Tenerife: an extraordinary island of extreme contrasts

How to describe Tenerife?  We have been here for a week now and have covered most of the island with our rental car and spent time exploring several parts of it more in depth.  Our impressions are mixed and perhaps biased being based on personal experience and our own opinions and this account is admittedly long-winded, so my apologies in advance, but here goes:

Culturally speaking, it’s Spanish.  However, during our exploration of the island we were reminded at times of many different places:  

• Hawaii, because of its volcanic nature, steep coastal cliffs and fertile plains, 
• Arizona, because of its deserts, cacti, rock formations and canyons,
• Palm Springs, because of its luxury golf resorts in the desert,
• The Mediterranean, due to its pine trees, blue seas and rocky coastline,
• Mexico, because of its charming pueblo-style settlements dotting the arid hills and red-roof haciendas
• Benidorm, La Grande Motte, the Algarve and/or parts of south Florida, because of some of its, shall we say, ‘over-developed’ and largely tourist-oriented coastal towns where any local flavor drowned out by an abundance with high-rises, casinos, strip-joints and other foreign establishments (we saw British pubs, McDonald’s, fondue and wiener schnitzel restaurants, to name a few), all aimed at attracting northern Europeans from their cold climates to something familiar,   
• and finally Africa, of course.   The sedimentary geological formations show that these islands were once part of the African continent and although not predominant, there is a distinct feeling, mainly in the market place and in certain aspects of the architecture here,  that Africa is not far--only 300 kilometers/186 miles away actually, the closest I have ever been.  

I have to say, that once again we were blown away by an island’s geography--this time by more by its extreme contrasts in a relatively space of just over 2000 sq. kilometers/772 sq. miles. To give you an idea of what I’m talking about:  In the south we enjoyed a warm and protected coast with calm seas and sandy beaches while just few miles away to the north, we were amazed by a cooler, wind-blown rocky coast with black volcanic beaches. In the east we drove through a dense forest of pine trees interspersed with lush green valleys, while in the west, we found deserts, burned out forests and then fertile plains leading down to the sea.  One day we left the marina in shorts and tee-shirts under sunny skies and 80° F (25° C) degree temperatures and less than an hour later were obliged to pile on layers of fleeces and jackets when the thermostat went down to 42° F (6° C) as we climbed up towards El Tiede, 3717 meters/12,000 feet high, the highest summit in the Canaries and Spain. 

Before I end this rather long and hopefully not too tedious narrative, I also have to point out that Tenerife and all the Canaries are a series of volcanic islands and an ideal place for anyone who wants to do a study of volcanos.  El Tiede is inactive, but not dead and one can clearly see the evidence of past eruptions on its slopes.  The last one occurred in 1909.   On the nearby island of La Palma, a volcano erupted in 1971 and is expected to blow again sometime between 2015 (!) and 2515 and just a year ago an underwater volcano erupted three miles to the south of El Hierro, the smallest of the seven Canary Islands just 100km (60 miles) from here--one more thing for us to avoid while sailing!

Thankfully we are headed east from Tenerife to Gran Canaria--something just tells me to get the heck out of this place!