Night Dive and Hiking in Tenerife

As my time in Spain is coming to an end, I thought about what I still wanted to see before I leave. I’ve travelled a lot, but I still had Tenerife and Ibiza on my bucket list. I checked flights and accommodations and did some research, which led me to believe that I wouldn’t be missing out if I hadn’t been to Ibiza. But for Tenerife I found a round trip flight for 104 euros, a rental car for 21, and booked an accommodation for 2 nights for 42 euros. So altogether 167 euros plus fuel for the rental car, as well as money for food. I calculated at least 250 euros, and apart from that I wanted to do a hypnotherapy and a Reiki session with a befriended couple I met two years ago. And I haven’t been diving in a while, so it would be nice to do that as well. I wasn’t sure if I should do it, because with my job ending soon, it could be money I’d be missing on my Latin America adventure. I called my sister and talked to a friend, and at the end of the day decided to do it, especially with all the experiences I’ve had in my life, knowing that money comes and goes. I just didn’t want to leave with any regrets.

My flight was on a Wednesday night. I arrived Thursday at 1 a.m. and tried to sleep a bit until the rental car opened at 7 a.m. Not gonna lie: sleeping at the airport isn’t recommended. I thought I could lie across a bench, but unfortunately all the seats had armrests in between, which made it impossible to lie down properly. I spent most of the time awake and only managed to sleep a little uncomfortably. Finally the rental car opened, and you can guess where I drove to first: the sea. I took a walk and then went to a restaurant to have breakfast. I initially thought I would be so tired that I would sleep in the car for a bit, but I actually had a lot of energy. From the restaurant I saw a nearby mountain that looked appealing. I asked the waiter if I could hike up there and he said yes. I did and got some great views.

Afterwards, I went to a different place, but this one turned out not to be a hiking mountain. Instead I found small beaches at the foot of the mountain. I still couldn’t check in at my accommodation so I had all my stuff in my backpack and just decided that I was going to go down and have a look. I left my phone in the car because I wanted some offline time. There were only a handful of people and one beach led to another where there were only about three people, all of them naked, so I figured it was a nudist beach. I walked even further to a small area with lots of stones where I was completely by myself. It was warm enough, so I also decided to take off my clothes and go for a swim. It was wonderful. The water was so clear I could see all the way to the bottom, even as I swam farther from the shore. I enjoyed it a lot, rested a bit afterwards, but by midday it got so hot that I couldn’t stay, also because I didn’t bring anything to sit on and was getting tired. I almost fell asleep just sitting on one of the stones. So I went back to my car and googled where I could sleep for a bit. Obviously I needed a cool place and AI suggested a shopping centre that had a free parking garage. Perfect idea. I parked at the back of the garage and slept for about two hours. Then it was late enough for checking in at my accommodation. I rested some more before meeting my friends for dinner that night. It was beautiful, we hadn’t seen each other in two years. We had a great dinner, and the next morning it was time for my Reiki session. It was the second time in my life I had one and it was great. I felt relaxed all day. I went back to my accommodation for breakfast before making my way to a forest my friend had recommended to me the night before. The forest was incredible, almost like a rainforest. When I arrived and got out of the car, I couldn’t believe how fresh and clear the air was. While people around me were rushing to their hiking routes, I took a moment to simply enjoy breathing. As usual, I took a route nobody else seemed to take, and I liked it a lot.

After the hike I went back to my accommodation to have lunch (I brought pasta with me to save money) before my night dive. When I arrived at the diving centre I found out that I would be the only one. I couldn’t believe how lucky I was. Usually there are at least two other divers. The instructor and I got along super well. We drove to the spot and there were some fishers who made small talk with us.

After preparing everything, he gave me a few brief instructions for my first night dive. For example how to signal “ok” or “not ok” with the torch instead of the hand. He showed me where he packed the backup torch and said just so you know, we never need it, but it’s mandatory. He jinxed it, because as soon as we got down a few minutes later, my torch didn’t work and I had to use the backup torch. Before that, though, when we were still at the surface, I noticed water entering my mask. I tried to fix it, but it didn’t work so we changed masks. My instructor gave me his and took mine. I thought it was better and gave the ok to descend. But quickly I noticed that water was still entering. We were at the beginning, only a few metres down, I’d guess around four. I signalled to him that I had a problem with the mask and kneeled on the ground so I wouldn’t float while I was trying to fix it. You know me: there are no problems, only solutions. I tried everything I had learned when I got certified, but it still kept leaking. At some point the instructor even asked if I wanted to go back up, but I signalled a firm no in response. I wanted to do this so badly and there was no way the stupid mask was going to stop me. Finally, I figured out it was due to the hood of the diving suit (I had never dived with a hood before, that’s why this was new to me), so I took the mask off, then the hood, and put the mask back on (yes, all while being under water). Finally it worked. Although it cost me time and air, we still managed to dive for 60 minutes even though we descended to 16 metres, which showed me once again how little air I really use. We saw a few cool fish down there, my favourites were two huge stingrays.

The most fascinating moment for me was when we went back up. After reaching the surface, you have to lie on your back with all your gear, and that’s when I looked at the sky and was completely mindblown: I don’t think I’ve ever seen so many stars. It was a beautiful, clear night. It felt surreal because when we started the dive around 10 p.m. there was still a little bit of daylight, and underwater with the torches I didn’t notice how dark it had become. Now it was pitch black. As we swam to the exit point, some fishers also lit the way and wanted to know what we had seen. I find it so beautiful how everyone is super friendly with each other. It was late when I got back to my accommodation and went straight to sleep. The next day I originally planned to hike around the volcanic area, but I had shared those plans with my diving instructor the previous night and he reminded me that I wasn’t supposed to go to that altitude within 24 hours after diving beacuse of the risk of decompression sickness (DCS), which I had completely forgotten. I always make sure I don’t have a flight booked within 24 hours, but I never thought about elevation in general affecting hiking as well. I still wanted to go hiking though, so instead of the volcano area I went to a lower region, and it had already been 15 hours after the dive so I was confident everything was fine because symptoms usually start within the first few hours. Still, I asked AI what to look out for and walked slowly and with caution.

In the afternoon, I met my friend for my first real hypnotherapy session. I’m not going to go into details yet, but it was a very profound experience and I will definitely do another session. Afterwards, I wanted to swim one more time because my flight would be early the next morning. I went to a beach close to the restaurant where we had dinner the other night because I also wanted to eat the dessert we had there one more time, as it was the best cake I’ve ever eaten. Overall, another great day that came to an end. I topped up the fuel and parked the car close to the airport where I slept a few hours (again: to save money). I have to say: after having spent one night sleeping at the airport, the car was a very comfortable sleeping place. Too soon it was time to fly back to Valencia. I liked Tenerife so much I would definitely consider moving there if I decided to stay in Spain. I remember a few weeks ago when I doubted whether I should go to Tenerife because I might miss that money for my Latin America adventure. This trip was a great reminder for me that I never ever have to doubt whether I should take that trip. It’s always a yes. Money comes and goes but memories stay forever.