My experience of Caleta De Fuste - Fuerteventura (Caleta De Fuste (Fuerteventura))

Member Name: Johnno1234

Product:	Caleta De Fuste (Fuerteventura)
Date:	08/09/05 (8018 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Restaurants galore. Ridiculously inexpensive meals. Decent excursions on offer.

Disadvantages: Airport is very nearby. The beach is man-made. Karaoke until 3am.

Booking the holiday
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This was my first self-arranged holiday, and my girlfriend and I used the Thomas Cook website to book our holiday. We visited Fuerteventura between the 31st of August and the 7th of September 2005. It was a package deal, and we saved money by booking online, however, I did have to phone Thomas Cook twice to confirm details/check arrangments etc.. On the whole, it was easy enough. Flights, accomodation, airport-parking and transfers were all included, so there was very little left to worry about.

The Island of Fuertventura
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Fuerteventura is part of the Canary Islands, along with Lanzarote, Las Palmas, Gran Canaria and the un-populated Los Lobos. The other islands are all quite close by, especially Los Lobos and Lanzarote, which you can visit quite easily by boat. The Canary Islands are situated just West of Morocco in Africa, and it takes about 4 hours to fly from London.

Upon arrival in Fuerteventura, the first thing you will notice is that it has a very odd landscape, as all the Canary Islands are of Volcanic origin. Therefore, there is not much natural life here, and I gradually became aware that insect life and plant life was extremely minimal, apart from a few over-sized wasps and cockroaches! Also, the part of coast which Caleta De Fuste sits on has no natural beaches, and therefore the beach at Caleta is man made. In the north of the Island, near Correlejo, there are sand dunes and beaches, and down in the south at Jandia there is a beach 32km long.

The "capital" of the Island is Puerto Del Rosario, which is only about 20 minutes drive from Caleta and on the same coast. There isn't much tourist activity there, and everything feels much more Spanish in Rosario than in Caleta and Correlejo. As we had no car, I didn't see much of the Island apart from the stretch between Correlejo and Caleta, so I cant comment on places like Antigua or Morro Jable, although I've heard good things about them. The Island has a very tourist-ish feel to it in parts, but I think that can be escaped quite easily if you so desire.

There is always a constant breeze on the island, which is actually quite nice when the sun is on you! You certainly feel the heat when the wind drops a bit.

Broncemar Beach Apartments
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We stayed at the Broncemar Beach basically because that was what the package offered, although I can happily say I was more than satisfied with the accomodation here. The staff are friendly, the apartments are cleaned almost daily by the maids, and the entertainment is pretty much non-stop (Although we didn't take time to watch much of it!)

The apartment we stayed in, which was a downstairs apartment for 2-3 people, consisted of a double bedroom, a lounge with a sofa-bed, a bathroom with a bath/shower, and a kitchen area with a microwave, fridge, hob and sink. You also get your own little patio outside, and I believe the upstairs apartments have small balcony instead. There is a TV which you have to pay to use (we didn't use it so I'm not sure how much it costs) plus a safe-box and a phone, both of which you also pay to use. It looked simple enough to do, using the card which acts as the key to your apartment.

On the complex, there are 2 swimming pools, 2 jacuzzi's, a tennis court, a children's play area, a pool-side bar and 2 tavern type bars, plus pool tables, air hockey tables etc. There are plenty of Thomas Cook reps around if you have any questions, and they run a lot of activites and clubs for kids and adults alike. Every day there is a water-polo match between staff and guests, and at night time there are shows and entertainers on stage until very late. The downside to this is that, most nights, the entertainment is Karaoke, which means at 3am you can be lying in bed listening to a drunk woman singing "I Will Survive". We were lucky in the sense that our apartment was situated quite a way back from the bars, but I'd imagine an apartment nearer would prove difficult to sleep in until the entertainment ends.

Things to do while you're on the Island
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There are a range of activites on the Island, including all the usual watersports on most of the beaches. The reps at the Broncemar offer you organised trips for each day of the week, of which we did 2.

