Property owners & tenants in Lanzarote will recently have received a couple of letters regarding INALSA who are no longer responsible for the water supply in Lanzarote. Canal Gestión Lanzarote took over the supply of our drinking water network on the 1st June 2013.

Insular de Aguas de Lanzarote S.A. (INALSA) issued a circular to their clients dated the 31st May 2013, stating that following an extraordinary session and urgent general assembly of the Consorcio del Agua de Lanzarote  on the 23rd May 2013, they will cease to supply the water supply for Lanzarote with effect from the 1st June 2013. This letter confirms that Canal Gestión Lanzarote S.A.U. will be responsible for the water supply from this date, operating from the same address at the desalination plant on Ctra Arrecife – Las Caletas in Arrecife. Contact details included the telephone number 928 814 400 and email address info@canalgestionlanzare.es.

The Consorcio del Agua de Lanzarote at the Cabildo despatched a letter dated the 11th June explaining that INALSA has been operating in administration with a debt of around 50 million euros since October 2009. The debt was not the biggest issue for the public company, the biggest problem was to ensure the supply of drinking water to the resident population and main industries of the island. In 2011 the situation was so serious, due to the profoundly interrupted supply mainly affecting residents in rural areas of the island, the Canarian Government declared a water emergency for the first time. Urgent action was required to address the lack of investment for our water network that had been operating at the limit of it’s capacity for 365 days a year for decades.

A 30 year contract has been awarded to the company Canal de Isabel II Gestión S.A. who will operate under the name Canal Gestión Lanzarote from the 1st June 2013. This decision not only solved the huge debt problems hanging over INALSA but also confirmed a 56 million euro investment for our water supply to be executed within the next 5 years. Regarding the price of the water, the rate can only increase from June 2016, and any increase is limited to IPC plus 1%, which must have prior approval of the Consorcio del Agua.

In summary, there should be no change for the consumer at the moment. Your next water bill will be issued by Canal Gestión Lanzarote at the same rate as before.

It’s good to see another local business here in Lanzarote embracing hybrid technology in their car fleet. As a biosphere reserve, anything that helps to reduce emissions here and our dependence on imported oil has to be a good thing.

Image: Automoviles Lanzarote

Bodegas Torres have purchased a fleet of Toyota Auris hybrids as an extensions of their commitment to the environment. They already:

• Devote one third of their crop to organic wine growing
• Work to protect endangered species on their land
• Purify their own waste water
• Participate in local plant conservation

The Auris hybrid uses Toyota’s synergy drive, pioneered in the Prius. It emits just 83 grams of Carbon Dioxide per kilometre and does up to 74 MPG.

You can read the full story on Toyota Canarias’ website here: Toyota Lanzarote entrega a Bodegas Torres su flota híbrida

More reading:

It’s time for Lanzarote cars to go electric

Swissport workers based in Madrid and Lanzarote airports have failed to reach an agreement, so the partial strikes are planned to continue.

This week Arrecife Airport in Lanzarote could be affected by partial strikes on the 9th & 11th of July from 08:00 – 11:00 and 15:00 – 19:00, this could increase from 08:00 to 12:00 and 16:00 to 23:59 until the end of July if an agreement cannot be reached.

The indefinite strike has been called to protest against the inflexible attitude of the company in the negotiation of agreements for casual workers.

A section of the main road to Playa Blanca on the LZ-2 will be closed from Wednesday to Friday this week for resurfacing.

The work is part of the Plan de Mejoras de las Carreteras de la isla to improve the highways of the island and affects the 1.6 km stretch between La Hoya and Yaiza, near the Salinas de Janubio. The road will be closed to traffic from the 10th to 12th July for resurfacing and new road markings. A diversion using the old road LZ-701 will be in place during this time.

The councillor for Public Works at the Cabildo, José Antonio Gutiérez explained that the work is part of the continuous plan costing around seven million euros to improve the island’s road network. This particular project between Yaiza and La Hoya has a budget of 187,713 euros.

The Department of Public Works apologises for any inconvenience and asks users to respect the temporary signs and diversions in place.

Related Information:
Salinas de Janubio

The hunting season will open in Lanzarote on the 25th August until the 3rd November for 2013. We publish the hunting calendar so that walkers will be aware of hunting days whilst out in the countryside, particularly if walking dogs.

