In the north east of Lanzarote, just inland from the beautiful underground lake of Jameos del Agua, some 3000 to 5000 years ago the La Corona volcano erupted and sent rivers of lava flowing beneath an already-cooled surface of rock. The result was a six kilometre long underground volcanic tube which opened out into caves and grottos.

During the 16th and 17th centuries when Lanzarote was subjected to constant invasions by pirates looking to capture fresh slaves to trade, the caves served as an effective hiding place for the local people who kept their existence a secret. Incidentally, if the young Jack Sparrows in your family want to learn more about the swashbuckling history of Lanzarote, then a visit to the Piracy Museum in Teguise is another one for the ‘must see’ list.

In 1964, one kilometre of the caves was creatively illuminated by the artist Jesús Soto and made safe for tourists by the island Cabildo (Government). Since then they’ve been visited by millions of people and provide a unique and atmospheric venue for classical concerts staged throughout the year. Arriving at the Cueva de los Verdes, groups are guided through the incredible rabbit warren of tunnels. Sometimes crouching almost double to get through a passageway and at other times emerging into a huge grotto that reaches up through layers of russet, gold and copper rock for fifty metres, you carefully thread your way past features like The Crypt, The Guanche’s Foot and The Monster’s Head.

The Cueva de Los Verdes is a surreal landscape, enhanced by the background music and the stunning lighting which reveals layers, twists and turns in the tunnel that seem to go on to eternity. It’s a brilliant place to visit for all the family and what’s more, the temperature inside the cave is always a very pleasant 19ºC so when the mercury rises as it did this weekend, the caves are the perfect place to go to escape the heat.

Cueva de Los Verdes; open every day 10am to 6pm (last tour 5pm); adults €8, children (7 to 12 years) €4; allow one hour for the tour and up to 45 minutes waiting time to begin a tour. In high season (July-September) go in the afternoon to avoid the coach tours.

We’ve all had stars in our eyes for the past few weeks here at Sands Beach Resort as the cameras have been rolling in the making of our brand new video.

Filmed entirely on location in and around Sands Beach Resort, we think the finished product is as slick, fun and good looking as any Hollywood production, and Buddy gives his best performance yet

Sands Beach Resort would like to give a huge thank you shout out to the Beckley family – Hellen, Gabrielle and Vinny (love the chocolate doughnut shot, mate!) for being such superb stars of the show. An equally big thank you goes to our guests who took outstanding cameo roles and those who did the occasional Alfred Hitchcock in the background. You’re all stars in our universe.

A big congratulatory high five goes to the extremely professional production team of Ione Tanausu and Joan Baldrich whose hard work has produced such excellent results.

From beach to bar and pool to plazas, we love the way the video captures the life and fun of a holiday at Sands Beach Resort. What do you think?

However, the highlight of Rafa’s day was an unexpected meeting with Britain’s Prince Harry. The icing on this regal meeting was that Sands Beach Resort’s General Director, Juan Carlos Albuixech happened to be in the right place at exactly the right time and was able to capture the proud moment with this fantastic and unique picture that Rafa will cherish.

What’s really nice is that Prince Harry looks as delighted to be meeting Rafa as Rafa does at meeting this immensely popular member of the UK’s Royal Family.

Thanks to the magnetic and eccentric Captain Jack Sparrow, the world has been enjoying a resurgence of its love affair with pirates, and the Castillo de Santa Barbara in Teguise is just the place for young swashbucklers to learn all about their dastardly ways.

Opened in February 2011, the Museo de la Piratería (Piracy Museum) is set in the Castillo de Santa Barbara, the oldest fortification on Lanzarote. Ironically, the island’s vulnerability to attack from pirates was the main reason the castle was constructed at the beginning of the 16th century to keep watch over the ports and coasts for the tell tale sign of unknown sails on the horizon. So it’s fitting that today it should house exhibitions of the pirates, both real and fictional, who have invaded the land, our TV screens and cinemas over the ensuing five centuries.

Located on the Guanapay headland above the town of Teguise, the castle itself is an adventure playground with a drawbridge, winding staircases to secret rooms and crenelated battlements with incredible views back over the town of Teguise and all across the volcanic wonderland of the centre and north of the island to Alegranza and La Gaciosa. There’s even a dungeon which is filled with not-so-hidden treasure.

Exhibits, information, models and multi media fill its stone rooms and take you on a buccaneering journey through the characters, ships, weapons, facts and fiction that have shaped our imaginations since we were knee high to Black Beard.