The first was a trip called the "Blue Delfin" which took place on the sunday. It wasn't cheap at €45 per person, but it was a great day out. You set off from Caleta and take a coach northbound to Correlejo, where you board a glass-bottom boat (The Blue Delfin) and go in search of Whales and Dolphins. We didn't see any Whales, however we saw 2 schools of Rough-tooth Dolphins, which apparently they only see once or twice a year, so we were very lucky. They swam alongside the boat, and they were around for about half an hour so there were plenty of photo opportunities! Apart from the dolphins, you will also see flying fish (Didn't believe it until I saw it!), Piranha, Barracuda and lots of other fish. After finding the dolphins, we anchored near Lanzarote and had lunch, which was included in the price, and then you're offered the chance to ride the banana boat, ride jet ski's or swim off the boat. The Jet Ski's cost about €8 per ride if i remember correctly. We swam off the boat, which most other people did, and then it was time to return to Fuerteventura. I would highly recommend this day out.

The second trip we went on was on the monday, to Baku waterpark in Correlejo. It was a fun day out, and the park itself was quite good, with decent rides and places to laze around, but the organisation from the reps was pretty poor. First of all, the coach for this trip picks you up from a bakery as opposed to the Broncemar. Secondly, no reps accompany you on this day out. It wasn't until we arrived at Baku that the coach driver told us he didn't know what time we'd be picked up, which meant everyone had to listen out for an announcement over the public address system inside the park. It turned out that its always 5pm in the car park outside the main gate (evidently someone was supposed to tell us this!) One other disappointing thing with this trip was the fact that EVERYTHING in the park costs extra money. The €20 each that you pay to get in doesn't get you anything except entrance to the park. Lockers require €2 plus a €5 deposit, and rides which you need a rubber-ring for have a set number of rings allocated to each ride. You dont get your own one unless you rent one. On a brighter note, the food was quite reasonably priced and not a bad effort either. I probably wouldn't go on this type of trip again, but it was ok as a one-off.

The full list of trips on offer are:
* "Island Highlights" - a tour of the island with a guide (€42 each)
* "Corralejo Express" - a visit to the market at Corralejo (€18 each)
* "Cool Camels" - a half-day camel ride, somehow encompassing rum-drinking! (€25 each)
* "Carmen Connections" - a day out in Lanzarote to do what you like (€35 each)
* "Jandia Express" - a trip to the 32km beach and marketplace at Jandia (€25 each)
* "Lanzarote Hotspots" - a tour of Lanzarote with a guide (€64 each)
* "Fuerte Fever" - a night out with your reps with meals and drinks included (€38 each)
* "Ocean Cat" - a catamaran boat ride for half a day (€52 each)
* "Blue Delfin" - Boat trip to see Dolphins and Whales. See my review above! (€45 each)
* "Take The Plunge" - diving in the Atlantic with a professional intructor (€64 each)
* "Walk On Water" - Surfing with British surf instructors (€40 each)
* "Baku" - trip to Corrolejo's waterpark. See my review above! (€20 each)

Eating Out
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One of the advantages of staying in Caleta is that it has a huge choice of places to eat. We ate out every night, and every evening meal we had was very high quality, and ridiculously cheap in comparison to at home!

The restaurants that I would recommend would be "El Bodaguita", in the square just down the road from the Broncemar, and "Via Veneto" in the next street along from the apartments. Both of these are Italian, and were the best meals we had while in Caleta. Incredibly, for 3 courses and drinks for 2 people, the bills were coming to around €35 euros (Less than £30!) every night. The only meal which was quite expensive was a lunch we had in "The Windmill", an English bar near the Broncemar. €20 for 2 toasted sandwiches, 2 drinks and some chips, although it was very nice! The staff at every restaurant we visited were really friendly, and all spoke reasonably good English.

To sum it up?
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Fuerteventura was a good first holiday for my girlfriend and I. I would say that 7 days was definitely enough without the use of a car though, as aside from the trips to other places, there isn't an awful lot to see in Caleta.

Summary: A nice, relaxing holiday in the sun.