The Orden de Veda de Caza for 2013 has been published by the Canarian Government establishing the dates and conditions for hunting in Lanzarote and the other Canary Islands. For Lanzarote, the hunting calendar has been agreed as:

Rabbit hunting with ferret and podenco dog is allowed on Thursdays & Sundays from the 25th August to 27th October.

Rabbit hunting including a shotgun, ferret and podenco dog is allowed on the 20th & 27th October.

Barbary partridge & rock dove hunting with shotgun and pointer dog is permitted on Sundays from the 15th September to 3rd November.

Rabbit & rock dove hunting with falconry and pointer dog is permitted on Fridays & Sundays from 25th August to 27th October.

The hunting methods authorised are with podenco and ferret; podenco, ferret and shotgun; pointer and shotgun; falcon with or without dog. The solo use of a shotgun is not permitted and subject to being accompanied by a dog.

A maximum of two ferrets per hunter is allowed for a class C license and six for a group. A maximum of two ferrets are permitted for every two hunters and four in a group, it is also not possible to use a ferret without dogs.

Regarding dogs, up to three are allowed per hunter and eight per group. The hunters must decide the type of hunting and have the correct dogs, podencos for hunting rabbits and pointer dogs for hunting birds. Falconers can hunt with or without a dog, to a maximum of one per hunter.

As in previous seasons, hunting is prohibited in the natural parks and areas of scientific interest such as the National Park of Timanfaya, Las Salinas del Janubio, Los Jameos del Agua and areas of the Natural Park of the Archipelago Chinijo in Teguise & Haría.

Hunting officials from the Cabildo will keep vigilance for protection of the hubara canaria in the areas of Llanos de los Ancones, el Jable of Teguise and El Rubicón in Yaiza.

If you want to help in the campaign against the oil exploration off the coast of Lanzarote, you should sign the non grata petition this week.

Unfortunately this is limited to people who are physically present in Lanzarote this week, as the signatures have to be in original handwritten format.

You can download the form below together with a copy of the manifesto, simply print and get as many people as you can to sign before Monday 15th July.

These forms need to be handed in to the Global Action office situated in the Cabildo of Lanzarote in Arrecife before 14:00 on Monday. The office is upstairs on the first floor, to locate it please go left at the top of the stairs, into the second half of the building, you can find Ezequiel Navío in his office in the left hand corner.

Related Information:

Global Action English Meeting
Lanzarote Cabildo Say No To Repsol Oil Rigs

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Sadly things have not gone according to plan with the return of the sun beds in Puerto del Carmen, the unfortunate saga continues.

You may recall that today, the 10th July was the date from which the beds could be restored to the beaches in the holiday resort. It appears that the first company who agreed to the contract, have resigned, causing a further delay and losing their deposit in the process.

A second company have been offered and accepted the contract, now we wait up to 15 days to see if they will sign the necessary paperwork and proceed with supplying and maintaining the beach services in Puerto del Carmen.

The new company could be in operation on the five main beaches by late July, however if they don’t accept the contract, it continues to pass down the the list of companies who submitted tenders.

Related Information:
Sun beds back from July

Looking back at the tourism statistics for 2012, it was tourists visiting from Ireland who spent the most money during their holidays in the Canary Islands.

Irish visitors spent just over €54 per day which is significantly more that the average of €37 spent by other nationalities. German tourists on the other hand spent the least during their holidays, around €28 per day.  This information is according to the Instituto Canario de Estadística (Istac) who record the statistics for the islands.

It’s not that the Germans don’t spend money on their holidays here, they do, it’s just that they are more likely to spend it reserving a higher level of accommodation on an all inclusive basis. Whereas typically Irish spend less on their actual reservation, allowing themselves more to spend at the local supermarkets, bars and restaurants during their holiday.

The German market is a much bigger one for the Canary Islands than the Irish, 2,642,638 tourists came from Germany in 2012 as opposed to 378,260 Irish across the 7 islands (data from Observatorio Turístico Canario).