Yo-ho, yo-ho, a pirate’s life for me
Long before Hollywood glamorised their deadly seafaring ways, pirates terrorised the seas and being stepping stones between the riches of Europe and the new-found treasures of the New World, the Canary Islands were rich pickings.

Throughout its earliest settlement by Europeans, Lanzarote was dogged by seafaring mercenaries like Francoise le Clerc, better known as Jambe de Bois (Peg Leg), the French pirate from San Juan de Luz who in 1551 plundered Teguise; Morato Arráez, the Algerian ‘privateer’ who fought long and bloody battles in Teguise in 1586 and the notorious Sulayman who, in 1618 disembarked in Arrecife with 4000 men from a fleet of 36 ships. Sulayman and his men plundered Teguise of everything of worth, including the statue of Nustra Señora de Guadalupe, and took with them 900 local hostages in what was the most dastardly event in Canarian piracy history.

At the Piracy Musem you meet Peg Leg, Sulayman and Arráez along with Black Beard, Francis Drake, John Hawkins and of course, Captain Jack Sparrow.

Museo de la Piratería, off the Arrecife to Haría road just outside the centre of Teguise; (0034) 928 84 50 01; open Mon-Sat 9am to 4pm in winter, 10am to 4pm in summer, closed  Sundays; entrance €3 (Lanzarote residents €1.80), free entrance for children up to 12 years.

Lanzarote will be showing off its sporty side again on Saturday 14 April, there’s still time to sign up for the Spring Duathlon Teguise. If the 5 km run, 20 km bike ride, and a final 2.5 km run sounds a bit daunting you can always be part of this fun family day as a helper – contact John or Maria at Sands Beach Resort reception.
Preparations are going well, there was a frenzy of media interest in the official presentation which was made on the morning of Thursday 12 April with Echedey Eugenio, sports councillor for the Ayuntamiento of Teguise, and Andres Medina President of the Costa Teguise triathlon club and the race organiser.

Echedey Eugenio praised the Duathlon as “an event that allows many people to enjoy the landscapes of Teguise including Costa Teguise and many other zones.” The councillor thanked the organisers and Sands Beach Resort for making the event possible. Andres Medina was pleased by the steady flow of entrants in the final week, the total of over 100 atthletes will beat the previous year’s record.
So whether you are competing, encouraging, or helping out, it will be a great day on Saturday 14 April, the race starts at 4 pm but athletes will be registering and picking up their numbers from noon and the Feria del Corredor (runners fair) will have plenty for everyone to enjoy.

I’m sure it won’t have escaped peoples’ attention that Plaza Verde has been looking anything but ‘verde’ for some time now, but the good news is the building works are due to be completed within the next three weeks.

We really dislike it every bit as much as you do (in fact yours truly was staying in Plaza Verde just last week) but we are in the process of making improvements which, when they’re finished will benefit everyone, bringing better facilities to Sands Beach Resort in time for summer. Unfortunately, as Gavin and Stacey‘s Gwen would say, you can’t make an omelette without breaking eggs.

We’re pleased that the work is progressing well and is scheduled to be completed by the 1st May when, in place of a large hole surrounded by concrete, machinery and building materials we’ll have a superb 25 metre swimming pool with landscaped surroundings. In the meantime, we’re pleased that the workmen are keeping the dust and mess levels as low as they possibly can and refrain from using noisy machinery too early in the morning.

Please bear with us, it will be worth it in the end.

Starting the season on a high with a victory in Treviso at the beginning of March, since December Rafa has notched up an incredible 3200 competitive kilometres and is hopeful that April will bring new personal bests.

“This year I have improved my position in the chair and made some changes to the competitive gloves I wear, so I’m optimistic about the results I can achieve,” says Rafa.

Competing in so many major International marathons so close together will be a real test as the recovery time between each event is very short, but Rafa hopes that by competing and performing well, he may get noticed by a big brand sponsor who will help him to achieve his goal of participating in the London Paralympics at the end of summer 2012.

First on Rafa’s marathon horizon is Boston Marathon on the 16th April.
“This marathon is best suited to my conditions which is why, next to New York, it’s one I have high hopes for. I’ll be looking to make a big impression in Boston.”

Next up is London Marathon on the 22nd, undoubtedly the biggest marathon in Europe and the one which, along with New York, attracts the elite of the sport. But the track has a lot of curves and changes of direction which is not Rafa’s strong point. “I’ll be fighting for a finish in the top ten in that one” admits the athlete.

