Extreme Fishing with Serenity

Free from stress and all anxiety is exactly what you will feel, when taking a trip out on Serenity. The Big Game fishing trip available in the San Miguel marina, is a great day out on the water, accompanied by Eugene, Jim and Imelda.
I arrived down in the marina around 11am, fully sunblocked and ready to fight a shark. My eldest son came along with me after a week worth of Robson Greens fishing shows on Channel 5. His enthusiasm for fishing is extreme to say the least. We found the boat Serenity moored the far end of the marina, just before the Submarine. This was handy, as the coffee shop is a walk away and allows you to get set for your day out. Eugene and his partner Imelda met us, and were very easy to get along with. Both from Dublin, and both keen fishers with warm personalities. They made us feel extremely welcome and talked us through the rigs and equipment on board. My son beat me to the chair, and strapped himself in ready for his first fight. Jimmy the skipper cast off and we headed out to sea.
The marina in San Miguel has really come on, its plesant and peaceful, well built and has a great feel to the place. The fish farms have been moved out, and just the views of the golf course, and shore lines remain. It seems to be a much pleasenter place, compared to the commercial feel of Puerto Colon.
The water was pretty calm, and as we headed out Eugene began to release the lines and set up the outriggers. The equipment was all top class, with rods and reels for both bottom fishing and trawling. In Eugene's words "We go out to fish, not to cash in" and I fully understand him, after taking several trips out before with other excursions, we have been left many times baking in the sun, without even touching a rod. And then after many hours of trawling and not catching, taken back to shore with a shrug of shoulders and a grunt. Eugene and Imelda are keen to make sure you catch, even if it's only a trace of mackerel, they are passionate about making their trip a rememberable one for every passenger.
We pleasantly headed towards Los Cristianos, and hit an amazing surround of dolphins, zipping and spinning around the boat. It always makes a great trip when you see these creatures in all their glory. They are amazingly fast, and certainly seem to control the waves as they ride them. Next was the turtles, flapping their way out to sea, they  don't look as confident as the dolphins, but were a pleasure to see in the wild.
As we waited for a line to run, we took in the sea air and Imelda brought out a prepared sandwich and drink for us both. The Irish are always great as hosts, and we enjoyed each others company, all waiting eagerly for the zip of a reel.
Once passed the small harbor of La Caleta, we decided to try some bottom fishing, and dropped in some lines. For those who don't want to touch the bait, Eugene will rig up for you, and get you going. My son caught the first fish of the day, and we help him to pull up a king mackerel, this made his day, he had caught something, I knew he would be happy. He was positive there had been a bigger fish on the line, and I agreed, after all a seven year old pulling up a mackerel could have felt like a shark.
We began to head in and again the trawling lines went out, eight in total, with some huge lures and traces. Big game fishing is certainly what Eugene does, and his boat and tackle spell it out.
As we waited patently for the reels to snap, the skipper fought the waves. Going towards San Miguel seemed to be a fight, as the wind had picked up and waves were fierce. I took a seat and began to nod off against the tow and fro of the boat. You can easily drift into a deep daydream, and time passes by so quickly. Then came a huge scream of line, the elastic on the rig snapped and we were in. The skipper jolted the boat forward for a split second and then came  shouts all round. The line continued to scream, as Eugene quickly got the other gear in. I took the chair, and the fight was on. Eugene's experience shone through and he talked me through the fight, slowly wearing the fish down. As I pumped the rod, and slowly drew the fish in, my arms began to wear out. It was a good 20 minutes before we had a show, and Eugene seemed to think it was a Bonito, I kind of small Tuna. But we will never know, as the hook came free, and on my final heave it was gone. I was gutted, and my son, well what can I say. You can imagine, all the way home he was explaing to me how I should have done it.
Anyway, I big thankyou to Serenity and its crew from bptenerife, a great value for money trip, with great company and sport.
For further information you can visit their Website, it has full details of what they offer, and availability.

