Predictions for the new season held out little joy for CD Marino but they are proving them wrong in style. This 1-0 home win over Arucas was hard fought and the blues enjoyed some good fortune but it pushes them two points clear at the top of their Tercera group and there is a belief and spirit at the club that suggests big things are possible.

Hopefully local Canarians will return in numbers to the stands, at the moment there is always a good sprinkling of British tourists, a credit to the clubs advertising in local hotels. Even the pre match music has a familiar sound, you can’t knock a bit of Nirvana blasting over the speakers. Marino looked confident as they started against the Gran Canarian strugglers, Adan was leading the line well and Kevin Castro was always a threat drifting in from the left. Killiam and Alex tried their luck for the visitors but Mendy showed them how to finish with a strong header when surrounded by defenders.

The pitch was in surprisingly good condition after the Ricky Martin concert two weeks ago, both sides used it well to show their speed, Brad had to race back and make a couple of well timed interventions but Marino were good value for the lead.

My slight hangover told me it was hotter than usual but I realized how much when the teams took a pre arranged water break after 25 minutes, this was repeated in the second half. Arucas put the ball in the net just before half time bit the ref, after a prolonged pause, gave a home free kick, that angered former Marino coach Jose Juan Almeida who got his first warning from the ref. Arucas put some pressure on in the second half, Cicovic was having another good game, he takes everything that comes in the air. It was interesting to see a new back up keeper on the bench, Petar is an experienced player with Granadilla and Las Palmas Atletico.

Even after having their coach, and defender captain Cone sent off, the visitors showed resistance but a little too much fight, there were some shocking tackles and cheap kicks after play stopped. Marino kept cool and with Ammed on as sub they nearly doubled the lead. There was a tense finish, Kiliam was on a breakaway in injury time but couldn’t get his shot in and the whistle sealed the victory.

Any excuse and I’m off to Santa Cruz, there’s so much going on, that was definitely the case as I called in for two big events and still ended up gazing at the ebb andd flow of the ships at the port. My first visit was for the Seatrade Cruise Med trade show at the Recinto Ferial, with 153 stalls and some interesting forums there was plenty for me to dive into.

There was a real party feel to the hall, Tenerife was pushing its charms and the various world ports and destinations were doing the same right back. I partly resisted the temptation of the flowing wine and beer, well I did have the CD Tenerife evening game to come, but I was distracted by some of the very nice promotions ladies. Cruise Wales drew me in with a free fluffy sheep – I’m so shallow, but my mums family are steeped in Welsh history so I was able to sound a little knowledgeable. Places I had visited in my younger years caught my eye, Hamburg, Cagliari, and Amsterdam in particular.

Back out at the port there was the usual mix of working boats, ferries, and cruise ships. Emerald Princess (top of three) was moored up majestically on the far side, that arrangement will change in a few weeks when the new 19 million euro cruise ship terminal starts to welcome up to 10,000 passengers at time. Other vessels will still co-exist, Transmediterranea’s inter island ferry Albayzin was chugging out a fair bit of smoke as it turned on a sixpence,well maybe a farthing considering it’s a veteran of the fleet. Wandering off to the marina I found the Danish training ship Georg Stage (top of page) taking a breather. It had traveled down from its Copenhagen base and was being cleaned, polished, and repaired by a skeleton crew awaiting new paying recruits for their November voyage.

A few days later I was back for the Plenilunio promotion day in Santa Cruz, the streets and plazas bulged with families enjoying everything from live music and theatre to parades and displays of Carnaval costumes. The latest cruise ship to dock was Ventura, they must have thought all the fuss on shore was especially for them. It was quite breezy down near Plaza de España as the wind blew in from the sea, bouncy castles had extra bounce and up a side street a wedding party was gathering and trying to hang on to their expensive hats. One of the strangest sights was vehicles from the military museum driving around, an old VW painted battleship gray and driven by a sinister looking Nazi made me shudder. The American GI Jeep from WW2 was a bit more jolly, but they were late of course. As I wended my way back to the bus station I detoured under the arch of the Puente General Serrador bridge and spotted a fabulous mural honouring the people of Santa Cruz – it had me smiling all the way back to Los Cristianos