My thoughts - Tenerife trip - Whale and Dolphin Watching

P&O Cruises Official Website Artemis Cruise P718 - Artemis South American Odyssey Ports and Excursions - Tenerife trips - Whale and dolphin watch

I have started looking at the excursions being listed on the P & O website that tie in with my forthcoming holiday. This is partly in an attempt to keep me happy but mostly because from what I have seen there tend to be ten or so different excursions from each location. Considering that almost all locations are visited only for the day it seems to me that there has to be some tough decisions being made along the way.

I am aware the real list of excursions isn’t available until 12 weeks before the trip but those listed for previous visits have to be a good place to start – it gives an indication of what is available in the area. So, I decided to go through the last set of excursions to see what takes my fancy - I didn’t think it was a bad idea to get a head start.

As I looked through the excursions it dawned on me that there were similar excursions at a number of locations, so with ten excursions per location it seemed sensible to see what caught my attention because I believe there is going to be a huge element of juggling excursions at some point.

Anyway, the first destination we will be stopping off at is Tenerife. The comment that has been made about this location is that it is a duty free destination. It one of those places to pick up duty free. I anticipate it being a place to pick up some ‘provisions’ in an attempt to keep down the holiday costs – snacks and drinks cost on the boat so cutting down any of these expenses by buying stuff when stopping off is probably a good idea!

The other thought that crosses my mind when I think of Tenerife is the fact that one of my old testing colleagues spends an awful lot of time out in Tenerife – perhaps she will be there when I am. If that is the case it would be good to be doing a little sight seeing with someone who is English and knows about the place… that said I know I am not that lucky!

When looking at the tours I think it is worth remembering the arrival and departure times. For Tenerife we arrive at 8am and leave at 1pm. This to me means we will need to be onboard at least 30 minutes if not an hour ahead of this. So we will only have four hours in the city so activities are going to be strictly limited. I confess being ready to go ashore at 8am having already had breakfast is going to be a tough challenge – I was hoping for a nice leisurely holiday.

So, if I find that I am alone and left to my own devices in Tenerife I think I rather like the idea of the Whale and dolphin watch. “Experience the thrill of seeking out whales and dolphins in their natural habitat.” The trip is 6½ hours by coach and catamaran. The trip talks of sunbathing on the catamarans netting and drink complimentary drinks while watching what is going past. It talks of diving into crystal-clear waters of a nature reserve or snorkel with equipment provided. P&O put on a caveat that although there is never a 100% guarantee of whale or dolphin sightings, the crew are always optimistic and will make every effort for you to see some.

P&O go on to say that free time will be given in Puerto Colon after the 3-hour catamaran trip and advice of the return to boat pick up point. I wonder if we are having such a short day there that three hours on a catamaran is going to be possible with travelling time either side. Would we stand enough chances of seeing dolphins and whales if our trip was shorter? I really would like to see dolphins and whales on our trip, I suspect I will get the opportunity on a number of occasions so it wont be the end of the world if I don’t do it here, but I really would like to spend time with nature…. Perhaps even swimming WITH dolphins! The other thing this trip offered that appealed to me was the snorkelling, now I have my six mega pixel digital camera I cant help but want to use it a number of times – although perhaps the crystal clear waters might contain more interesting specimens’ in the Caribbean – who knows!!