Eight Supermarket Shopping Savings!

Does your food bill seem to grow without fail each week? Then follow these eight simple BPTenerife shopping tips to help bring it back down to earth! I'm not even going to tell you how much my wife and I spend on food each week because it's an utterly ridiculous amount of money for 5 people to spend! Maybe I am just a greedy pig and enjoy my food too much. But what I can tell you is that if I didn't have to eat, I'd be a lot richer! According to Mercadonna the average cost of a basket of 24 staple grocery items has increased by 18%* over the last year. And at a time when we all need to cut back on spending, that's not what we want to hear. So that's why I have come up with eight top tips to help you bring your food bill down to a more digestible size.

1) Plan ahead Think about what meals you're going to have in advance and plan your shopping list around that. When you're at the supermarket, stick to what's on the list. That way you'll avoid impulse buying and you'll only purchase what you need.

2) Look out for special offers Keep an eye out for any special offers at your local supermarket. Most supermarkets' web sites will advertise special offers so you can find out what's available before stepping into the supermarket itself. Make the most of these offers when you can and freeze whatever you don't need immediately (providing it's freezable of course). If you shop towards the end of the day, you're also more likely to be able to take advantage of the 'reduced to clear' shelf. Be wary of 'buy one get one free' deals, however, as they don't always offer good value for money -- particularly if they're on perishable items. You could end up buying more than you need and then throwing some out. To combat this, you could go shopping with a friend (providing you can agree on the BOGOF offers!).

3) Bin the big brands! We seem to be automatically programmed to associate the big brand names with better quality (or perhaps it's all just down to advertising). But supermarket's own label products like Hacienda can taste just as good and cost a lot less! 'Value' items can also be great for basics such as flour, sugar and rice -- you probably won't notice any difference in the taste. But for other items you might be better off paying a little more for a standard brand. Washing up liquid, for example, can be so low quality that you end up using more than you would do with a standard brand.

4) Avoid pre-packaged food If it's possible, try to buy food that isn't wrapped up in loads of packaging as it'll be cheaper. Buy your fruit and veg loose, and also purchase more from the deli counter -- cheeses and meats are likely to be cheaper here than those wrapped up in plastic on the shelves. It will also taste fresher.

5) Shop online Shopping online is also likely to make you more disciplined at only buying what you need. Rather than being tempted to buy items you see on the supermarket shelf, you're more likely to stick to your shopping list!

6) Don´t go Hungry! Shopping on an empty stomach, can be expensive. Seeing all the things you could eat right now, can lead o a basket full of junk. Take my advice and shop AFTER your meal.

7) Cheaper fruit and veg If you want to eat healthily for less, farmers' markets can be a great place to buy fruit and veg. They offer good quality food at supermarket-beating prices. There is a farmer market every Friday Saturday and Sunday, next to the fire station in Las Chafiras, Tenerife Alternatively, you could try to grow your own.

8) Watch out for supermarket scams! Supermarkets will do anything to try to get you to buy more than you really need. So keep your eyes peeled for these cunning tricks: • Store additions -- many of the larger supermarkets now have a café or a Tapas bar attached to them. These encourage you to spend far more time at the supermarket as well as far more money. • Store layout -- ever gone into your local supermarket to find that all the aisles have switched round and you can't find anything? I suspect this is a sneaky trick to confuse you so that you spend more time wandering around passing items that might tempt you. • Delicious smells -- the smell of freshly baked bread wafting down the aisle gets me every time. It's a great way to tempt you into buying some. • Product placement -- cheaper items will often be at the very bottom or top of the shelf, while the more profitable items are placed at eye level so it's those you see first -- so you'll need to hunt around for the bargains. Similarly, more expensive items, such as electricals, are likely to be nearer the entrance so that you have to pass them to get to what you really want. So there you have it -- eight top tips which will hopefully help to reduce your food bill! Happy eating!