Page 22 - RCI EV Asia October 2015

You probably won’t need to pack a raincoat when headed
to the Canaries. This Spanish archipelago of seven major (and
several minor) volcanic islands 96 kilometers off Morocco’s
southwest coast is said to have some of the best weather on
Earth: 320 sun-flooded days a year and temperatures hovering around
24 degrees. It’s little wonder that it has long been the winter playground of sun-starved Europeans. But the islands’ collective beauty and climate are worth escaping to any time of year, and each isle has distinctive draws: Fuerteventura is a windsurfing hot spot; UNESCO- protected Gran Canaria offers giant sand dunes and kilometers of pine- shrouded mountain trails; and the coasts of Tenerife teem with marine life. On the following pages we’ll show you which island may be best for you.
ISLAND HOPPING:
(clockwise from below) Tenerife harbor with its mountainous backdrop. Playa del Ingles beach
and Maspalomas Dunes, Gran Canaria. A traditional windmill on Canary Island, Fuerteventura. Sunset hiking on Roque Nublo, Gran Canaria. Water sports mecca Fuerteventura Beach, the place to try windsurfing, sailing and pretty much all other watersports.
FUERTEVENTURA
Life’s a Beach
The second-largest Canary (behind Tenerife) is a beach lover’s paradise, offering more than 150 golden-sand playas. The showpiece among them is six-mile-long Corralejo Beach, where powder-fine sands line a nature reserve. Farther south, sun worshippers
park themselves along the 21km coastline of Jandía, a peninsula popular for windsurfing. Try your hand at the sport with René Egli (Playa Sotavento; 011- 34-928-54-74-83; rene- egli.com; courses, from $100*), which offers courses and rentals from Sotavento beach, where the windsurfing world championships are held every July.
The underwater landscape here is brimming with tropical fish. At Jandía Divers (Hotel Iberostar Palace; 011-34-606-17-42-51; jandiadivers.com; three-hour dives, from $65), German expat Stephan Reckers leads voyages into underwater volcano craters, home to angel sharks and barracudas.
Once back on dry land, the Faro de Jandía lighthouse (Parque Natural Jandía) is just a few kilometers down the coast from here, along untamed dunes.
CANARY ISLANDS
TENERIFE
GRAN CANARIA
FUERTEVENTURA
20 OCTOBER 2015