Los Gigantes: Siam Park Again, Long Sunsets and a Pirate Ship Called Flipper Uno
The Los Gigantes Sheer volcanic cliffs on Tenerife's west coast in the municipality of Santiago del Teide, rising up to 600 m (1,970 ft) straight out of the sea. They are part of Teno Rural Park. Tenerife Tourism don’t fit on a phone screen. I spent a good part of one sunny morning on Tenerife’s west coast proving it from the deck of a wooden pirate ship. It was the first warm stretch of spring in the Canary Islands, with a calm Atlantic and a crew in yellow shirts who climbed the rigging like it was a staircase. But before the pirates we had some unfinished business down the coast.
That business was Siam Park A Thai-themed water park in Costa Adeje on Tenerife's south coast, owned by the Loro Parque group. Its Wave Palace pool is known for some of the biggest artificial waves in the world. Siam Park, and yes, we went again. Heavy grey clouds hung over the park, and nobody in the water cared one bit. At the Wave Palace our youngest stood at the edge of the pool in pink, very serious, like a lifeguard on her first shift, waiting for the wave to come to her instead of the other way around. At the Lost City a giant bucket tipped water onto anyone underneath, while two kids skipped every slide and lay flat in the shallow water like starfish. Of course the sun came out properly just as we walked back past the red towers at the entrance.
Waiting for the wave to come to her
The evenings belonged to the sunsets, and this coast takes them seriously. Some nights we watched from the rocks while a dozen surfers bobbed in the water waiting for one last wave. On another night the sky turned pink over a calm tide pool, with the dark outline of La Gomera on the horizon. One evening we walked a narrow lane between banana plantations as the light went gold. Another ended under a rusty steel sculpture that curls like a ribbon somebody forgot to iron. I’ve written about these sunsets before, and they still haven’t learned to be modest.
The surfers waited for one more wave, we waited for the sun to go
Then the pirates. Flipper Uno sails from the harbor at Los Gigantes, an old wooden ship with a cannon on deck and the Spanish and Canary flags flying. From the harbor the cliffs look like a wall. From the water you finally see how tall they are, layer after layer of brown and grey rock with tiny boats anchored at the bottom of a cove. Below the cliffs we met the Shogun, another pirate-style ship packed to the rails. Both decks waved at each other like rival crews, and no one fired a shot. It was nice to see the Giants from the sea this time.
Flipper Uno in full pirate costume
On the way back a dolphin surfaced right next to the ship. Everyone rushed to the same rail at once, and I’m fairly sure the ship leaned a little toward the excitement. Then it was just the white wake, the long slope of the island with clouds sitting on the mountains, and the kind of quiet you only get after an exciting morning.
We spent the last afternoon on the sand under a grey sky, digging holes that the kids said were very important.
