Fuerteventura The Jewel of the Canary Islands

That friend comes in the form of Michael O'Leary. You know that cheap airline tycoon!! We now have flights coming from Stansted during the winter months 28th October to 28th March 09. This is already ontop of the flights announced from Liverpool, East Midlands, Birmingham, Dublin, Shannon, 3 flights from Germany and 1 from Spain. Making 33 flights a week!! That may not seem a lot to those on the Spanish mainland BUT when you have been used to rip off charter flights as your only option it is a welcome relief!! Fuerteventura certainly seems to have a Future thaks to Ryan Air. Thank you Michael. A Resident of Fuerteventura with no connection to Ryan Air what so ever. BUT a very grateful one non the less.

I decided to add a few phots found below. The first is of our "baby" we rescued her from the local dog centre. She had been dumped at about 6 weeks old (she is now nearly 15 Months old). She is seen here playing on one of the isolated beaches on the west coast of Fuerteventura.



With the sun getting lower on the west coast



One of my favourite Beaches El Cotillo

The small fishing harbour in El Cotillo


I'll post more of the famous sand dunes in the Paque Natural Area of Corralejo in the next issue!!

I was amazed where the time has gone (must be too much sunshine?) It seems since I last posted it has been two weeks!

Things seem to be picking up in Fuerteventura as there seems more people about and the landlords are a bit more upbeat!

We are in the process of buying a 2 bedroom apartment and it is turning out to be a nightmare. The owner (who me are buying off seems so un-Flexible. That really is another story and when I have an hour I might comment.

Lets hope the Summer brings good cheer to all in Fuerteventura! 

As I have said before I do not work for Ryan Air and am not benifiting from telling people about Ryan Air BUT do feel that people should know. As a relatively unknow (Well we are not really advertised by the UK!) Canary Island. It comes as great news to the Island that such a large company such as Ryan Air should bring so many new flights to the Island. Yesterday Ryan Air announced they would be flying from East Midlands as well as told earlier Liverpool and Birmingham! Plus the flights from Dublin and Shannon. These flights are three times a week during the winter months starting on the 28th October. Note they are flying through the summer from Dublin and Shannon! I wish I knew how to put a paragraph in as it would make easier reading!! Anyway I am using this blog to TELL the world as I really do believe this Island is the Jewell of the Canary Islands. Perhaps you might use the Cheap flights that Ryan Air is offering and see for yourselves!!

It has been announced that Ryan Air is starting flights from Birmingham on the 28th Oct to Fuerteventura this is in addittion to those from Liverpool that run last here. We in Fuerteventura have missed the cheap flight carriers and all being well this will enable a good winter for those with businesses over here. Please note: I do not work for ryan air but feel the word need to get out there as most people do not think of using Ryan Air when flying to Fuerteventura

Well Val left the radio station on Thursday and a few of us went to say good-bye. She will be sadly missed by all her regular listeners. It will be a hard task to find somebody as happy and plays great music! We wish HotFM all the best in finding somebody new shortly. If anybody needs any info on Fuerteventura "The Jewel of the Canary Islands" Please do not hesitate to get in touch.

Well the weather has at last picked up "The Sun is back in its right place" Hope it picks up where you are!

So Whats the weather like where you are? Here in Fuerteventura it has been fairly cloudy for the last few days but we see on the news that Mainland Spain has been having a torrid time pretty much the same as the UK Wet Wet Wet!! We do count our lucky stars living in Fuerteventura as it was funny I said to my wife yesterday it is a little chilly (Well I really said "it's bl**dy freezing!) We looked at each other sat in shorts vest tops and flip flops are we mad!!? We used the term as it is not the normal high 20's / low 30's it is only 25º C which is quite cold for this time of year! It isn't freezing but just relative to where we are. Hope to speak tommorrow as we are off to say goodbye to one of the DJ's off our favourite Radio Station "Hot FM". She is off to Tenerife as she has a job offer she can not refuse! Hopefully she will be back SOON!!

At the moment things are a little quiet in Fuerteventura and Corralejo is a little quieter on the streets at night (so people are saying!!) All sorts of reasons are being blamed including the Euro Rate, The All inclusive, the lack of flights (but airport statistics are stating that visitor numbers are up!) Personally I think that yes we are in a world recession and people are not spending as much when on Holiday as they used to but, the visitors are here the statistics show that. But where? I think the reason that Corralejo seems quiet at the moment is not due to the fact we have less visitors it is quite simply that Corralejo is getting larger (it is no longer the little fishing village it was 10/15 years ago!) there are more Bars and Restaurants for the number of visitors we receive to the Island. Lets say we had 3000 visitors 10 years ago and 20 bars and Restaurants. But now we have 5000 visitors per month but 80 bars and restaurants. Now isn't it going to seem quieter? If everybody visited equally 10 years ago each establishment would receive 22 visitors per day! if we do the same sum now 5000 / 80 / 7 it would show that only 9 visitors would visit each establishment. With all the price rises this is hardly going to allow a business to survive! Some are saying that it will allow the best businesses to survive and the cream will rise to the top letting the "not so good" establishments to slip out of contention. Is it just Fuerteventura that is suffering through this sort of economic problem or is this happening in other parts of Spain?

Why did I choose Fuerteventura rather than mainland Spain when moving from the UK? Well it was a joint descision and what a great one it was! The climate had a lot to do with it and when we saw the beaches we new we had made the right descision! We have both worked since being here and have had the usual ups and downs like most that get frustrated with the Spanish System!! But on the whole times have been good...in fact damned great! Like most that move to a none English speaking country you have to learn the language pretty quickly or go with the flow and do your own thing. After a few trials of doing this and that we are now pretty settled in looking after a few properties for friends and designing and running a few websites. We make many new friends in this line of work and enjoy seeing them return to the Island sometimes twice a year. This is my first Blog so please bare with me and I will add a time dictates and if anyone has a question about Fuerteventura please ask as I love informing people of our little Jewel.....