June Tourist Figures

Lanzarote’s passenger arrival figures from Aeropuertos Españoles y Navegación Aérea (AENA) show an increase of 4.7% for June compared to 2012. This equates to 430,361 people flying into Arrecife airport during June and a total of 2,452,822 from January to June 2013. Year on year we have lost 1.5% of passengers to date compared to 2012, which isn’t too bad considering the other main islands have dropped 9.8% Tenerife North, 9.7% Fuerteventura & 5.7% Gran Canaria. Only Tenerife South is better at a small drop of 0.5% 2013 v 2012.

Summer 2013

The foreign market is continuing to perform well, however visitors from the peninsula are significantly lacking, making connections from the islands to the mainland of Spain harder to find. Hoteliers are also reporting an increase in availability requests from tour operators, just in case the need should arise to divert holidaymakers bound for Egypt elsewhere.

Related Information:
Irish vote Lanzarote as the best winter sun destination
An Irish point of view

Reader Monica Casata is a journalist in Italy. She visited the island recently with her Spanish husband, who once worked here as a tourist guide. His brother is still living here. In this fabulous video, you see the island through Monica’s eyes – it’s beautiful and captivating.

You can see many more videos of the island on our You Tube Channel

And don’t forget you can now pre book Lanzarote excursions through is.

The blue flag awarded to Playa Las Cucharas in Costa Teguise was officially hoisted on Thursday 11th July 2013.

Mayor of Teguise, Oswaldo Betancort is pictured raising the flag, this is the first time in five years that the beach has met the strict quality, safety and environmental standards set to be awarded the blue flag. This distinction endorses the work that has been completed so far by the council, their aim is to have two more flags flying on the beaches of Playa del Jablillo and Playa Bastian in the near future.

Work has also commenced to replenish sand on the beaches of Jablillo, Los Charcos and El Ancla in the resort. Around 2,000 m3 / 1,800 tonnes of sand will be transported from Lanarote’s desert (El Jable) near Muñique to be distributed to these three beaches. The project is expected to be completed this month.

Related Information:

Blue Flags in Lanzarote 2013

Costa Teguise’s Accessible Beach Award

Traffic travelling from the industrial zone in Playa Honda in the direction of San Bartolomé will be temporarily diverted tomorrow, Wednesday 17th July.

This diversion is in place from 07:00 until the work is completed. It affects vehicles that would normally pass along Calle La Hoya down the side of the Ambar furniture shop and around the back of Ropers. Instead traffic will be diverted via Calle Hoya Grande, as indicated in the plan above, to re-join the road at the junction with the new ITV station.

The Department of Urban and Industrial Zone from the Ayuntamiento of San Bartolomé apologise for any inconvenience that the temporary diversion might cause and ask drivers to use extreme caution and observe the safety measures in place, by following the signs and indications.

Canal Gestión Lanzarote have issued a notice confirming a 36 hour disruption in the water supply to certain areas of Lanzarote.

The water company in Lanzarote have confirmed that the following zones of Lanzarote will have no water supply from 16:00 on the 17th July to 06:00 on the 19th July.

North: Tahiche, Nazaret, Las Cabreras, Teguise, Los Valles, Teseguite, El Mojón, Guatiza, Los Cocoteros, Mala, Charco del Palo,Tabayesco, Arrieta, Punta Mujeres, Haría, Máguez, Guinate, Yé & Órzola.

Central: San Bartolomé, Mozaga, El Islote, Tao, Tiagua, Tinajo, Muñique, Soo, Yuco, La Vegueta, Mancha Blanca, La Santa, El Cuchillo & Caleta Caballo

South: Guime, Montaña Blanca, , Tias, Conil, Tegoyo, Masdache, Macher, Uga, Yaiza, La Degollada, Las Breñas, Playa Quemada & El Golfo.

The notice explains that as per previous occasions and only when absolutely necessary, the company is forced to cut off the water supply to some areas of the island, due to the seasonal increase in demand which exceeds the capacity of the facilities.

Canal Gestión Lanzarote, regrets again for any inconvenience that this disruption may cause to all of their clients.

The company also took the opportunity to remind everyone that according to the Reglamento del Servicio de Abastecimiento de Agua potable y Saneamiento de la isla de Lanzarote ( B.O.P. De Las Palmas, nº 65, del 30 de mayo de 2003), we are obliged to have our own water storage facilities.

The commercial zone of Terminal 1 at Lanzarote Airport is due to have a two million euro overhaul.

Construction on the new shopping area begins next week according to AENA, which also includes remodelling of the duty free shop and restaurants. The project is expected to take 9 months and be completed by Spring 2014.

