What’s on Fuerteventura – Editorial September 2023

Hi again – This year seems to have gone very quickly, we are in September already.

September sees a change in the atmosphere on Fuerteventura, the School holidays are over, and the demographics change to a different population of tourists.
Many more groups of singles, couples of all ages, and families with pre school, or post school children.
This tends to mean more people out in the town, in the restaurants and bars and taking advantage of the excellent entertainment on offer.

Latest news:

The Ayuntamiento of La Oliva (Local council) have announced the issuing of new licences for the operation of sunbeds and parasols on the beaches of Corralejo.
This is a long awaited and welcome decision of the Council as for many elderly people and those with mobility issues, the beaches have not been accessible for nearly 2 years.

There are going to be 1,400 sunbeds and 700 parasols in total. 3 lots of 300 beds with 150 parasols each, located near the RUI Hotels on the Grandes Playas (Dunes), and a further 400/200 evenly distributed on Flag Beach to the North of the RUI Hotels. And lastly there will be 100 beds and 50 parasols distributed at Waikiki and Galera beaches.

The council have set the prices for these beds at 3€ per bed and 3€ per parasol, and they will be operational from October. (No more rip off 20€ for a bed and a parasol – Yippeee!!!!)

There is more good news, The council have authorised the operation of 3 Beach bars, and 4 Kiosks, locations have not yet been disclosed. (I hope a replacement for Torino’s at la Concha beach is one of them).

8th September – 28th October – Rugby World Cup

September has a lot going on with the main event being the Rugby World Cup. Visitors to the island will be pleased to know that they will be able to get all the action as many of the bars will be showing the games live.

Here are a few – York bar, Smith’s Arms, Flintstones, Corralejo Sports Bar, The Main Street, Murphy’s, Finnegan’s, O’Neal’s, Rosie O’Grady’s, Corner House and many more, (apologies to those I have missed, let me know and I can add you when I produce the program and fixtures)

I will be publishing the full list of games and results in the magazine and will advertise the link to the information in our facebook page. https://www.facebook.com/whatson.fuerteventura/

IX Festival of Clowns

If you suffer from Coulrophobia you might want to give this one a miss. It is the annual Tran Tran Festival of Clowns, that takes place in the Jandia resort of Gran Tarajal from the 13th  to the 15th of September.

This is great fun event with visitors and clowns from all over Europe taking part in parades, workshops, seminars and all sorts of clown oriented activities.

If you have a car it is definitely worth the one hour drive to witness or join in the festivities, if not you can get to Gran Tarajal by bus – you need to take the #6 bus to Puerto del Rosario, (3.40€ and 40 minutes) and then the #16 to Gran Tarajal (5.90€ and about 1 hour travel time). (Bus timetables https://tiadhe.com/en/)

Something in the water?

Last month on Gran Canary a very rare event took place – a Purple flag was flown over one of the beaches.
Now in my distant past I was a lifeguard, but couldn’t remember ever seeing a purple flag, there certainly wasn’t one in our kit, We had 4 flags, Green, Yellow, Red, and Black. So I was surprised to find that there are now a few more.
So when is the Purple Flag used?
It signifies that there is something potentially harmful in the water, like jellyfish, or in the case on Gran Canary a large hammerhead shark.

The shark was driven off by lifeguards, and before you panic, there has only been one reported shark attack in the Canaries, and that was in 2015, but it was in deep waters and a woman was swimming near a fish farm and received a minor bite on her arm from a small shark.

So what are the flags, and what do they mean?

When you go to several beaches on Fuerteventura you will also see Blue flags at some beaches. What does this signify?

The Blue Flag accreditation is an eco-friendly label that is given to beaches that meet stringent environmental, educational, safety, and accessibility criteria. These pristine beaches are perfect for vacations and tourism.

Blue Flag Beaches in Fuerteventura:

• Antigua: Castillo. (Caleta de Fuste)
• La Oliva: Corralejo Viejo, (Waikiki/Galera)  Grandes Playas, (Dunes) La Concha. (El Cotillo Lagoon)
• Pájara: Butihondo, Costa Calma,(Sotavento) El Matorral, Morro Jable.
• Puerto del Rosario: Blanca, Los Pozos, Puerto Lajas.
• Tuineje: Gran Tarajal.

It only remains for me to wish all new visitors to the island a great holiday, and take advantage of all that Fuerteventura has to offer.

You can find out more information by checking out our Facebook page  and also check out What’s on Fuerteventura’s Trips and Excursions agency, Corralejo-Excursions.com “Creating Memories since 2003”.

HAPPY HOLIDAYS
Maitland Young