Just one week later Rafa will find himself in the capital of South Korea for the Seoul International Wheelchair Marathon. Exclusively for wheelchair athletes, Rafa describes the Seoul course as “spectacular”.
“They close the city for 100 athlete’s chairs and more than 500 people with disabilities who run a 5 kilometre solidarity race accompanied or pushed by relatives and friends towards the finishing line in the 1988 Seoul Olympic Stadium”.

We may not be there with Rafa in body when he crosses that finishing line, but we will have been with him in spirit across his three continents, following him with pride and affection.

It’s a well know fact that there’s more pleasure to be gained from giving than from receiving, but when you can manage to combine a great deal of fun into the giving, you know you’re on to a winner. And that’s just what GoKarting Lanzarote and Lanzarote Business Association did at their Grand Prix event in support of Más Que Arte last weekend – and Sands Beach Active joined in the fun.

Working with young Canarian artists including singers, rappers, dancers and presenters, Más Que Arte is a charity organisation with two main objectives – firstly to promote cultural and artistic activities and events and secondly to fight to defend the rights of artists, acting as advisers and advocates for young and upcoming performers.

Last Sunday, the 25th March 2012, Rita Bellamy at Lanzarote Business Association organised local Lanzarote businesses to take to the track at GoKarting Lanzarote to raise money on behalf of Más Que Arte.

The intrepid John Beckley (above, left) from our Marketing Department volunteered to enter on behalf of Sands Beach Resort and to take to the tracks in the vain hope of giving our good friends Mike and Julie from Lanzarote Information, who very kindly invited us along, a fun run for their money. Luckily for us Kai Klinghoff (above, right) from Lanzarote Adventure Diving volunteered to join our team of one and Kai raised the dust along with the competitive determination of our team.

It was a beautiful Lanzarote day as the 15 teams took to the track at GoKarting Lanzarote to compete for the Charity Cup 2012. After a nail biting contest including a 4 lap race-off after a neck and neck tie, congratulations got to Pedro and Luis who just pipped Sunset Beach to take the trophy off them. Sands Beach Active came in a very respectable fourth place, but most importantly of all 400 Euros was raised for Más Que Arte who are rightly the real winners in the event.

It was a brilliant day with participants enjoying the super facilities of the GoKarting Lanzarote track at San Bartolomé along with their sunshine and their paella lunch. Congratulations to all 15 teams and huge thanks to Kai and John and everyone who came along. Many thanks also to Waverider Lanzarote for making such an excellent video of the event and we look forward to 2013 when we hope, in true Arnie Schwarzenegger style, we’ll be back

GoKarting Lanzarote; (0034) 928 52 00 22; located on the junction with the LZ-301 from Playa Honda and LZ-20 from Arrecife towards San Bartolomé; open every day from 10am to 8pm (April to October), 10am to 6pm (November to March).

We can tell you how brilliant a holiday at Sands Beach Resort is. We can go on about all the fun activities for all the family and how there’s oodles of stuff to keep the younger members of the family amused while the Lanzarote sun turns parents a highly attractive shade of golden brown that will have their friends back home turning green with envy.

We could tell you this… but there’s no need. A young visitor, the immensely talented Darius Paul, recently produced this fantastic video which does a far better job of showing the sort of fun everyone can have at the resort.

We were really wowed by the energy and creativity in the video which shows Darius and his thirteen friends having a great time in the sun whilst making the most of the facilities at Sands Beach Resort when they stayed here in February.

We absolutely love the video – it made us want to rush out and do all the fun things they got up to ourselves.

Thanks for sharing it on YouTube, Darius and look out Robert Rodriguez; you’ve got a rival.

On his personal blog, Rafa tells us that, after three days of summer conditions, Sunday dawned wet and humid in Treviso, exactly the sort of conditions Rafa despises competing in because he has yet to find a material that will give him good enough grip on the wheel rims of the hand bike. But Rafa believes the Roman Gods were smiling on that day because as he drove the hour’s journey from the hotel to the course, the rain lightened and fizzled out.

Well the Gods were certainly smiling on Rafa this year. After being dogged by torrential rain in his first year and by punctures in the next two, he was due a break and this year was to be the one, romping home in a time of 1hr 26m 33s.

We’re immensely proud of Rafa and looking forward to seeing him back here ‘at home’ in Sands Beach Resort soon.

Image from Rafa’s personal blog