Airport Director Manuel Vinegre explained that the strategy is to improve the airport to enable passengers to have the best quality experience whilst they pass through the facility at Guacimeta, one worthy for the end of their stay in Lanzarote.

The retail space will be reorganised and new brands introduced to give travellers a broader experience. The key objective is to increase revenue from 7.5 million euros spent during 2012 to 13.5 million by 2017.

Both sides of the airport will be renovated including the shops in the check in area as well as airside. The duty free shop will increase form 654 m2 to 1050 m2 and the number of shops will remain at 11 but with an increase in floor space from 1040 m2 to 1135 m2 in a boulevard style.

Lanzarote’s airport is the 8th biggest in terms of the AENA network with 5 million passengers a year.

Related Information:

Arrecife Airport

Free WiFi at Lanzarote Airport

An official announcement was made in the Boletín last Friday by the Ayuntamiento of Tías, informing market traders to apply for stalls available in a new weekly market.

The market will be held every Friday and situated on the Plaza Varadero, in the old harbour of Puerto del Carmen.

A points system has been designed for the allocation of the 66 stalls, so that preference is given to those who are currently unemployed, have family responsibilities and are older. Forty points will be awarded for the most economical offers received, 10 points for older artisans, 25 points for those in social situations and 25 points for those in employment difficulties. The Department of Commerce emphasized that this pioneering new procedure in Lanzarote adheres to the legal regulations, whilst allowing for competition and transparency to those people and companies who would like a position in the new market.

Interested parties have 20 working days following the date of publication which was the 12th July to submit their bids for market stalls. The market specification is that of the 66 stalls available, 20 should be allocated to artisans. Apart from artisans, the categories include the sale of products including agricultural, sea salt, jewellery, shoes, bags, accessories, textiles, cosmetics, perfume and food services.

The market should be up and running within a matter of weeks, once the administration process has been concluded.

Related Information:

Forthcoming events in Puerto del Carmen for 2013

The Old Harbour in Puerto del Carmen

According to an article published in La Provincia today, the junction to access Costa Teguise from the Arrecife ring road will be closed until March 2014.

Drivers will have to access Costa Teguise via the old single road through Las Caletas for the next nine months, whilst work progresses on the duplication of the Circunvalación. The news was released by José Antonio Gutiérrez, the Cabildo’s Minister for Public Works following a meeting with the Director of Road Infrastructure for the Canary Islands and Juan Ventura, the Mayor of Arrecife.

The resort’s dual carriageway connection through to the capital won’t be closed for as long, this section should take around six months to complete.

We met Winfried Scholz last week, who is perhaps better known as Freddy “El Gato.”

He’s an interesting character, who has been living on the island since 1994, when he arrived and booked into an apartment in Puerto del Carmen. Within a few days he realized that area wasn’t for him and he moved into a cave in Papagayo!

Freddie is a lawyer, who speaks several languages and who is in the process of writing a book about the island he cares passionately about, but he’s best known as the “Cat guy.”

His mission to help the feral cats that live in Playa Blanca, and to do that he has set up food stations at various parts of the resort where the cats can come for water, food and shelter from the sun. He also does his best to control the population with a program of castration and neutering. His work is largely self funded, supplemented with the odd donation and the sale of “Cat friend” necklaces. Occasionally locals and tourists leave bags of cat food at the stations, and these are gratefully accepted – cat food is expensive on the island!

He’s certainly controversial, talking openly about disagreements with various people in the area, one of which lead to him suffering a knife attack, and he’s not shy about laying the blame for some of the island’s problems firmly at the door of the politicians.

This controversial side is balanced by the work he does for the cats, and the fact that he thinks nothing of choosing a piece of open land, and cleaning and tidying it for several hours, to the benefit of everyone.

He’s planning to open a café in Playa Blanca soon, and some of the profits from that will go towards paying for the work he does with the cats. We’ll keep you posted on that.

Here’s a video he made showing his cat feeding stations:

You can connect with Freddy via his Facebook page: Freddy Lanzarote Cats

Saturday 27th July is the official start date of Lanzarote’s 2013 wine harvest.

