesting to report. All news sources constantly remind us of the current credit crunch, so this morning I’m taking you well away from all the doom and gloom.

A few weeks ago I received a call from an old diving buddy, Dave Oldale, an underwater photo journalist of many years, who has worked with us on several adventurous projects.

“I’ve got flights for next week, I need a really good special story, something different from Tenerife for the dive show issue of Holiday Diver” (an on line magazine for divers). The office was busy and I had no time to talk, “Ok leave it to me and I’ll see what I can do”.

Oh dear, was my first thought, I’d have to clear the spare room – a task and a half! Later on when I had a bit more time to think, it occurred to me that I had nothing different for him this time. He’s been out here at least twice a year for the past 8 years and I was running out of new dive sites to show him, in fact I think he’d seen them all. He’s interacted with whales and dolphins as well as angel sharks, he’s fed the stingrays of Los Gigantes many times, I’ve taken him to all the wrecks including the aircraft wreck near Puerto de la Cruz, he’s seen all the black coral at Punta Teno, and has tagged sea horses with us. (Over the next few weeks I will cover those visits here on Losgigantes.com news). I was well and truly stuck!

Later that day it suddenly occurred to me that I did have another special dive he hadn’t done, and it was certainly something different. A few weeks ago I received a call from a friend who owns a dive centre in Las Americas. They had a group of Russian divers who wanted to be filmed diving with the Turtle at El Puertito, a small bay between los Gigantes and Las Americas. I had heard of this dive but had never made the time to check it out. Any excuse to get out of the office and go diving. I was off like a shot.

That was the answer. I called him back.

Click here for the story

Click here for the video of the Russian divers with the turtle

Mount Teide has received its first snowfall of the winter as temperatures, at that high altitude, fell below zero.

The white volcano summit was a spectaculat sight. However the 2 roads leading up to the mountain, via La Orotava and La Esperanza, had to be closed on Thursday due to the treacherous icy conditions and reduced visibility with sleet.