Bodega Los Bermejos have confirmed that they will start harvesting their vines from this Saturday, however the bulk of the bodegas are expected to start on the 5th of August. Lanzarote is the first wine region in the Northern Hemisphere to being harvesting each year.

We were walking the Juan Bello route which passes the back of this bodega earlier this week, the crates were all stacked ready and waiting for this year’s crop.

According to information from the Consejo Regulador de la Denominación de Origen Vinos de Lanzarote this year’s harvest is anticipated to total around 2.5 million kilos of grapes which is around 50% more than in 2012. The price of the Malvasía grapes grown in Lanzarote this year is expected to reach around €1.80 per kilo, compared to €1.60 paid last year.

A special one day Fiesta de la Vendimia is held in La Geria each 15th of August, to celebrate the wine harvest and in honour of the Virgen de la Caridad.

Related Information:

Bodegas in Lanzarote

We’ve already shared our album of photos regarding the arrival of the sunbeds on Playa Grande yesterday, but for those of you not on Facebook.

There was no sign of any sunbeds at Playa Los Pocillos on the morning of Wednesday 24th, however there were plenty in place on Playa Grande in the centre of Puerto del Carmen.

It’s early days, the notification from the council in Tías was that the contract for 1,121,000 euros with Jandía First Service On Beach, S.L.U was signed on the 23rd July. The company have 15 days to complete the delivery of sunbeds, umbrellas and nautical equipment to the beaches of Playa Grande, Playa Chica, Playa Los Pocillos and Playa Matagorda. Of the 1500 sunbeds the company is contracted to supply, 85% of them will be brand new

On Playa Grande the sunbeds were set up in three blocks with large areas of the beach open for visitors to sit directly on the sand if preferred. There was a new group of beds at the Fariones end of the beach, where as previously this section had been left clear before. Umbrellas in the same beach / sand coloured material were being delivered as we took these photos.

You can find more images in this album on our Facebook page: Sunbeds!

There is a bonoloto winner amongst us! 

The winning ticket was bought at the "Administración Número 2" in Teguise.  The winning numbers were 4-7-9-12-15-34 plus 24 as the complementary number and 2 as the reimbursement number. The lucky winner guessed 5 of 6 numbers plus the complementary number which will award him/her a prize amount of €135,523!

Although the winner's identity hasn't been revealed, the bonoloto is part of the Spanish National lottery so the chances are it is a Spanish national or a resident well acquainted in the ins and outs of the national lottery system.

Mari Nieves Hernández has had "administración" for 12 years and she had never given a prize for such an amount. She says they are open on Sundays because of the market, so it could be a local person or someone that was just visiting. She is actually finishing off next Sunday and she is delighted to have sold the winning ticket. She would love for the money to go to someone who needs it. Don't we all?

Now, although the amount awarded wouldn't be enough to qualify as becoming a millionaire I wouldn't look down on it! What would you do with this amount burning in your pocket? A new car? Some holiday, perhaps to Lanzarote? Pay off some debt? Donate to charity? All of the above?

So if you were recently in Teguise and decided to play the bonoloto, make sure you check your slip. You might be the winner!!!

The Cabildo of Lanzarote are investigating parking plans to release congestion at the entrance to the popular tourist attraction of Las Montañas del Fuego.

We don’t have many traffic issues in Lanzarote, but the LZ-67 does tend to get congested with vehicles queuing through the Timanfaya National Park, which connects Yaiza to Mancha Blanca and is the only access point for the Fire Mountains. The traffic builds up from 10:00 to 13:00, during the busiest time of the day for the centre.

Leaflets will be distributed through the hire car companies to recommend that drivers visit this tourist attraction during the afternoon, in order not to coincide with the tour operator buses.

A car park extension has been talked about for the past decade, including park and ride options from Mancha Blanca & Yaiza, although no funds were set aside for development. One option is to utilise some warehouse space, which was constructed to house the tour buses operating the volcano route within the park. These warehouses are not currently used as the buses are taken off site overnight. Demolishing the unoccupied warehouses would be the best option with minimal intervention, as the area has an existing tarmac road surface.

There’s so much to see and do in Lanzarote, it’s easy to find something else to occupy the mornings. Don’t spend your precious holiday time queuing, save discovering the Fire Mountains for the afternoon.

Related Information:

Montañas del Fuego Tourist Attraction

If you only have one day in Lanzarote

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